Bleaching in Belize >> >> Hello, my name is Kim Young and I work for Peter Hughes Diving on a liveaboard called the Wave Dancer in Belize, Central America. After receiving this fax from my empoyer, Cyndi Quelch, another instructor onboard, and myself have tried to answer the questions to the best of our ability. >> >> 1. We primarily dive Turneffe Atoll and Lighthouse Atoll quite extensively. We have seen evidence of coral bleaching on all the dive sites surrounding these Atolls. >> >> 2. The coral bleaching started in late July, early August. The temperature at that time was 2 to 4 degrees Farenheit above normal for that time of year. It is now the middle of November and the corals that are affected by coral bleaching are completely white. >> >> 3. It is difficult to answer this question. The perimeter surrounding these Atolls is all reef structure and there is evidence of severe coral bleaching everywhere. Turneffe Atoll is 36 miles long, and 8 miles wide at its widest point. Lighthouse Atoll is 25 miles long and 5 miles wide at its widest point. Both Atolls are oval shaped. >> >> 4. It was fresh bleaching. We have very little algae problems here >> >> 5. The shallower areas (less than 30ft) are probably affected the worst. Although, we have seen evidence of huge plate corals completely white at depths of 80ft. It seems to be less abundant the deeper you go. >> >> 6. The types of corals that are most affected here are: Plate and sheet corals (these are the worst), some brain coral (not all completely white yet), starlet coral, boulder star coral and elkhorn coral in the shallows. >> >> 7. The water temperature changed in the spring time as per normal. As the summer progressed, we had higher than average water temperature, about 2 degrees Farenheit above normal. It has also stayed about 2 degrees warmer each month and continues to do so at this time. >> >> 8. No other comments at this time. Would it help to send slides? We do E-6 slide processing on the boat. >> >> I hope this helps. >> >> Kim Sandell-Young >> Peter Hughes Diving Inc., Scuba Diving Instructor/Office Manager >> M/V Wave Dancer >> PO Box 1483 >> Belize City, Belize, Central America >> 501-2-32107 (phone/fax), wavedancer@btl.net >> >> PS. We are only in port from Friday at 2pm until Saturday at 5pm. >>