Several international organizations have said in a report that colorful parrotfish and spindly sea urchins are highly effective in using the Caribbean's coral reefs. They have warned that the reefs will disappear if no action is taken.

The report was compiled after the work of 90 experts was analyzed over three years. It has been clearly mentioned in the report that more than 50% of Caribbean reefs have disappeared after the 1970s. According to the report, a significant decline in the populations of parrotfish and sea urchins is a major reason for the problem and not the climate change.

Jeremy Jackson, lead author of the report, said parrotfish and sea urchins are known to eat seaweed. As a direct result of decline in numbers of parrotfish and sea urchins, amount of seaweed increased, which is known to smother coral reefs.

The US government prohibited the harvest in US Caribbean waters of the three largest parrotfish species: blue, midnight and rainbow in 2011.

Currently, nearly 20,720 square kilometres of coral reefs are preset in the Caribbean and the condition of most of them is very vulnerable. Efforts have been made by some island nations to take steps to control overfishing, but more work is needed to fix the issue.

Larkin Webber is one of the elder Barbudan fishers and he said that it is really worrisome to know that the numbers of parrotfish have been declining because it plays a key role in cleaning the reef. More people have learnt to catch parrotfish and that has become the bane of the reef.