St. Vincent and the Grenadines

St. Vincent and the Grenadines St. Vincent is a relatively young volcanic island with an active volcano towards its north end. The young coastline and volcanic sediment have prevented the development of extensive reefs, [1] and the shelf is also narrow. There are few reefs on the north and east coasts, but there is good coral growth on the rocks around headlands on the west coast. [2] Running south from the main island is the chain of the Grenadines, where there are considerable areas of reef. Some of the best-developed reefs are around the small islands of the Tobago Cays. Each island has a fringing reef, encircled by the larger Horseshoe Reef to the east. Beyond this is the larger World’s End Reef. [3] The Reefs at Risk analysis found all the 140 sq km of reefs within the waters of St. Vincent and the Grenadines to be threatened by human activities. The most pervasive threat is overfishing threatening all reefs. Coastal development was rated as threatening almost two-thirds, while marine-based pollution and sedimentation were estimated as threatening 30 and 15 percent, respectively. Over the past 15 years, a number of reports have indicated that the condition of the reefs around the Tobago Cays has deteriorated as a result of a variety of factors that include storm damage, white band and other diseases, physical damage from fishing gear and boat anchors, and localized pollution from visiting yachts. [4] The Fisheries Conservation Act designated 10 conservation areas within the territorial waters. One of these, the Tobago Cays, has been legally designated a marine park. [1] M. Spalding et al., World Atlas of Coral Reefs (Berkeley, California: University of California Press and UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center, 2001), p. 164 [2] A. Smith et al., “Status of coral reefs in the Lesser Antilles, Western Atlantic,” in Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 1998. C. Wilkinson, ed. (Townsville: Australian Institute of Marine Science, 1998), p. 142 [3] M. Spalding et al., World Atlas of Coral Reefs (Berkeley, California: University of California Press and UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Center, 2001), p. 165 [4] A.F. Smith, C.S. Rogers, and C. Bouchon. 1999. “Status of Western Atlantic Coral Reefs in the Lesser Antilles.” Proceedings of the 8th International Coral Reef Symposium, pp 351-356