The Island's coral reefs are its "crown jewels" and should be protected at all costs, say two leading scientists.

Dr. John Ogden and Dr. William Precht have spent the past few days diving Bermuda's reefs to report on their health at a global summit, and describe their findings as "wonderful".

Dr. Precht, Manager of the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary Damage Assessment and Restoration Program, said scientists had visited reefs from offshore to inshore ahead of next week's 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Fort Lauderdale.

Describing his own conclusions, Dr. Precht said: "The first thing that was conspicuous to me was that the coral cover is still so amazingly high and the macroalgae cover is, in many areas, zero. These two things are excellent indicators of reef health.

"This is my first visit to Bermuda. I've worked on reefs in the Caribbean and Western Atlantic since 1978 and these reefs are in as good a shape now as most of the reefs I was looking at three decades ago.

"Most of the reefs I've seen in the Caribbean have died due to coral disease and bleaching, both of which are related to rising sea surface temperatures. I think Bermuda can escape that by favour of its geography."

Dr. Precht said that due to the Island's northerly latitude, the coral reefs were blessed with slightly cooler temperatures than in the Caribbean.

"One of the things I've also noticed is that the water is a lot cooler here," said Dr. Precht. "The water is a couple of degrees cooler and so I think that three degree Celsius shift is very important. Where there are major bleaching events in the Caribbean and sometimes Florida, Bermuda escapes that because of its latitude. Bermuda is on the edge of the reef-building belt of the Caribbean and Western Atlantic and is blessed by its geography.

"The reefs here are in such wonderful condition compared to what I get to look at on a daily basis."

However, Dr. Precht also noticed evidence on inshore reefs of anchor damage. "This is typical of multi-users such as fishermen and divers," he said. "There are ways of management such as establishing mooring buoys, but to implement that type of management plan you have to have all of the stakeholders agree on it.

"Overall though, the general condition of the reefs is amazing, they are really the crown jewels."

Bermuda was one of nine field-trip sites for coral reef scientists travelling to the 11th International Coral Reef Symposium (ICRS) in Florida. The Bermuda Zoological Society and Dr. Thad Murdoch, chief scientist of the Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping (BREAM) project, revealed the pristine reefs of the Island to 11 visiting scientists.

The ICRS conference - held every four years - will bring together the latest findings on the state of coral reefs around the world.

Dr. Ogden, Director of the Florida Institute of Oceanography, told a Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute public lecture this week that Dr. Murdoch's BREAM project had shown "the coral cover on Bermuda's reefs has not changed".

"It hasn't changed in the interval where reefs in the rest of the Caribbean have changed precipitously," he said.

"The question is - why has Bermuda escaped?".

Dr. Ogden told The Royal Gazette he had three reasons why.

"I have an idea, and that is Bermuda is a tiny piece of geography which rises abruptly from very deep water in the Atlantic and is bathed on all sides by pure uncontaminated water which comes from a great distance and a great age. In some places the upwelling of the water is thousands of years old. Despite rising temperatures, there is sufficient mixing of all of these to carry much of the coral growth.

"The second thing is, Bermuda has had control over fishing. A healthy reef needs healthy fishing on top of it, and there are marine areas here, such as spawning areas for the black grouper, which people are trying to protect.

"The third thing is the issue of climate change. Everywhere else in the Caribbean is experiencing unseasonally long periods of high temperatures and this is probably connected with global warming," said Dr. Ogden.

"But here in Bermuda, you are so far north that the water even in the heat of summer never gets as high as it does in the rest of the Caribbean to top the threshold where temperatures disturb the growth of corals, such as through bleaching.

"We haven't had bleaching in Bermuda, and the reason for that is you are so far north. The fact that it gets colder for six months of the year also brings a respite."

Dr. Ogden said: "It is phenomenal to be in a place where this hasn't happened to corals, and I think Bermuda can take national pride in the health, extent and importance of its marine resources, but please be cautious.

"When all is said and done, Bermuda has to be wary of development and concerned about fishing pressures, sewage outfalls and contamination of its waters by waste dumps, such as the one by the airport."

Asked for his views on Government's current feasibility study into longline fishing in the EEZ, Dr. Ogden told The Royal Gazette: "Get someone like Thad Murdoch to investigate the impact of longline fishing everywhere in the world where it's been established and to report back to the Government, and I would say that report would say it's been a disaster. It's not only the fish and corals which are destroyed but the bycatch of marine animals, such as turtles and sharks.

"This kind of fishery is shocking and wasteful, and very damaging."

Dr. Ogden welcomed however, plans to place a Total Economic Value (TEV) on the Island's coral reefs - by which, penalties could be levied against anyone who damages the coral.

"We've just finished the same thing in Florida for the same reason - to impress upon the state the economic impact of the marine environment," said Dr. Ogden.

"In Florida we are a very tourism-driven economy. The value of marine activity which depends on the marine environment is about $100 billion annually."