Dr. Owen O’Shea, research associate for the Shark Program at CEI, recently had research published looking at the negative effects of weather balloons, after thousands were recorded from community beach cleanups.
Check out this press release describing the research!
http://www.cairnspost.com.au/news/cairns/calls-to-stop-weather-balloons-after-remains-found-on-great-barrier-reef/story-fnjpusyw-1226804587144
by 
January at the Cape Eleuthera Institute is an exciting time: a new year, new interns, and a heap of new students visiting during their university’s January term!
Monmouth University joined CEI for the 9th consecutive January, with two weeks packed full of research. Among other tenets of tropical marine ecology, students continued their investigations of the carbon cycling potential of mangroves, the benthic macroinvertebrate distribution within mangrove flats, and the age and life stage distribution of various conch middens. During their time in the flats, students experienced the full range of Bahamian winter biodiversity, including sharks, turtles, bonefish, and more!
Research of various middens in the Cape Eleuthera area found that newer middens include a high concentration of juvenile shells, affirming the fact that immature conch are being harvested at an increased rate. This is often an indication of a struggling fishery, and students will continue to analyze potential protective measures for queen conch in years to come.
Samples of mangrove roots, leaves, and stems returned to NJ with the students for further analyses in hopes of better understanding the carbon sequestration occurring within mangrove flats. A strong correlation between certain types of mangrove environments and high carbon sequestration may lead to increased protection of such areas.
Led by Dr. John Tiedemann and Dr. Pedram Daneshgar, and supported by Ph.D. candidates Elizabeth Wallace and Christopher Haak, the students logged countless hours of field time investigating various elements of flats ecology.
Dr. Tiedemann was also instrumental in coordinating a visit from Todd Pover and Stephanie Egger, conservation biologists from New Jersey’s Conserve Wildlife Foundation (http://www.conservewildlifenj.org/). The two scientists gave a campus-wide presentation on the international work they’ve been doing with the piping plover, a shorebird who breeds along the New Jersey shoreline and winters in the Bahamas. CEI is excited about the possibility of partnering in CWF’s educational initiatives in years to come!
by 
In November, Kristal Ambrose, working for the Center for Sustainable Development, and CEI’s outdoor educator Tiffany Gray, made the trip down island to visit Ms. Thompson’s grade 12 geography class at Spanish Wells All Age School. Students were completing a comparative reef study for their BGCSE course work, a national exam required for graduation. The students surveyed two reefs and made comparisons based on the diversity of indicator fish species, algae and coral competition, surrounding habitat, and coral disease.
by 
This weekend saw visiting Exeter students and professors heading to the Schooner Cays with the CEI Queen Conch team. A 30-minute ride and short swim allowed us to conduct shallow water surveys around the relatively remote and seldom-visited islands. Since they were last surveyed in 1993, little data has been collected on population densities around the island. Recent questions regarding changing larval supplies and reduced reproduction as a result of fishing pressures meant that collecting new data was particularly important.
The group split into two teams of undergrads to complete surveys in two different areas of the shore. Calipers, measuring tapes, and snorkel gear were distributed and lines of observers began advancing through the surf. Forty minutes later, one group had found only 2 live juvenile conch. Just down the beach, the second group found almost 350.
by The Shark team is starting a project assessing the abundance of juvenile tiger sharks in the Cape Eleuthera shallow banks. By using BRUVS (Baited Remote Underwater Video Survey), we can get a rough estimate of the abundance of juvenile tiger sharks. We conducted a preliminary study for 14 consecutive days, with 6 hours of footage per day.
by 
Last month,CEI Research Associate Kristal Ambrose had the opportunity to work with the “mini scientists” at the Early Learning Center (ELC) on campus, giving a presentation on plastic pollution. Kristal said, “To my surprise, these guys knew a lot about the issue, and even taught me a thing or two!”They acted out the North Pacific Gyre current, sang and danced to a song about how plastics break down, went to the beach to collect plastic, and then made art from it. It was such a great experience for everyone involved!
by 
Check out this awesome video of a bonefish spawning aggregation, and then read on to learn more about bonefish research being done by CEI’s collaborator, the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SuTN0Wj8J_A&feature=youtu.be
A message from the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust:
One of BTT’s top priorities is to learn enough about the biology of bonefish, tarpon, and permit so that we can focus conservation efforts on the most important aspects of these important gamefish. Which habitats and life stages are most critical? As you know from our monthly updates, identifying juvenile habitats, migrations, and adult habitat use are constantly in our crosshairs. Only with this information in hand can we propose effective conservation strategies like habitat protections, which we have long been pursuing in the Bahamas with collaborators Cape Eleuthera Institute, Fisheries Conservation Foundation and Bahamas National Trust.
by 
The Cape Eleuthera Institute and The Island School have recently begun their deepwater exploration of The Exuma Sound with almost 100 hours of footage from the deep ocean. This study is being run as an Island School research project in collaboration with Dr. Edith Widder of the Ocean Research and Conservation Association (ORCA: http://www.teamorca.org) and has seen the successful completion of six drops in depths ranging from 661 – 912 meters. This has been made possible through the loan and use of Medusa – a deep ocean camera system that was responsible for the first ever live images of the giant squid.
by Recently, twelve smiling faces from Mrs. Sweeting’s 6th grade class at Wemyss Bight Primary came to visit Cape Eleuthera Institute to supplement their pollution unit. The afternoon started off with a lively game to lighten the mood, followed by an engaging lesson on natural resources and pollution in the scenic “floating” gazebo. Students then explored some of the sustainable systems on campus including the mangrove wetland, CEI’s green buildings, the resource center, solar & wind power, the wetlab & aquaponic beds, as well as the farm. The adventure continued with fun activities on ocean pollution with CEI’s outdoor educator, Liz Slingsby, followed by a short clip from the movie “Bag it” on gyres and the North Pacific garbage patch.
by 
Wetsuits were in order as the lionfish team took to the seas for their December surveys of the patch reefs. A three-day blitz with eighteen dives brought us to sixteen sites and ninety-one transects in 73°F water. Neither impending exhaustion nor chattering teeth could dampen our spirits as we conducted REEF surveys of fish abundances, counted and sized lionfish and their competitors, and photographed the benthic environment for habitat assessment at each of the sites. We saw napping nurse sharks, spotted morays, a tiny bandtail puffer, and a rarely sighted cherub fish.
by