Guanahacabibes, Cuba, Coral Reef, President Trump, Donald Trump, National Aquarium, Havana, Marine Life, Marine, Ocean, Sea, Caribbean, Coral nurseryThis is Cuba’s first coral nursery, designed to help the country repopulate its reefs, some of the most pristine in the Caribbean, and make them more resilient in the face of global threats to coral like warming waters, overfishing and illness. Corals are animals that settle on the ocean floor and support more sea life than any other marine environment. But since the 1970s, more than half the coral cover in the Caribbean has died, according to the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network. ALSO SEE| Photos: With pristine reefs at stake, Cuba bets on coral nurseriesCuba’s corals have been somewhat shielded by the relative underdevelopment of its coastline, lower use of fertilizer and establishment of protected areas covering a quarter of all insular waters. “Cuba is like a living lab of resilient coral reefs, of the kind that have long disappeared from Florida,” said Dan Whittle, who heads the Caribbean program at Environmental Defense Fund.

Source: Hindustan Times June 10, 2020 07:29 UTC