The Bonaire National Marine Park or BNMP is one of the oldest

marine reserves A marine reserve is a type of marine protected area (MPA). An MPA is a section of the ocean where a government has placed limits on human activity. A marine reserve is a marine protected area in which removing or destroying natural or cultural ...

in the world. It includes the sea around Bonaire and

Klein Bonaire Klein Bonaire (Dutch for "Little Bonaire") is a small uninhabited islet off the west coast of the Caribbean island of Bonaire, and is part of the Dutch special municipality of Bonaire. Geography The Klein Bonaire islet, which sits within th ...

from the high water line to a depth of sixty meters. The park was established in 1979 and covers 2700 hectares (6700 acres)

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

seagrass Seagrasses are the only flowering plants which grow in marine environments. There are about 60 species of fully marine seagrasses which belong to four families (Posidoniaceae, Zosteraceae, Hydrocharitaceae and Cymodoceaceae), all in the or ...

- and mangrove vegetation. The

lagoon A lagoon is a shallow body of water separated from a larger body of water by a narrow landform, such as reefs, barrier islands, barrier peninsulas, or isthmuses. Lagoons are commonly divided into ''coastal lagoons'' (or ''barrier lagoons'') ...

Lac Lac is the resinous secretion of a number of species of lac insects, of which the most commonly cultivated is ''Kerria lacca''. Cultivation begins when a farmer gets a stick that contains eggs ready to hatch and ties it to the tree to be infes ...

is also part of the underwater park. In 1999 the underwater park received the status of '' national park '' from the Netherlands Antilles. The uninhabited island

was added to the underwater park as a legally protected nature reserve in 2001. The west side of Bonaire is littered with diving sites that are easily accessible from the beach. The dive sites around Klein Bonaire are accessible by boat for divers. With the exception of a small area, the BNMP is completely open to divers with a total of 86 public dive sites.

Geography

The national park covers the waters around Bonaire from the high water mark to a depth of 60 meters.Kalli De Meyer, Duncan MacRa
Bonaire National Marine Park Management Plan 2006
STINAPA Bonaire Also some coastal stretches with mangrove forests, for example in the lagoon

. Part of the park is also the uninhabited island

. The national park also contains several important wetlands, which are particularly protected under the

Ramsar Convention The Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance Especially as Waterfowl Habitat is an international treaty for the conservation and sustainable use of Ramsar site, Ramsar sites (wetlands). It is also known as the Convention on W ...

. In general Bonaire reef ecosystem has fewer

macroalgae Seaweed, or macroalgae, refers to thousands of species of macroscopic, multicellular, marine algae. The term includes some types of '' Rhodophyta'' (red), ''Phaeophyta'' (brown) and ''Chlorophyta'' (green) macroalgae. Seaweed species such as ...

, a higher coral cover and more young corals per square metre than comparable reefs on

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

List of World Heritage in Danger The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention,Full title: ''Conv ...

such as

Belize Barrier Reef Reserve System The Belize Barrier Reef is a series of coral reefs straddling the coast of Belize, roughly offshore in the north and in the south within the country limits. The Belize Barrier Reef is a long section of the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System, ...

.Bonaire Marine Park
UNESCO World Heritage Center

Flora and Fauna

Open Water

The flora and fauna of the open water off the coast of Bonaire are not well researched. The water, as typical of the region, is quite warm and contains few natural nutrients, but large quantities of phytoplankton live in this area. Large fish occasionally observed in this area include

tuna A tuna is a saltwater fish that belongs to the tribe Thunnini, a subgrouping of the Scombridae ( mackerel) family. The Thunnini comprise 15 species across five genera, the sizes of which vary greatly, ranging from the bullet tuna (max len ...

wahoo Wahoo (''Acanthocybium solandri'') is a scombrid fish found worldwide in tropical and subtropical seas. It is best known to sports fishermen, as its speed and high-quality flesh makes it a prized and valued game fish. In Hawaii, the wahoo is kn ...

marlin Marlins are fish from the family Istiophoridae, which includes about 10 species. A marlin has an elongated body, a spear-like snout or bill, and a long, rigid dorsal fin which extends forward to form a crest. Its common name is thought to deri ...

and swordfish. Also

whale shark The whale shark (''Rhincodon typus'') is a slow-moving, filter-feeding carpet shark and the largest known extant fish species. The largest confirmed individual had a length of .McClain CR, Balk MA, Benfield MC, Branch TA, Chen C, Cosgrove J, ...

s have already been spotted in the waters.

Seabed

At the bottom of the Bonaire National Marine Park are extensive seagrass beds, which are of the seagrass species ''

Thalassia testudinum ''Thalassia testudinum'', commonly known as turtlegrass, is a species of marine seagrass. It forms meadows in shallow sandy or muddy locations in the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. Turtle grass and other seagrasses form meadows which are i ...

'' and '' Syringodium filiforme'' and green algae of the genus '' Halimeda'' dominated. In the seagrass beds one can find a nursery for reef fish and a foraging ground for endangered queen conch and green turtles as well. For many species of fish they are important for the egg-laying and rearing of their young. In addition, large populations of

marine snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class G ...

s, such as beautiful

flamingo tongue snail The flamingo tongue snail (''Cyphoma gibbosum'') is a species of small but brightly colored sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusk in the family Ovulidae, the cowry allies. Distribution This is the most common of several species in the genus ...

s ('' Cyphoma gibbosum'') live here.

Coral Reefs

Bonaire is surrounded by

fringing reef A fringing reef is one of the three main types of coral reef. It is distinguished from the other main types, barrier reefs and atolls, in that it has either an entirely shallow backreef zone (lagoon) or none at all. If a fringing reef grows direc ...

s. These consist of about 60 different coral species, including

brain coral Brain coral is a common name given to various corals in the families Mussidae and Merulinidae, so called due to their generally spheroid shape and grooved surface which resembles a brain. Each head of coral is formed by a colony of genetically ...

elkhorn coral Elkhorn coral (''Acropora palmata'') is an important reef-building coral in the Caribbean. The species has a complex structure with many branches which resemble that of elk antlers; hence, the common name. The branching structure creates habit ...

s, fire corals and gorgonians. The reefs offer a variety of marine life. Some of the most common fish species are surgeonfish,

parrotfish Parrotfishes are a group of about 90 fish species regarded as a family (Scaridae), or a subfamily (Scarinae) of the wrasses. With about 95 species, this group's largest species richness is in the Indo-Pacific. They are found in coral reefs, ro ...

, reefperch and

wrasses The wrasses are a family, Labridae, of marine fish, many of which are brightly colored. The family is large and diverse, with over 600 species in 81 genera, which are divided into 9 subgroups or tribes. They are typically small, most of them le ...

. In addition, countless

invertebrate Invertebrates are a paraphyletic group of animals that neither possess nor develop a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''backbone'' or ''spine''), derived from the notochord. This is a grouping including all animals apart from the chordate ...

s such as shrimp, crayfish and squid live here. Bonaire's coral reefs were seriously damaged in 1999 by

hurricane Lenny Hurricane Lenny was the strongest November Atlantic hurricane since the 1932 Cuba hurricane. It was the twelfth tropical storm, eighth hurricane, and record-breaking fifth Category 4 hurricane in the 1999 Atlantic hurricane season. Lenny for ...

. Furthermore, they are threatened by the effects of pollutants and the warming of the sea.

Lac bay

In the lagoon of Lac Bay is the only significant concentration of mangroves on Bonaire. Here grow

red Red is the color at the long wavelength end of the visible spectrum of light, next to orange and opposite violet. It has a dominant wavelength of approximately 625–740 nanometres. It is a primary color in the RGB color model and a secondar ...

black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ...

and white mangrove as well as button mangrove. The 700-acre lagoon has been a Ramsar site since the 1980s, offering habitat to green sea turtle and other endangered species, such as queen conch (''

Strombus gigas ''Aliger gigas,'' originally known as ''Strombus gigas'' or more recently as ''Lobatus gigas'', commonly known as the queen conch, is a species of large sea snail, a marine gastropod mollusc in the family of true conches, the Strombidae. This ...

'').Lac
Tourism Corporation Bonaire

Tourism

Already in 1939, the famous diving pioneer

Hans Hass Hans Hass (23 January 1919 – 16 June 2013) was an Austrian biologist and underwater diving pioneer. He was known mainly for being among the first scientists to popularise coral reefs, stingrays, octopuses and sharks. He pioneered the making o ...

visited Bonaire and reported in his books on the rich underwater world. Bonaire National Marine Park known as one of the hotspots for divers in the Caribbean and as one of the world's best places for snorkeling. For example,

Forbes magazine ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also rep ...

ranked BNMP among the top 10 must-dive destinations in the world in 2017.Breanna Wilso
10 Must-Dive Destinations For 2017
Forbes Media LLC

''In the Bonaire Marine Park, Dixon et al. (1994) found that most divers seldom venture further than 300 m in one direction and that there was a decreasing physical impact on reef communities with increasing distance from a mooring buoy. Analyzing coral cover, they estimate that the diver carrying capacity threshold for the Bonaire Marine Park is between 4000 and 6000 dives per site per year.''

In addition, various activities such as

kitesurfing Kiteboarding or kitesurfing is a sport that involves using wind power with a large power kite to pull a rider across a water, land, or snow surface. It combines aspects of paragliding, surfing, windsurfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, and wak ...

sailing Sailing employs the wind—acting on sails, wingsails or kites—to propel a craft on the surface of the ''water'' (sailing ship, sailboat, raft, windsurfer, or kitesurfer), on ''ice'' (iceboat) or on ''land'' (land yacht) over a chosen cou ...

and

windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...

are offered in the area of the Bonaire National Marine Park. Unique to the Bonaire National Marine Park is that it runs entirely on its own income (without

subsidies A subsidy or government incentive is a form of financial aid or support extended to an economic sector (business, or individual) generally with the aim of promoting economic and social policy. Although commonly extended from the government, the ter ...

). The income comes from an entrance fee for divers. Other users, such as swimmers, surfers, kite boarders, kayakers and water sports enthusiasts, pay a lower entrance fee.Water Sports in Bonaire
Tourism Corporation Bonaire. This also gives access to the

Washington Slagbaai National Park Washington Slagbaai National Park is a national park and ecological reserve on the northwestern part of the island of Bonaire in the Caribbean Netherlands. The park covering approximately a fifth of the island of Bonaire is managed by STINAPA ...

. In addition to nature protection, the BNMP provides information about responsible diving to tourists and the maintenance of moorings (buoys) for boats with divers.Dive Map
STINAPA Bonaire The management is in the hands of the Stichting Nationale Parken Bonaire (STINAPA) which also manages the Washington Slagbaai National Park.

References

External links

Bonaire National Marine Park
{{wikivoyage, Bonaire#Scuba diving, Bonaire National Marine Park Protected areas established in 1979 Protected areas of Bonaire Nature conservation in the Netherlands