Ship wastewater linked to deadly coral illness

Cayman Neww Service

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Cruise ship visits Grand Cayman

(CNS): Commercial vessels, including cruise ships, could be linked to the virulent and rapidly spreading coral disease that has swept through the Caribbean region over the last two years killing significant amounts of coral reefs in its wake, according to the latest research. Stony coral tissue loss disease (SCTLD) has already had a devastating impart on reefs around the Cayman Islands in just one year. First spotted along the north coast of Grand Cayman in June last year, it has now spread all around the island and is killing over 20 species of reef-building corals on local reefs. Little is known about this coral threat but scientists are now discovering support for the theory that the disease is linked to waste-water dumped from ships.

A study that focused on the patterns of SCTLD outbreaks in the Bahamas, which was published in the scientific journal Frontiers in Marine Science, found that the patterns of mortality and infection rates…

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