About: The Fringing Reefs of Barbados

DRAFTING…

Three types of reefs are described as occurring in Barbados, or four of we consider a shallow section of the Bank Reef as a separate reef type:

BARBADOS CORAL REEFS

From: Barbados 2020 Status of Coral Reefs: Coral Reef Report Card by the Barbados Coastal Zone Management Unit and CERMES, 22 page PDF.

Map from the CZMY/Cermes Coral Reef Report Card showing occurrence of living reefs around Barbados, and some basic stats

– The West Coast Fringing Reefs
Fringing Reefs are found all along the west coast, growing seaward from the beach to 100 to 200 m offshore. They are shallow (1 to 5 m deep) and have a characteristic spur and groove zone along the seaward edge.

– Bank Reefs & Bank-Barrier Reef
Bank Reefs form a more or less continuous offshore wall running parallel to shore, approximately 700 to 1000 m offshore, all the way from the most northern section of the West Coast to the southeast point of the island. The top of this bank reef is relatively deep (15 to 25 m) along the West and SW coasts but it’s much shallower (2 to 5 m) along the southeast coast. Boats cannot pass over the crest of this shallow section and as such the reef here is referred to as a Bank-Barrier Reef.

– South Coast Patch Reefs
Patch Reefs are isolated and generally more diffuse assemblages of coral found between the Fringing Reefs and the Bank Reefs of the west coast, all along the south coast inside the Bank and Bank-Barrier Reef, and in some areas of the east coast.

Consult that same Report Card, pages 6 & 7 for a description of the Common Benthic Components of Barbados’ Reefs and how those vary between the different reef types.

Fringing Reefs on the west coast of Barbados are the focus of this website, and particularly those in the Folkestone MPA (Marine Protected Area) on the West Coast.

These reefs can viewed by snorkelling. As indicated by the 2020 Report Card – which cites data from a survey in 2017 – and a subsequent Report Card for 2022, overall the fringing reefs are not in good health compared to pristine fringing reefs. However there is still much life to be seen on them, and some are better than others.

Occasionally one can find a small patch reef, or a section within a fringing reef that is much better than average. One such area is the outer reaches of the Vauxhall Reef (Reef #34 in the MPA) near Holletown. A