Lionfish Researcher Invasion

Currently CEI is overrun with lionfish researchers; it’s an invasion!

The Oregon State University has a team of 6 here. The renowned lionfish researcher Dr. Mark Hixon was also on site for 2 weeks. We also have a group of 3 researchers from Simon Fraser University, as well as 3 researchers from the University of the West Indies. And, of course, the CEI team is always here.

lnvasion blog

Lionfish researchers

 

Let’s hope for lots of data and no stings!

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Senior Students (Re) Visit CEI!

The week of May 20th we had four senior students Ian, Kyle, Annie & Cyrus, join us at CEI to work on their senior projects. Three of the four students were Island School alumni and returned to this place where they had learned so much about the marine environment and ‘living well in a place’. Cyrus said that he came to “expand [his] horizons, experience a breadth of marine research and see the world through a different lens.”senior projects

The students spent time learning about and helping with three of our research projects – shark research, lionfish research and beach plastic pollution. They had opportunities to work with local students at the Deep Creek Middle School, capture lionfish, scuba dive (Cyrus completed his Open Water Certification here!) and relax at local beaches and restaurants. Continue reading

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Wemyss Bight Primary School Meets live animals at The Island School and CEI May 28, 2013 & June 6, 2013

Wemyss Bight PrimaryThe Grade twos and threes from Wemyss Bight Primary School have each come to visit The Island School campus and learn all about how animals get their food, water and protection in order to survive. After meeting and greeting the Educational Program staff, the students went to feed the pigs at the Island School Farm.  On site we have six incredibly large pigs that consume much of the food waste from our dining hall. The grade three students helped Fran shovel the leftover food into the pig pen and students and pigs equally squealed with delight. Next, the students met (and pet!) our Muskovy ducks that provide eggs for our kitchen and saw a mother duck incubating her egg.

Students from WBPS about to participate in a game that emphasizes living sustainably!
Students from WBPS about to participate in a game that emphasizes living sustainably!

After a snack break, the students explored how a variety of marine invertebrates survive in the ocean. They touched sea urchins, juvenile conch and a sea star. Throughout their visit, the students discovered different ways The Island School and CEI strive to tread lighter on our planet and balanced all this information out with a few silly games and tons of songs. We dropped them off back at WBPS with giant smiles, high fives and hugs just in time for lunch. The Educational Program staff is looking forward to working with the Grade six class from Governors Harbour next week!

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Shark Expedition Update #4

Shark Update Morgans Bluff
NOAA Fisheries biologist Dr. John Carlson (left) and Stony Brook University SoMAS biologist Mark Bond (right) affix an archival satellite tag to a subadult lemon shark. Credit: Kelcee Smith, NOAA Fisheries.

Morgan’s Bluff: The expedition continued in Morgan’s Bluff on the north side of Andros from May 30th through June 2nd. While sawfish weren’t found in this area, seven more lemon sharks were sampled, bringing the total to 26 genetic samples. NOAA scientist Dr. John Carlson fitted a subadult female lemon shark with a satellite archival tag, which will yield information on movement of this demographic as well as the efficacy of the tag in shallow water.

 

 

Shark Update Fresh Creek
Left to right: First mate Joey Salomone, CEI intern Ian B., NOAA Fisheries biologist Kelcee Smith, and Stony Brook University SoMAS biologist Mark Bond alongside a Caribbean reef shark. Credit: Kelcee Smith, NOAA Fisheries

Fresh Creek: The team returned to Nassau before heading back out to Fresh Creek on Andros’ east side. Fresh Creek lived up to its name’s reputation by being quite fresh, and at a glance, devoid of lemon or nurse sharks. Lemon sharks were spotted outside the mouth of the creek on flats south of the AUTEC U.S. Navy base. Fishing for lemons turned out to be a fruitless effort, so the team headed out to deeper water to try and tackle another project goal: satellite tagging great hammerheads. In deeper waters the team caught several Caribbean reef sharks and silky sharks, but no hammerheads yet.

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Update from SFU visiting lionfish researchers

Through perseverance and teamwork, the SFU team, stationed at The Cape Eleuthera Institute, has made great progress in gathering biological samples to assess the effects of the lionfish predation and other stressors on food webs of local reefs. So far they have sampled 7 out of 16 sites, catching over 300 different fish of different species. The structure and complexity of some sites greatly complicates the sampling effort, so as with any other fishing activities, “some days are better than others”.

It is important to note that their sampling effort is completely non-destructive (yay!)… But what does this mean? Well, they bring the fish up to the boat, fin-clip them, let them recover in floating cages hanging from the boat for 20 min, and then release them back to their home. Continue reading

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Conch Fest 2013

This past weekend, CEI participated in Conch Fest, the Homecoming celebration for the settlement of Deep Creek, where several CEI staff call home. The focus of this year’s booth was to promote the National Conchservation Campaign, as well as to serve lionfish samples as an alternative to conch.

Deep Creek Middle School students gathered around the CEI booth for a lionfish sample. They had to answer trivia questions on conch and lionfish to get a taste!
Deep Creek Middle School students gathered around the CEI booth for a lionfish sample. They had to answer trivia questions on conch and lionfish to get a taste!
CEI staff Claire Thomas, Meredith Lemon, and Jocelyn Curtis-Quick posing by the CEI booth, ready to cook some lionfish!
CEI staff Claire Thomas, Meredith Lemon, and Jocelyn Curtis-Quick posing by the CEI booth, ready to cook some lionfish!

On Friday night, we served up fried lionfish, fresh out of the fryer. We gave away over 100 samples! Dozens of people came up saying “no you can’t eat that, it’ll kill you!” The truth is, lionfish do have venomous spines, but the meat is healthy and delicious, and once the fish is filleted it can be enjoyed in a variety of ways. Educating the community on the truth behind handling and eating lionfish was a priority for the researchers who came out to volunteer at the fest. Continue reading

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Spring 2013 CEI/IS Research Symposium was a success!

Students standing by their scientific poster during the Symposium poster session
Students standing by their scientific poster during the Symposium poster session

This past Saturday, CEI and IS hosted their Spring 2013 Research Symposium. The event consisted of research presentations and poster sessions, where Island School students got the chance to present their semester’s worth of work to staff, community members, visiting scientists, and representatives from some Bahamian NGO’s, including Save our Bays. After giving brief presentations that discussed everything from the purpose of the research to data analysis and interpretation, IS students had the chance to attend their first poster session as

Students engaging a visitor, answering questions on their research.
Students engaging a visitor, answering questions on their research.

young scientists. After working on the posters all semester, students were proud to showcase their effort, and share what they learned with those that were interested. The Symposium culminated with keynote speakers Dr. John Tiedemann (Monmouth University) and Dr. Mark Hixon (University of Hawaii), addressing the students and motivating them to continue their critical thinking as they move on to college.

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Queen Conch Research Update

This past semester, researchers, students, and volunteers have been busy surveying South Eleuthera’s shoreline, looking for queen conch juveniles. Under the direction of CEI researcher Claire Thomas, survey methods were implemented to identify essential queen conch nursery habitat.

Island School students perform a walking transect, identifying and marking juvenile queen conch on Sunrise Beach.
Island School students perform a walking transect, identifying and marking juvenile queen conch on Sunrise Beach.

Queen conch populations are declining in Eleuthera. Past research has shown that protection of adult conch alone is not adequate to protect the whole population, as juveniles and adults utilize different habitat types. Adults are generally found in deeper water in sandy areas, whereas juveniles will be in shallow water, most often in seagrass beds, where they graze on detritus and algae. To ensure that protection is sufficient, juvenile populations also have to be protected.

A juvenile queen conch coming out of its shell.
A juvenile queen conch coming out of its shell.

The government of the Bahamas, along with the Bahamas National Trust, are interested in creating a Marine Protected Area, or No-Take Zone, off the waters of South Eleuthera. The CEI Queen Conch Research Program aims to identify hot spots of juvenile queen conch, through their shoreline surveys, to inform officials of an important place to protect. In the summer, during queen conch mating season, SCUBA transects will be done to identify aggregations of adult queen conch. This information is also important, as breeding grounds are another essential habitat in the queen conch life cycle.

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CEI Symposium, a chance to highlight work done this spring

Last week, our second CEI Symposium kicked off with the first night of presentations by Liz Underwood on lionfish reproduction sites, Skylar Miller discussing larval lionfish recruitment, Maddy Young on flats ecology, and Melissa Dick on mangrove cultivator pots. The second night yielded interesting presentations by Peter Wilson on the oceanic whitetip shark expedition, Lauren Horton on stingray physiology, Will Urmston presenting on the best medium to plant microgreens in, and Kristal Ambrose presenting on her beach plastic research.

CEI hosts a large variety of research projects and this symposium is a great way to showcase the hard work done by the interns for the past five months. Nice job everyone!

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