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.
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.
Measuring a juvenile conch
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.
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.
Sixth grade students listen to a presentation on lionfish.
Tiffany Gray, the Lead Outdoor Educator at CEI and Franchesca Bethell, a lionfish intern at CEI and a former BESS Island School alumni, recently had the opportunity to teach the awesome sixth grade class at Wemyss Bight Primary School about lionfish awareness. The students first followed along with the lionfish presentation which gave them insight into the invasive species in the western region of the world. They listened attentively and weren’t afraid to ask LOTS of questions during the presentation! Continue reading →
Fall is off to a fantastic start in Educational Programs! CEI jumped back into the academic year with two amazing weeks of programming. Along for the ride were our students from Round Square, a collaborative group of 17 young adults from Canada and Massachusetts, followed by Palm Beach Day Academy of Florida.
The Round Square group dropping the Medusa
Round Square ambassadors spent time on Eleuthera before heading to the annual Round Square conference. Students focused on their “IDEALS of learning: Internationalism, Democracy, Environment, Adventure, Leadership and Service” while at CEI, and investigated the concept of what it means to live and travel well. Round Square students had the once in a lifetime opportunity of launching the Medusa with the Shark Research team, along with dissecting a lionfish, conducting shuttle box experiments, and surveying the local beaches for marine debris.
Round Square group playing with kids at the resource center.
To emphasize the international element of the program, CEI organized and launched a Round Square-DCMS Plastics Seminar! The day began by pairing each Round Square student with a DCMS student, and quickly launched into round table discussions on plastics pollution and its impact on environment and our bodies. All DCMS and the Round Square students were insightful and reflective on plastics in daily life, and each left with recycled plastic jewelry to remind them to keep continue thinking about plastic’s role in our world. Continue reading →
The idea of a Gap Year is to take a step back to view the big picture. To take a step back to look at where you’ve come from, where you’ve gone and see where you’d like to go. To take a step back so you can take the right steps forward.
The program here came to an end last week, culminating in the students Demonstration of Learning and Graduation ceremony. Over the past nine weeks Eryn, Ryan and Jordan have made profound change in their own lives and of those surrounding them.
Miss Kristal Ambrose, CEI’s Marine Plastic Pollution Specialist, and Tiffany Gray, CEI’s Lead Outdoor Educator, made a visit to 4th, 5th, and 6th grade students at North Eleuthera Primary to talk about Pollution and Plastics. Students had a blast learning about some of the threats to their marine resources, as well as acting out the North Pacific garbage patch! Kristal and Tiffany also had the opportunity to speak with the 2nd grade class briefly before heading out to Spanish Wells.
Spanish Wells was a successful visit as our team checked in with the 12 grade geography class to assist them with a comparative coral reef study that they will be conducting for the Bahamas General Certificate Secondary Examination, a national exam for local high schools. CEI will be continuing on with outreach efforts in North Eleuthera on Oct 17 where students from both schools will get to visit mangroves and coral reefs.
This fall the gap year team has undertaken the task of completing Fall 2013 shallow water conch surveys. Once complete this data will be a part of a larger effort to conserve this economically and culturally important species.
The sites we are surveying are in the Bight of Eleuthera; there are 18 sites total, and so far 10 have been completed. They involve snorkeling three transects, each 30 meters in length and 2 meters wide, and counting and measuring the conch we find. So far the juveniles are pulling through, and almost 100% of the conch found have been juveniles, demonstrating the environment still able to support the nursery for this species.
The surveys prove to be quite exciting, and we have spotted a plethora of other species while surveying (such as lemon sharks), and there are a lot of Echinoderms who share their habitat with the queen conch. During the surveys we are often fighting strong currents, dodging an array of jellyfish, and dealing with the hot sun. However, as tough as these times are we know we are doing something awesome for this gastropod.
On Friday, September 27, students from Deep Creek Middle School (DCMS) met with staff from the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) at Paige Creek to discuss mangrove ecosystems. Tiffany Gray, lead outdoor educator for CEI, led the eighth grade science class through an interactive lesson covering mangrove identification, their importance and threats to the ecosystem.
Stacey Dorman and Kylie Bloodsworth, CEI Flats Ecology interns, also gave the students an overview of research carried out by the institute and how mangrove ecosystems might be affected by climate change. The students then snorkeled up the creek system, taking note of important biota residing in the mangroves, such as juvenile barracuda, schoolmaster snapper, checkered puffer and juvenile lemon sharks. The DCMS students happily came away from class with the knowledge that mangroves are important ecosystems worth researching and protecting!
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