Wider Caribbean Environmental Agricultural Constraints and Resource Management AMBIO 1981
...For exainple, the increased sediment loads from many small rivers (resulting from soil erosion) have proved fatal to coral reefs and other communities (20).
Urban 1000 in1000s Pop. t 3 { 41 21 57 404 31 21 15 s & 13 1 ya i ni £ 5% 0 i ) 3
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the three reef systems analyzed. those in the Gulf of Mexico had a higher level of these residues. Another study of plankton and a variety of shrimp and fish from the Gulf of Mexico and the Northern Carib- bean showed that DDTs were widely dis- tributed, although the levels were general- ly low (16). Samples with the highest con- centrations were found along coastal areas. In addition, these toxic compounds
Another aggravating problem is con- tamination of the marine environment from human wastes and garbage dis- charged from boats (13).
Agricultural waste
Marine pollution from agricultural activi- ties can be categorized broadly in terms of 1) inorganic fertilizers; 2) pesticides: 3) liquid effluents containing high organic loads from industries such as sugar re- fineries and rum distilleries and 4) high silt content run-off resulting from poor soil management practices. Although data on the importance of these sources are fairly...