Page created Aug 7, 2025
A set of video footage from Vauxhall Fringing Reef over the period 2015 to early 2023.
- Reef Crest onto Seaward Slope
- Orbicella spp. Reef Crest onto Seaward Slope
- Leading edges of Spurs, Seaward Slope/Reef Front
- Orbicella annularis & Acropora
cervicornis on the Reef Front - Fish
- Acropora prolifera at the Reef Flat/
Reef Crest Interface
Comment (Drafting)
Observed in the early months of 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020, the Vauxhall Fringing Reef* was a healthy reef with overall high % coral cover and high coral diversity and an abundance and diversity of fish. As such, it stood out from other fringing reefs in the MPA which were (and still are) highly degraded. “The Wreck” and adjacent outer fringing reef at Vauxhall were and still are a popular site for snorkel boats. There, boats tie up to fixed anchorage about 150 m offshore, explore The Wreck and the outer edges of the fringing reef. In February of 2025 a skipper of one of those boats told me that even following the recent damage to the outer reef from Hurricane Beryl (July 2024), the Vauxhall Reef is by far the best snorkelling reef in Barbados.
* Reef # 34 in the MPA, see Map
In 2022, SCTLD (Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease) arrived in Barbados, and as documented in pages on this website, proliferated on Vauxhall Reef in 2023. Extreme warming/coral bleaching occurred in the summer months of 2023 and continued intermittently through 2024 and into 2025. In July of of 2024, swells from Hurricane Beryl wreaked havoc on the west coast of Barbados. These three disturbances had dramatic negative effects: SCTLD attacked many brain and massive corals, the extreme warming affected the Acroporoids and Milleporas in particular, but also many brain corals; and Hurricane Beryl physically disrupted the Porites-dominated spurs on the seaward slope.
This set of videos shows the state of Vauxhall Reef 2015-early 2023, before the onset of the SCTLD, the bleaching events of 2023 and subsequently and before Hurricane Beryl. More videos to come, I will also be adding some descriptions of and comments on the content of each video. Over time I plan to add videos showing changes in Vauxhall Reef in relation to the state of the reef illustrated by the 2015 to early 2023 videos.
These are 1920×1080 pixel MP4 videos posted on my versicolor.ca webspace. Depending on the browser, they may be shown directly or require downloading.
– david p