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Approximately 15% of the Caribbean’s coral reefs are currently threatened by marine sources of pollution such as wastewater discharge from ships. Sewage runoff causes serious damage to coral reefs because it stimulates the growth of aquatic plants and algae which threatens marine life.

Oil pollution has been shown to have detrimental effects, both physically and chemically, on a wide range of marine life. Coastal and Marine Environments can take several decades to recover from oil pollution.

Solid waste is any persistent, manufactured or processed solid material that is discarded or left abandoned. Such material that is not disposed of properly has the potential to negatively impact the Caribbean Sea.

What can I do? What can we do? How can we reduce marine litter?

Sargassum is brown algae which originate in the Sargasso Sea of the Western Atlantic Ocean. It grows up to several meters and can float in the open ocean.

Brown algae of Sargassum genus form dense populations constituting free floating rafts on the ocean surface. These sargassum rafts have been observed for a long time in the northern Caribbean Basin and the Atlantic ocean, and their presence has notably given its name to the Sargasso Sea in the North Atlantic Ocean.

Massive quantities of pelagic sargassum occurred throughout the Caribbean in 2011, impacting aquatic resources, fisheries, shorelines, waterways, and tourism. Similar events have occurred since then, with a particularly heavy influx of sargassum observed during 2015.

The Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) Protocol, born out of the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region (Cartagena Convention), came into force in 2000 and is the only regional biodiversity legal agreement for the advancement of the conservation and protection of the marine environment in the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR).

Benefits of the Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife Especially (SPAW, 1990) to the Cartagena Convention (1983).