REASONS TO CONTRIBUTE

CCMI is working to understand what is causing the decline in the health of our reefs and what might contribute to more resilient reefs. Our goal is to establish the best protective strategies and promote realistic solutions that will reduce the major threats by humans so that reefs can weather the stresses caused by global warming and climate change. In addition, we aim to communicate any knowledge gained to both public and private entities in order to facilitate the changes that will reduce decline on reefs. In doing so, we aim to become "the" center of excellence for climate change and coral reef stress.

 

LITTLE CAYMAN RESEARCH CENTER (LCRC) We have built the Little Cayman Research Center as a research and training facility. It's location is important as a demonstration site for coral reef resilience and as a reference site for scientists working on coral reefs with low human impact.

 

RESEARCH CCMI and visiting scientists are revealing new species and higher biodiversity than previously known on our reefs. Our work is also showing that, while adult corals have been reduced by 40%, juvenile corals of every major species important on Caribbean reefs are also re-populating the reefs. In addition, we have documented that a deadly disease called "White Plague" is the leading cause of mortality of corals in the region. Finally, as part of our NOAA partnership, we have invested in an ICON ocean observatory to better understand how changing climate is recorded in tropical oceans.

 

EDUCATION CCMI provides a variety of school, undergraduate, graduate, and professional marine ecology and conservation field-oriented education. These programs allow students to gain a better understanding of critical issues facing tropical marine ecosystems and are aimed at improving our youth, community and visitors' appreciation and understanding of marine conservation issues.

 

OUTREACH Our outreach programs are aimed at improving our youth, community, and visitor appreciation and understanding of marine conservation issues. For example, through our "Ocean Literacy" program (which is based on a NOAA and National Geographic Society initiative), CCMI is helping educate school teachers and children in ocean science and ensuring each child understands key concepts about the ocean and ocean life by the time they are 12 years old.

 

CONSERVATION Scientists are reporting that coral reefs are now more threatened than tropical rain forests. Nearly 40% of the corals in the Caribbean have died in the past decade. Our scientific mission aims to provide solutions that will reduce human threats to coral reefs. We are partnering with NOAA to install sophisticated instruments on coral reefs to help predict, model, and keep track of environmental changes so that we can better manage our reefs. In addition, we have provided scholarships for young people to learn about coral reef conservation because they are our future leaders and policy makers.