“The beautiful Jícaro reef is dead. Rest in peace, though I’m not sure if it can.” That’s what Javier Baltodano, a biologist from Liberia and a member of the Colectivo Ecologista Liberiano, wrote last week in a column for The Voice of Guanacaste.
His account of how he first encountered the reef at Playa Jícaro, in Bahía Culebra, and how he found it dead in January of this year spread quickly after publication among local residents, environmentalists, and researchers concerned about the loss of the ecosystem.
What really happened to the reef? Why did it die? The Voice spoke with Juan José Alvarado, a researcher at the Center for Research in Marine Sciences and Limnology (CIMAR-UCR), to understand what has been documented about the causes of the reef’s death.
According to CIMAR (spanish acronym) records—monitoring the area since the 1990s—its decline is due to a combination of factors, including rising water temperatures, mass tourism, and pollution caused by urban growth.
A deadly warming
The El Niño phenomenon caused a drastic increase in water temperature in 2023, reaching 33°C—well beyond the tolerable thermal threshold for corals, which thrive in temperatures around 28°C.
In August of that year, UCR biology student Andrea Bogantes had already predicted it in a column published in The Voice: “July [2023] recorded the highest temperatures ever seen. It’s an unprecedented scenario that will likely intensify as the El Niño phenomenon progresses, with impacts that will still be felt in 2024,” she wrote.
In just a few weeks of sustained high temperatures, the reef at Playa Jícaro experienced total bleaching in August. This phenomenon, known as coral bleaching, occurs when corals become stressed due to high temperatures and expel the symbiotic microalgae that give them their color.
Tourism overload
The reef at Playa Jícaro, located in Bahía Culebra on the Papagayo Peninsula, has been subjected to immense tourism pressure. The area attracts a massive influx of visitors engaging in activities such as snorkeling, marine wildlife observation, and the use of jet skis and various boats that disrupt the marine environment.
Alvarado explains that the sheer number of tourists, sometimes hundreds swimming over the reef at the same time, places an enormous strain on the ecosystem.
Boats arrive carrying 300 people, and we’ve counted up to 15 or 20 boats in that small area. It’s a ton,” the researcher describes.
The reef suffered not only from direct interactions, such as anchors damaging the coral and physical contact from visitors, but also from broader disturbances to the marine environment: tourists chasing turtles and other marine species which are key players in maintaining ecological balance—further contributed to its degradation.
Jícaro beach reef in July 2023, when it experienced the temperature crisis that killed it.Photo: Cimar
Urban growth also plays a role
According to Alvarado, while CIMAR’s monitoring has not identified a significant increase in sedimentation due to urban expansion, they have detected a rise in particles from wastewater. This contributes to the proliferation of red tides, a phenomenon known to impact coral reefs.
As a result, marine biodiversity in this part of the Papagayo Peninsula has also changed dramatically. “It’s been said [since the 1990s] that this area was considered one of the most diverse sites in the entire Pacific,” Alvarado explains.
A glimmer of hope
Alongside continuous monitoring since the late 20th century, CIMAR launched an intervention strategy in 2015 across several reefs in the North Pacific, including Jícaro. One key initiative is coral gardening, carried out in collaboration with organizations such as the Ministry of Environment and Energy (Spanish acronym: MINAE), Raising Coral, Península Papagayo, and German cooperation programs.
“We started with 500 coral fragments on five structures, and now there are 11,000 across more than 150 structures [in various areas of the North Pacific],” Alvarado details. However, he notes that at Jícaro, only about 1,000 corals have been planted so far—“which represents less than 1% of what once existed.”
Beyond increasing coral fragment transplantation, researchers are now also working to diversify the genetic makeup of the reef. They discovered that Jícaro was home to only a single coral species, which significantly reduced its ability to withstand environmental pressures.
Local actions matter. While controlling the El Niño phenomenon is beyond the reach of local communities, Alvarado emphasizes that although this tresser remains, others can still be mitigated.
One urgent measure is establishing clear regulations for managing tourism and promoting responsible practices among visitors.
Other actions to protect the coral reefs
- Avoid dropping anchors in coral areas and support the use of mooring buoys for boats.
- Do not touch the coral, and be careful not to hit them with your fins.
- Choose sunscreens free of oxybenzone and octinoxate to prevent harmful chemical exposure.
- Respect marine life – Avoid chasing or handling animals like turtles, which are essential to the ecosystem.
- Respect and follow designated visiting times and avoid overcrowding snorkeling areas with large groups.
Comments