The most important fight in the battle to protect the fragile coral reef system around Bermuda is the young, a top scientist claimed yesterday.

Richard Winchell, Assistant Curator at the Bermuda Aquarium, said the education of the young was vital to saving the natural environment.

He added: "We will conserve what we love, we will love only what we understand and we will understand only what we are taught.'' Mr. Winchell was speaking on the International Year of the Coral Reef at a meeting of Hamilton Rotary Club.

He warned that Jamaica had seen the loss of 94 percent of its coral reef cover in the last 15 years -- which started with overfishing.

After exhausting stocks of larger fish, fishermen moved to smaller ones, which fed on algae which can kill a reef if uncontrolled.

The long-spine sea urchin filled the gap as stocks of smaller fish declined -- until a killer virus all but wiped them out, leading to the death of most of the coral reef.

Mr. Winchell said: "Jamaica's coral reefs were the best studied in the world, but they were not understood, appreciated or protected.

"The same water currents that warm our reefs bring lobster and grouper and other larvae from the Caribbean -- they can also carry a disease or a pollutant.'' Mr. Winchell noted that few visitors or residents bother to visit the reef area, which covers 20 times the area of the Island itself.

He said: "We believe that everyone must see and understand the delicate nature and value of this resource if we are to appreciate and protect it.'' Mr. Winchell said that BAMZ was helping by beefing up the institution's coral reef class for kids, encouraging interest with poster competitions for schools and putting on an exhibition with the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute.

In addition, BAMZ is preparing a proposal to map the reef, including the 3000 species living on it, and writing academic papers on its work for conferences.

Mr. Winchell added: "The vision is individuals and groups working in their own countries and collaborating internationally to restore the environment and we must step beyond understanding and appreciation to be personally involved in environmental stewardship.'' And he said: "Management of Bermuda's marine resources is based on our isolation and absence of refuges. In nature, there are no boundaries, we share our environment and there is no fence between our backyard and our neighbours.''