SITUATION TASK

In the past 30 years, Jamaica's coral reefs have become progressively more deteriorated. Both local fishermen and researchers are finding that coral exist in less than 2% of some reef ecosystems around the island. Jamaican government officials are trying to understand the problem so that they can decide on management policies. They do not understand how local fishermen are completely responsible for destroying the coral reefs, and do not know what to do about it.

You are the science adviser for the Jamaican government investigating the cause of the decline. The science adviser before you gathered a handful of information about Jamaica's coral reef ecosystem, but did not get a chance to piece the story together before her retirement. Government officials need your advice.

As a coral reef scientist, you need to provide scientific evidence to support any management plans or advice you propose. Government officials need to understand:

  1. How are local Jamaicans impacting the coral reef ecosystem?
  2. Can there be other events impacting the coral reefs? If so, what are they?
  3. If there were other causes for the deterioration of the coral reefs, how are they affecting the reef ecosystem?
  4. What can be done? It is important that you provide management suggestions to the government officials.

 
INFORMATION
This is a compilation of information that the previous science adviser gathered for this case. The information was taken from research articles, newspaper and web clippings, and technical reports. Use the information to help make your connections and formulate your line of logic. There are "connecting prompts" throughout the pages to help stimulate your thinking process. These are indicated in orange.

This web site was created by Lynn Tran at the North Carolina State University, Department of Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education on 7/12/03. Faculty advisor Dr. David Eggleston, NCSU, Department of Marine, Earth, & Atmospheric Sciences. Last updated December 29, 2003 .