Fishermen, farmers feeling it
(This was originally published in the Sunday Sun
newspaper of August 17, 1997)
Byline: Terry Ally
THE "short-term" implications for Montserratian farmers and
fishermen are not good, according to biologist Dr. Deborah Brosnan.
The Langs Soufriere Volcano has wreaked such havoc that it will be decades
before fishermen could return to the sea south of the island or farmers to
their ground.
Brosnan, president of Sustainable Ecosystems Institute (SEI), United
States, was invited by the department of tourism (before the volcano came
to life in 1995) to design a plan for marine parks, protected areas,
fisheries, and recreational zones for tourism.
Initial surveys showed Montserrat had diverse and pristine ecosystems with
great potential. But then the volcano happened.
The plans are gone - wiped out by the hot ash from ongoing eruptions and
sediment run-off from the land.
"The entire focus of the work has shifted to what impact the volcano
is having on the reefs and ultimately what that would mean for the
island's conservation," she explained.
Diving and fishing
Patch reefs can be found around the island, starting at Roches Bluff on
the southeast, to the spectacular Garibaldi reefs to the west, said to be
one of the finest in Montserrat with great potential for diving and
fishing, and those off Carr's Bay, Little Bay and Rendezvous to the north.
On land, there were lush rainforests, called cloud forests because they
were almost always in the clouds, (and generated their own clouds) on the
mountaintops to the south - a sharp contrast with the arid, deforested
mountains to the north.
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The southern forests have a rich diversity of plant life, including a
spectacular display of tree ferns, flowers, insects, lizards, birds, bats,
and butterflies along with the national bird, the rare and endangered
Montserrat Oriole.
After the volcano rumbled to life in 1995, sulphurous gases released into
the atmosphere began to form acid rain.
This burned the mountaintop vegetation and increased the acidity in the
lakes and streams in the area to a level at which fish, plankton and
invertebrates could not survive.
The effects of acid rain could also be seen further down the mountain
slopes. What was out of its reach was taken care of by the super hot
pyroclastic flows.
"There is no vegetation left, no cover to bind the soil, and there
was a lot of extra run-off coming down the ghauts (valleys) and running
into the sea."
All of the arable farms have been devastated and buried under tonnes of
ash. That ash is so hot it takes months to cool.
"I spoke with some volcanologists and they said it would take a few
months (after the volcano settles) before you can go in but because the
ash binds to the soil so well it may take up to two years to restart
cultivation."
Tropical rainforests tend to recover relatively rapidly compared to the
temperate forests, said Brosnan.
"We're talking about 20 to 40 years before you could have cover back
on the slopes of the volcano again. The area up north is really dry; there
isn't a lot of soil... it is not really a good place to develop
agriculture, but they don't have much of a choice. The island has been
devastated."
Wash into the sea
Meantime, the ash and topsoil are being washed into the sea through the
ghauts by the searing pyroclastic flows.
These smother the coral reefs, first bleaching and then totally killing
them and, taking with them to the great coral beyond, the dive tourism
potential, the livelihood of fishermen and the protection of the coastline
from the pounding waves and storm surges.
"We came back more than one year after the first eruption and there
was no reef left to the south."
Two years later, about half the coral reef systems around the island were
severely impacted. The good news is that there is some fishing ground to
the north but that is under threat because fishing there has doubled.
"Fishermen are beginning to move their pots up north, they have no
choice, so there is already in-creased fishing effort on a much smaller
area of reef, and I don't think the reef can support additional fishing.
That is worrying," said the biologist.
Another problem is that increased development in the northern safe zone
could also affect the reefs. If, for example, buildings are constructed
on-shore of the reefs, run-off and pollution might affect them.
An upside of the disaster is that it affords the opportunity for Brosnan
and her team of scientists to study how volcanoes influence the birth and
death of coral reefs in the Caribbean. Usually, after a disaster,
scientists try to recreate what happened and develop a theory as to how to
cope with recurrences. However, Brosnan has been unfortunate to witness
the entire process -
before, during and after.
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"This is really exciting because it lets us see how the ecology of
a coral reef is driven by natural catastrophe. In turn we can the
information to better manage and conserve coral reefs."
One discovery, so far, is of one coral species which has survived well
because it has the ability to clean itself, quickly, of the ash. Shape of
the colony is also important in deciding which lives and dies on the reef.
As for the Montserrat Oriole, efforts and plans are underway to relocate
what is left of the 500 pairs to safety and reintroduce them to the
Emerald Isle once the all-clear is given.
Recommended links
SEI Links:
Update
on Volcanic Impacts
Ecological
impact of the Montserrat volcano: a pictorial account of its effects on
land and sea life
Volcanic
Impacts on the Bats of Montserrat
The
Montserrat Oriole
(a daring rescue for an endangered endemic bird)
The
Coral Reefs of Montserrat, West Indies
(SEI scientific report)
The
Emergency Jetty at Little Bay Montserrat
(Environmental Impacts, Mitigation, Monitoring, and Local Training)
Snorkel
Trail at Little Bay
Ecotourism
in Montserrat
Recovery
from the volcano:
Sustainable development in Montserrat
Links to other Montserrat Sites:
Caribbean
Coastal Studies
Environmental
Hazards and Emergency Management
The
Price of Paradise
Montserrat
Information Access Center
Montserrat
Volcano Observatory
Montserrat
Newsgroup