Mischaracterization of sedimentary rocky reef as a coral reef in the economic valuation of St. Martin's Island, Bangladesh: A comment on Rani et al. (2020)

Abstract

St. Martin's Island (Bangladesh), a biodiversity hotspot in the northeastern Bay of Bengal, continues to be misunderstood by many scientists. There seems to be continued confusion surrounding the geologic history of St. Martin's Island and its intertidal and subtidal geomorphology. St. Martin's Island is a sedimentary continental island surrounded by a rocky reef covered by numerous intertidal and subtidal boulder fields. The rocky reef and its boulder fields support numerous scleractinian coral assemblages, but as a result of marginal environmental condition coral reefs are absent. We argue that since there are no coral reefs present on St. Martin's Island the total economic valuation that Rani et al. (2020) assigned to the island's coral reef ecosystem is an economic valuation of the whole island itself, and that the island is protected by a sedimentary rocky reef and not a coral reef.