Caribbean Coral Reef Severely Damaged
Mark Stevenson / Associated Press
Authorities filed charges Friday in what environmentalists called the ''massive
destruction'' of a protected coral reef off Mexico's Caribbean coast believed
to have been caused by an off-course cruise ship.
The federal Attorney General's Office (PGR) has begun investigating the
complaint. Those responsible for the damage could be subject to fines of up to
65,000 dollars under Mexican law.
The incident - in which a large ship sailed directly over a coral bed near the
resort of Cancun, grinding the reef to pieces - came just months after the site
was declared an international protected area.
Authorities in Cancun, 800 miles east of Mexico City, said that the Leeward, a
Norwegian-flagged ship of the Norway Cruise Line, was in the area at the time
and was apparently responsible for the damage.
The charges filed with the PGR by the Attorney General for Environmental
Protection (Profepa) do
not name a culprit, but said evidence ''indicates that the damage was caused by
a deep-draft ship.''
The Leeward apparently sailed far out of a sea channel Wednesday between Cancun
and nearby Isla
Mujeres island and ground up over 250 feet of coral. One report suggested more
than 4,400 square feet of reef were completely destroyed.
Roberto Sangerman Elizondo, director of Profepa's Quintan Roo office, said the
damaged reef is
part of the Parque Marino Nacional de Isla Mujeres.
Sangerman also said evidence exists which appears to indicate the Leeward was
responsible for the accident, but "some contradictions still remain
unresolved."
"We will continue with an investigation to see how many species of coral were
irreparably damaged
and record other specific negative impacts, but the criminal aspect of the
investigation is out of our
hands," he said. "We will help the PGR in whatever way we can, but we will let
them handle any
criminal evidence."
Environmentalist Araceli Dominguez of the Maya nvironmental Group said the reef
- one of three
in the area - had been ''80 percent destroyed. The coral was just shaved off.''
Oceanographer Roman Bravo Prieto told television reporters that it would take
500 years or more
for the reef to recover.
''The damage is worse than if a full-force hurricane had run ashore,'' he
added.
David Gutierrez of the Quintana Roo state office of the Environment Secretariat
said navigational
error was the likely cause. ''The sea lane is quite wide and these ships have
sophisticated
equipment,'' Gutierrez said.
Environmentalists in the coastal area had complained in 1996 that cruise ship
traffic in the popular
tourist corridor might damage the coral, part of the Maya Reef, the world's
second-longest barrier reef. Australia's Great Barrier Reef is the world's
largest.
''This is very worrisome, because it is not the first time that a cruise ship
has come near the coral beds,'' a popular destination for divers and
snorkelers, Dominguez said.
The Leeward left Mexican waters for Miami Dec. 17.
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