Montserrat Getting Assistance To Fight Coral Disease Outbreaks

The Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Housing and the Environment says Dr Greta Aeby, has begun training stakeholders in Montserrat on coral disease identification, monitoring, and treatment.

The week-long training programme is being delivered to build capacity among government staff and divers for responding rapidly and effectively to potential coral disease outbreaks.

This Coral disease training is part of a wider JNCC (joint nature conservation committee) project, funded by the UK governments’ Conflict, Stability and Security Fund, which is supporting the UK Overseas Territories to manage the regional outbreak of stony coral tissue loss disease through the implementation of tailored coral reef action plans.

Since stony coral tissue loss disease was first recorded in Florida in 2014 it has spread rapidly throughout the Caribbean.

The disease poses a serious risk to already vulnerable reefs because it causes a rapid rate of coral loss and effects many species. It is suspected that SCTLD is already on Montserrat’s reefs and thus monitoring coral reefs regularly to detect the disease early is critical for mounting a rapid treatment response to limit the spread of disease.

The current training will support this preparedness by developing an understanding of stony coral tissue loss disease monitoring and treatment methods and providing the opportunity to practice these in the field.

Effective management is crucial for protecting the health of Montserrat’s coral reefs, so that they can continue to provide vital services to society and resilience against future threats.