National Geographic: Jewels of the Caribbean Sea Page #4

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at birth and grow very quickly.

They'll each take up to 50 gallons of

milk a day and soon be strong enough

to make the long journey north.

The round trip is over 8,000 miles.

Once these humpback whales were

hunted almost to extinction.

Only a hundred or so wintered in the Caribbean.

Now they have made a modest comeback.

But all is not well in their environment.

Each time they return, these waters

are increasingly unfamiliar.

This area once included thousands of

manatees, reef sharks, and grouper.

Now many of them are gone.

The reef itself has declined.

Many of its jewels are missing.

In just a few years

there has been dramatic change.

One reason is a new predator,

ever more common,

that strikes from above.

Fisherman of the Caribbean

cast their nets.

Their hunt for food from waters around

the reef is more and more intense.

Their methods are increasingly

sophisticated and life is strained

from the sea.

Longlines are set for groupers

and sharks, and lures are trawled

through the waters by game fishermen.

In some places the remaining jewels

look to a future shadowed by change.

Their homes are not

what they used to be.

New reefs grow on structures that

are artificial and for the residents

are fraught with danger.

Oil rigs provide shelter on one hand,

the threat of spills and pollution

on the other.

And these new reefs may not endure

for thousands of years.

They are here today by man's whim

and could easily be gone tomorrow.

In these devastating times

a new creature has come to the reef

the sport diver.

Because of divers, sea life is

increasingly valuable alive and free.

This single shark brings millions of

tourist dollars

to the Bahamas every year.

This grouper attracts thousands

to resorts in the Cayman islands.

These dolphins play with thousands of

divers, bringing wealth

to the struggling nations

of the West Indies.

So there is a new form of symbiotic

behavior in the undersea world.

Marine creatures bring joy to

creatures of the land and we, in turn,

must provide protection against the

ravages of overfishing and pollution.

Above all, now there are

human witnesses to the damage humans

are doing here.

There is still a wealth of precious

jewels strewn about the Caribbean,

and there is still time to save them.

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