The Cayman Islands have widespread mangrove and associated swamp lands. There are 25 mangrove sites distributed over the three islands, among which 11 are protected. Seventeen of these occupy about 36 percent of Grand Cayman; three occupy about 1 percent of Cayman Brac and five occupy about 40 percent of Little Caiman. The most common species present are: Rhizophora mangle, Avicennia germinans, Laguncularia racemosa, Conocarpus erectus.
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. & Field, C.D., eds. 1997 World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp.
Bacon, P.R. 1993. Mangroves in Lesser Antilles, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In: Lacerda, L.D. 1993. Conservation and sustainable utilization of mangrove forests in Latin America and Africa regions. Vol. 2 Part I- Latin America. p. 155-210. Mangrove Ecosystems technical reports ITTO/ISME Project PD114/90 (F). Okinawa, Japan. 272 pp.
Year |
Area |
Source |
Trend |
Methodology/Comments |
1978 |
7 100 |
Spalding, M.D., Blasco, F. and Field, C.D., eds. 1997. World Mangrove Atlas. The International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems, Okinawa, Japan. 178 pp. |
Map analysis. Scale 1:25 000. | |
1991 |
11 655 |
Snedaker, S.C. 1991. Personal communication |
Cited in: Fisher, P and Spalding, M.D. 1993. Protected areas with mangrove habitat. Draft Report World Conservation Centre, Cambridge, UK. 60 pp. | |
1991 |
7 268 |
Bacon, P.R. 1993. Mangroves in Lesser Antilles, Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago. In: Lacerda, L.D. 1993. Conservation and sustainable utilization of mangrove forests in Latin America and Africa regions. Vol. 2 Part I- Latin America. p. 155-210. Mangrove Ecosystems technical reports ITTO/ISME Project PD114/90 (F). Okinawa, Japan. 272 pp. |
X |
Ground survey |
1998 |
13 000 |
Faizool, S. 1998. Forestry policy of Cayman Islands. In Forestry policies in the Caribbean Reports of 28 selected countries and territories. p.167-180. Forestry Paper #137/2. |
Approximate estimate of mangrove swamps. |
Limited change over time appear to have taken place in recent years