Study confirms coral decline as Barbados acts to protect coastline

After 40 years of decline, coral reefs numbers in Barbados and the Caribbean are under serious pressure. Now, a new global assessment warns that decades of coral reef decay are worsening because of rising ocean temperatures, coral disease, unsustainable fishing and the growing impact of sargassum.

The recently released Status of Coral Reefs of the World: 2025 report, supported by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), shows that reefs are changing at an unprecedented rate.

Modeled temporal trends of hard coral cover in Caribbean subregions from 1980 to 2024. The solid line represents the estimated median hard coral cover while darker and l. Credit Status of Coral Reefs of the World 2025.