ObsFR-I: Observations on Fringing Reefs, Set I
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Barbados Fringing Reefs & Seagrass Beds
– ObsFR-I (Set I, This Page)
– ObsFR-II (Set II, Sep. Page)
Also View About: The Fringing Reefs of Barbados
Observations FR-I (This Page) Subpages:
– Methods
– Taxonomic Issues
and its subpages:
– – Fire Corals (Millepora spp)
– – Zooanthids
– – Orbicella & Montastrea species
– iNaturalist Projects
and its subpage:
– – Folkstone MPA iNat Species
– The Acroporoids
and its subpages:
– – All 3 Acroporoids occurred on Vauxhall Reef 2015 (& earlier) to 2023
– – A. palmata
– – – A. palmata On Vauxhall Reef (Reef 34)
– – – A palmata in nearshore MPA north of Vauxhall: Fringing Reef 33
– – – A. palmata in nearshore MPA north of Vauxhall: Fringing Reef 32
– – – A. palmata in nearshore MPA north of Vauxhall: SurfSide Breakwaters
– – – A. palmata in nearshore MPA north of Vauxhall: Reef 30
– – A. cervicornis
– – – A cervicornis iNaturalist Records
– – A. prolifera
– – – 2015 specimens
– – – A. prolifera “Mother Colony” at Vauxhall
– – – Epiphytes etc on recently dead A.prolifera
About these “Observations on the Fringing Reefs of Barbados”
DRAFTING…
Two pages on this website, ObsFR-I and ObsFR-II and their subpages report informal observations I have made on fringing reefs in the Folkestone Marine Protected Area on the west coast of Barbados in the early winter months over the period 2015 to 2025 inclusive but excluding 2021 and 2022; and expected to be ongoing in 2027.
The focus is on the Vauxhall Fringing Reef – #34 in the Map of Fringing Reefs below:
Fringing Reefs in the Folkestone MPA viewed on Google Earth. Reef Numbers are from Table 2, and Figs 22-24 in Maclean & Oxenford, 2016. The MPA Zones extend further seaward than shown above (to 660- 950 meters from shore). Total area is 2.1 sq kilometers, There are patch and bank reefs situated offshore from the fringing reefs – see Appendix 1 map in IABIN 2010. ZONES I: Scientific Zone; 2: Northern Water Sports Zone; 3: Recreational Zone; 4: Southern Water Sports Zone.
In my first views of Vauxhall Reef, in 2015, I was astounded to find healthy Acropora cervicornis, A. palmata and A. prolifera, and a wonderful variety of fish; further I found that the reef overall was in remarkably good health; this was in sharp contrast to the other fringing reefs in the MPA which were/are highly degraded.
The site is well visited by snorkelling ventures who anchor to fixed buoys in the vicinity of a wreck sunk for recreational purposes purpose just seaward of the fringing reef; besides the plethora of fish over the wreck, snorkellers are guided over the outer spurs of the fringing reef which until recently hosted over 80% living coral cover.
The “remarkably good health” began to change drastically in 2023 with the arrival of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease; I documented its spread on Vauxhall Reef over the early months of 2023.
When I returned in early months of 2024, I was shocked to find that the many colonies of Acropora prolifera on the Reef Flats up to the Reef Crest that I first observed and documented in 2015 were completely dead and overgrown with epiphytic organisms. Likewise most of the stinging corals (Millepoa spp) which has been especially abundant on the reef crest and reef slope were 95% dead. These mortalities were clearly due to extreme warming events in the fall of 2023.
When I returned in 2025, I was shocked to find that the outer spurs that had hosted >80% living coral cover had been massively disrupted; that was attributable to swells associated with Hurricane Beryl on June 30/July 1, 2024.