THE NATURE Conservancy (TNC), one of the world’s leading conservation organisations, along with partners, has published detailed maps of important shallow underwater habitats throughout the entire Caribbean, among them all shallow water coral reefs.
“For the first time ever, countries and territories now have a clear picture of the habitats found beneath the waves of the Caribbean. These revolutionary maps will help guide the sustainable use and protection of marine resources for island nations in which 60% of living coral has been lost in the past few decades alone,” said news release from the TNC.
The maps were created by stitching together tens of thousands of high-resolution satellite images, and in some places using aerial fly-over technology, drones, and divers to dig deeper and validate the data.