To preserve or to develop? East Bay dredging project, South Caicos, Turks and Caicos Islands

Abstract

The Turks and Caicos Islands are currently in the midst of an economic revolution from a marine-based provisional economy to a tourism economy. East Bay, South Caicos, is currently under construction with plans for a 160-unit condominium complex. Included in the project plan is removal of seagrass beds in front of the development to make a sandy beach for tourists. The aims of this study were to (i) describe the bathymetry and benthic habitat coverage of East Bay before dredging takes place and (ii) perform an economic valuation on the turtle grass beds that will be dredged using ecosystem valuation and emergy analysis techniques. The bathymetry survey revealed shallow waters (<1.5 m) until the reef drop off (∼650 m offshore). Benthic habitat exhibits zonation following the general progression: sand plain, algal plain, seagrass, coral rubble and seagrass, rock and turf algae, and reef flat. Ecosystem services valued the proposed dredging area at USD $28,807 per year, compared to emergy analysis, which valued the proposed dredging site at USD $32,060 per year. The baselines presented in the study may facilitate a quantitative assessment of dredging impacts on turtle grass once dredging is complete and an economical cost-benefit-analysis of the dredging project to see whether the economic gains outweigh the ecological costs of dredging in front of the East Bay development.

Harnessing the climate mitigation, conservation and poverty alleviation potential of seagrasses: prospects for developing blue carbon initiatives and payment for ecosystem service programmes

“…Human actions provide a triumvirate of environmental, biological and climatological stressors that act across spatial and temporal scales delivering locally-specific impacts (Orth et al, 2006). Drivers of seagrass ecosystem decline include: eutrophication and solid waste disposal (nutrient pollution); aquaculture; thermal pollution; physical alteration or habitat damage (via dredging, coastal infrastructural developments, land reclamation, and mechanical destruction); disease spread and invasive species introductions; climate change; over-fishing; overexploitation; and land-runoff from deforestation, mining and agriculture (Duarte, 2002;Erftemeijer and Lewis, 2006;Orth et al, 2006;Waycott et al, 2009;Short et al, 2011;Zuidema et al, 2011;Hicks and McClanahan, 2012;Cullen-Unsworth and Unsworth, 2013;Cullen-Unsworth et al, 2014;Baker et al, 2015).…”

An ecosystems perspective for food security in the Caribbean: Seagrass meadows in the Turks and Caicos Islands

“…This is not least The fragile base of the island's economy, the lack of agricultural food production, the growing but socially fragmented population, combined with the weak system of public administration, all play a role in shaping natural resource use and management on TCI. Particular sites of concern were those at the Leeward area of Providenciales that were patchy and of low density and subject to high disturbance from boat activity and dredging (25±3% seagrass cover); East Bay on South Caicos, where seagrass meadows were extensively damaged by physical removal as a result of development [44]; and meadows in North Creek…”

“…However, knowledge is limited by incomplete spatial assessment of seagrasses and poor historical assessment of the distribution of marine habitats in TCI [44]. Given the impact of existing development on the health of the marine ecosystem and the continuing weaknesses in policy responses, the likelihood that future development will in turn result in further seagrass degradation is high.…”

Implications of Seagrass Ecosystem Degradation on Marine Resources and People’s Livelihood: A Case Study from Komave Village, Fiji

“…Seagrass ecosystems endure serious threat mostly from anthropogenic activities such as solid waste disposal, eutrophication, reclamation of land for coastal development and dredging. Introduction of invasive species, spread of disease by epiphytes, over-fishing and chemical or nutrient run-offs from agriculture also pose threat to sea grass meadows [1,5,6,17,18,19,20,21]. Additionally, seagrass ecosystems are at an extended risk from climate change through thermal pollution, ocean acidification, increased frequency of storms and changes in water flows [22,23,24].…”