Source: Dive Travel Business
November 14, 2012

"Tela, Honduras—A unique dive site, previously unknown to the scientific community, has been discovered by the Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL), The Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI), and their local partners near the coastal town of Tela, Honduras. The reef is so exceptional that the local municipal government recently declared it a marine protected area, and CORAL is now launching an effort with local officials, conservation groups, and business owners to ensure its future protection.

 Divers who have the opportunity to visit this area will get an extraordinary glimpse of what a Caribbean reef looked like nearly thirty years ago. The healthy reef includes an area known as Capiro Banks, which boasts an astounding 69 percent live coral cover. With the average coral cover in the Caribbean today at less than 20 percent, the reef is a rare find.

Furthermore, the reef boasts an unusually high concentration of Diadema sea urchins—important reef grazers whose populations plummeted in the 1980s. And just northwest of Capiro Banks, adjacent to a terrestrial park, the team recorded more than 800 critically endangered elkhorn corals. This important reef-building coral provides valuable habitat for marine life."

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