STINAPA - Bonaire National Marine Park

Bonaire National Marine Park - HOME

General description

The reefs around Bonaire form a narrow fringing reef, which starts practically at the shoreline and extends to a maximum of 984 feet (300m) offshore. The whole area is protected as part of the Bonaire National Marine Park and legislation ensures wise use of the island's coral reefs, sea grass and mangroves.

The general structure and zonation pattern of the reefs of the leeward (western) shore is:

A shallow terrace extends (98 – 492 feet (30 - 150m) from the shore to the drop-off, which starts at a depth of approximately 33 – 49’ (10-15m). The terrace has a characteristic zonation (shallow to deep) of Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata); Staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and a mixed zone with Boulder Star coral (Montastrea annularis), the dominant stony coral, and a variety of gorgonia are represented.
From the drop-off the fore reef slopes with an inclination between 30° and 60°, to a sediment-covered platform at a depth of around 164’ (50m). From 33-82’ (10-25m) the dominant coral species is usually Boulder Star coral (Montastrea annularis), locally also Lettuce coral (Agaricia agaricites). At greater depths the dominant species are the plate-forming corals (Agaricians), Great Star coral (Montastrea cavernosa) and Stephanocoenia michilini.

Approximately 55 other species of coral can be found on the reefs along with the dominants mentioned above. These vary by habitat. The density and distribution of gorgonians, black corals (Antipatharians) and sponges differs between areas.

Atypical reef structures on the leeward shore can be found at the following locations:

Shallow water spur and groove structures can be found at Boca Bartol and Playa Benge in Washington Park (at the northernmost part of the island)
In the north of Bonaire, the western-facing shore often hosts coral heads several meters in diameter in shallow water. A boulder coral three feet (one m) in diameter is two to three hundred years old.
On the north of the island, the southern-facing shore reef slope shows buttress formations and is steeper than average, with the deep water sediment platform occurring below 328’ (100m).
On Klein Bonaire the northeastern coast has virtually no shallow water terrace and the drop-off begins between 6 and 16’ (2-5m).
At some sites south of the airport there is an intermediate sediment platform at 82-98’ (25-30m) and a secondary drop-off (double reef).

On the windward (eastern) shore of Bonaire the terrace generally extends 328-656’ (100-200m) offshore to a depth of 40’ (12m). It is covered primarily with crustose coralline algae and Sargassum, though locally also with sea fans. The reef slope is generally far less steep than is found on the leeward shore with less coral cover and abundant brown algae.

Lac, an open bay on the windward shore, is the main lagoon area with mangroves and seagrasses. All other lagoon areas are landlocked, being closed off from the sea by a coral rubble barrier, and have therefore formed hyper-saline environments (saliñas).

While it is possible to access shore sites on the leeward side of Bonaire all year round, conditions on the windward side are unpredictable.

« back to the previous page

Visitation

Approximately 38,000 visitors per year.

« back to the previous page

Ecosystems