1 - Uniqueness or rarity
1.1 The reefs of the Saba Bank are far removed from land and
as a consequence there is an absence of land-based influences such as elevated
levels of sedimentation due to increased erosion, high nutrient concentrations
caused by pollution from agricultural run-off and wastewater disposal, or
sedimentation from coastal construction activities. Worldwide, reefs are in
decline, from just such impacts originating from land. This unique position of
the Saba Bank reefs, provide a potentially greater resilience to changes in the
environmental conditions, such us climate change, and it is a relatively
untouched centre for recruitment and recuperation for the coastal reefs in the
region.
1.2 The coral reefs of the Saba Bank, characterized by high
coral cover of around 70 per cent in some places, have been determined to be
among the four healthiest of the Caribbean, based on the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid
Reef Assessment (AGRRA) health index, which is a compilation of many variables,
including coral cover, fish populations, presence of diseases, types and cover
of algae on the reef, and ratio of living coral versus dead
coral1.
1.3 Because of its location and prevailing currents in the
area, the Saba Bank is a source of larval recruitment for corals and coral reef
associated organisms, including important fishery species such as conch
(Strombus gigas), and lobster (Panulirus argus) for the entire region.
1.4 A two-week study, carried out in January 2006 by
Conservation International, the former Netherlands Antilles government and the
Smithsonian Institution's Museum of Natural History, to investigate the
biodiversity of the Saba Bank, found that the Saba Bank has the largest
diversity of algae in the Caribbean. A diverse algae community is a critical
food source for the herbivores on the Bank and provides shelters and habitats
for fish and other invertebrate species.
1.5 Further studies, conducted in 2007, found two new species
of gorgonian corals, a deep and shallow water species. Since the gorgonians of
the Caribbean are a well-known group of corals with only a limited number of
species, the discovery of a new species in the shallowest parts of the Bank is
very unique.
1.6 The Saba Bank is home to a number of species on the
International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, such as the
humpback whale, sperm whale, green turtle and the hawksbill turtle, yellow fin
grouper, snowy grouper, Nassau grouper, queen triggerfish, yellow mouth grouper,
bull shark, and tiger shark.
1
(Kramer, P.A. (2003) Synthesis of coral reef health indicators for the western
Atlantic: Results of the AGRRA program (1997-2000). Atoll Res. Bull.(496),
1-57).