Divers send letter to parliament regarding concerns

April 24, 2023  –WILLEMSTAD – A group of professional divers has sent a letter to parliament, warning about the decline of coral reefs in Curaçao. 

The group is calling on the government to implement new and stricter measures and to better enforce existing legislation by appointing law officers. The divers are sounding the alarm now in response to a report from the Caribbean Research and Management of Biodiversity (Carmabi) that shows a new coral disease is destroying the reefs. 

The divers also indicate that there are many illegal activities taking place daily on and around the water. For example, the group states in the letter that there is a lot of illegal fishing with trawls, continual dumping of sewage and wastewater along the coast, and illegal construction in the coastal waters. 

It is unknown what the reaction of parliament to the letter is.