Sietske van der Wal is Inter Marine Park Manager and Conservation Education Manager of Arikok National Park and was the person who made the statement about what is happening with the coral disease in the region. There’s currently a disease called Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD) that started in Florida in 2014 and started to flood the Caribbean region.
According to Sietske van der Wal, there are indications that there are several corals in our sea in Aruba that have this disease. It’s good to emphasize, however, that it’s normal for there to be disease in our corals. There’s always two to three percent of our corals that contain disease, you can look at it, a person here who has the flu can be categorized here or there, but as for the disease we’re treating now, Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, it’s probably arrived in Aruba and we’re now in the process of confirming that together with experts from abroad who are monitoring the situation.
The international organisation will assist Aruba in identifying Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in Aruba. I must also say that the disease has already been confirmed on Bonaire, the disease has been seen on Curacao and Aruba indicates that it is there.
According to Sietske van der Wal, the disease is highly contagious among corals and spreads very quickly between corals. It should also be clear that it’s not affecting humans, but other corals. There are already 45 species of coral that have been documented with Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease.
This means that the coral reef that Aruba has, which is made up of different types of coral, can be affected by Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease and that the marine life and the ecosystem that depends on it, and also the beauty that we as humans depend on for our pleasure and for our tourism but especially for our food source.
According to Sietske van der Wal, a disease so severe that it can affect a coral reef will eventually affect us as humans. As humans, we can minimize the impact on the coral. It’s important to realize that it’s not just diseases that minimize the impact on corals. There are many other forms of pressure on our corals, like pollution, bleaching, human impact.
In addition to the fact that we have all learned from COVID to wash our hands regularly and keep everything around us clean, the same practice should also be applied when walking in the sea near coral reefs. Although van der Wal believes it’s important for everyone to be aware that we as humans can also touch other corals and that it’s important to decontaminate our materials and there are several solutions for that, for example a 1% bleach solution. The bleach is also important not to spit in seawater because it’s not good for our seas, it can be left in the sun so the defector is not active and it has less impact on marine life.
According to Sietske van der Wal, it was great to see the community come together and unite where everyone realizes that the situation is serious and that everyone knows that they need to be more careful and also look at how this is handled and what can be done further to prevent the disease as much as possible.