During the past two decades, awareness of the impacts of pollution on the coastal and marine environments of the Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) has increased. Tourism, one of the dominant economic bases in the region, depends on a healthy coastal and marine environment. In a concerted effort to prevent the further decline of the coastal and marine environment, countries and territories, through national research institutions and international organizations, have undertaken technical and legal actions to prevent and control marine and coastal pollution within the WCR (UNEP, 1994b).