Sea Save Foundation strives to protect our oceans by raising awareness about the beauty of marine ecosystems and their fundamental importance to human survival. We seek solutions, advance public policy, and drive advocacy.

about the petition
The Grand Cayman Islands have been known for the beauty that Mother Nature created, such as the coral reefs. Besides their beauty, coral reefs play important roles in the marine ecosystem, such as providing and protecting up to 25 percent of fish in the ocean, controlling the amount of carbon dioxide in the water, and protecting coasts from strong currents and waves by slowing them down. Although coral reefs are on a rapid decline owing to warmer ocean temperatures, pollution, and destruction, some still remain near the islands…for now.

Even though the island is generating $9 million a year from tourists, the government of the Grand Cayman Islands is looking into building permanent cruise ship piers for big cruise lines such as Carnival Cruise Lines and Royal Caribbean International to generate even more tourists. To build piers big enough for these ships would require dredging of the coral reefs. Dredging is the process used to remove sediments and debris from the bottom of bodies of water, and this is necessary to make waterways. In other words, the corals, some of which are on the IUCN Red List as critically endangered, will have to be destroyed to make way for the people who came to see them.

A decline has already been observed in the Cayman Islands. Scientists observed a 40 percent decline in live coral cover from 1999 to 2004 owing to increase in water temperature. The coral reefs have only recently made a miraculous comeback, with the reefs surviving again. They are still in the process of recovery, but with this dredging project, the reefs will be in serious danger and the beauty that attracted people to the island will no longer exist.

Please sign the petition to tell the minister of environment for the Cayman Islands to stop what it is planning to do before it is too late.

To sign the petition go to: https://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/do-not-dredge-in-the-cayman-islands?cmpid=action-eml-2015-07-10-update