The A to Z of the Cayman Islands Marine Parks

Anchor Damage
Perhaps the largest threat to the reefs was the destruction of caused by anchors and anchor chains dragging through delicate coral areas. The installation of permanent dive site mooring buoys around the island and the Marine Conservation Laws making it illegal to anchor in coral has substantially reduced this problem. Cruise ship anchoring in the harbour is still a cause of major damage and concern which can only be alleviated through the installation of deep water moorings.

Buoys
The Environmental Zone, Marine Parks and Replenishment Zones are all clearly marked around the Islands by distinctive orange and white spar buoys. The dive site are buoyed by one of two sizes of white buoys with a blue band surrounding them, the majority of which are single pin moorings installed in an environmentally friendly manner by the Department of Environment.

Coral
Explore the corals under the Cayman Islands. Coral is perhaps the most important component of the reef system surrounding the islands. Corals can be separated out into two distinct groups, the hard and soft corals. Hard or stony corals make up the majority of reef building creatures that are responsible for laying down the structure of the reef. While they may look like rocks they are in fact colonies of tiny delicate animals called polyps, which grow by laying down a stony skeleton. Soft corals include the sea fans, sea whips, sea feather plumes and sea rods, like their close relatives the stony corals they also possess tiny polyps, grow very slowly and are extremely delicate. The Marine Conservation Laws make it an offense to damage coral by anchoring in it or close to it so that anchor chains come into contact with it. It is also illegal to collect coral while on SCUBA anywhere in the Cayman Islands.

Divers
Divers make up the largest single user group of the Cayman Islands marine environment and subsequently their numbers are now beginning to have a significant impact on the Island' s reefs. Diver induced damage can take many forms, but mostly includes the kicking of coral with fins, touch delicate coral and stirring up sediments. Whilst most of these impacts are not fatal to the coral in an isolated incident, they do become a potential threat when impacts occur on a regular basis. The Bonaire Marine Park in the Netherlands Antilles which has conducted extensive research into diver damage has set Recommended Carrying Capacities (ie the number of dives above which significant damage to that site will occur) for its dive sites at 2500 dives per year. In 1994, in Grand Cayman alone 50 of our dive sites exceeded this limit, with the 20 dives sites taking over 5000 divers a year. These figures are increasing all the time. 

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