Many people showed great interest in the lionfish and aquaponics displays. They were amazed at the use of plants to filter the fish waste out of water holding tilapia in the aquaponics system, while others who had never tried lionfish fritters are now converts! 

The Sea Turtle Team and Sustainable Fisheries Team also educated the attendees about the protection of sea turtles through some fun word games, and the life stages of conch through a display with varying sizes of shells, ranging from juveniles to adults.

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During the 5th to the 7th of March, Zakita and Micheal represented the Centre of Sustainable Development (CSD) and the wider Island School/CEI community at the annual Agribusiness Expo in New Providence. Here, they spoke about the models of food production (Permaculture and Aquaponics) currently being employed at Cape Eleuthera, as well as networking and informing visitors to the expo about the events and opportunities going on within this organization. 

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Green Castle Primary School’s teacher, Ms. Mary Thompson, brought her class of students in grades 5 & 6 for a marine invertebrate and snorkel trip at the Cape Eleuthera Institute last Tuesday. Students first discussed 4 common invertebrate phyla they might find: cnidarians, echinoderms, porifera, and mollusks. Then they headed out to snorkel off the beach! This was an exciting trip for students who examined the different invertebrates we found such as cushion sea stars, a brittle star, juvenile conch, a sea anemone, rose coral, and even a little periwinkle.

On Wednesday, Ms. Nathalie Sweeting with Wemyss Bight Primary grade 4 came for a trip to explore some of the sustainable systems on campus. Students started off reviewing the differences between renewable and nonrenewable resources. Then the class headed out to various systems around campus so that they could see these concepts in action. Their first stop was the dining hall cistern to measure how much water we had at the time and to talk about water conservation. Then they headed over to the wind turbine and solar panels to discuss some of the differences between how we get our energy and where they get theirs at home. A highlight for students was the aquaponics system where sustainability teacher, Adam Dusen, caught a few Tilapia and described how the system works to produce fish and hydroponically grown plants for consumption in the dining hall. It was great to get a close-up look at the unique system.

We would like to thank both schools for their enthusiasm about marine science and sustainability.  We look forward to seeing other classes from both schools here on campus in the future!

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Teachers and Vice Principal, Ms. Knowles, from Preston H. Albury High School came to visit during teacher’s planning week in late August. This visit served as the start to a collaboration regarding ways that CEI may support their curriculum planning with a focus on scientific research, native Bahamian resources, and small island sustainability. We hope that teachers of all subject areas, not just biology and the sciences but also math, English, art and other subjects, see a connection with the projects we have here at CEIS.

During their time on campus, some of the teachers investigated the invasive lionfish through a dissection. Some watched while others took part in the dissection identifying the lionfish’s venemous spines as well as how to fillet and eat the fish! Others explored the aquaponics system and are interested in starting a program at PHA in the future.  Finally, some teachers learned about the current status of local conch populations.

We had a tremendous time collaborating with the teachers of PHAHS. It was a pleasure to have them on campus and share some of the research projects and educational programs offered at CEIS.

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Last month, CEI conducted its first tilapia harvest since March 2013.  This exciting process began on Sunday morning when 160 tilapia were selected for harvest for an Island School parent’s weekend meal and a fundraising event in Nassau. All of the fish were within the ideal harvest size range and were selected from our current stock of over 3000 fish. They were then placed in a holding tank and were not fed over the next 48 hours to clear their digestive tracts of food and waste, thus lending to a more sterile process.  On Tuesday morning, the process began when the fish were removed from their tank and humanely euthanized by being netted into an ice water slurry.  These fish were then transported to the kitchen and were filleted by a team of researchers and kitchen staff.  

Each whole fish and the resulting filets were weighed to calculate which sized fish produced the highest percent yield.  This helped determine a more accurate target harvest weight and will cut down on wasted feed resources in the future.  The entire process took approximately 6 hours from start to finish. During the harvest, the tilapias got a visit from the little Cape Eleuthera Early Learning Center kids who were learning a bit about tilapia.  During their visit they got to touch a few of the fish, then sat down with their teacher and a special guest, a tilapia, to have a visual drawing session and a mini presentation to their classmates of what they’ve drawn.  As more tilapia are raised in the aquaponics system, one of the goals is to continue to use the system as an educational resource for visitors and students that are enrolled in The Island School and the Early Learning Center.  Ideally, the aquaponics team is striving to provide a sustainable and local meal for CEI and Island School’s cafeteria as frequently as once a week. At the aforementioned event in Nassau, the provided tilapia were served in three ways- grilled, smoked, and as sushi, showing the range of ways that tilapia can be prepared.

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Whitney Knowles is a sophomore at The College of The Bahamas, majoring in Small Island Sustainability with a focus in Marine Science. Initially, Whitney worked at CEI as an Aquaculture and Aquaponics intern, followed by a stint as an Educational Programs Apprentice from February to August, but now she has taken on the role of Aquaculture and Turtles Research Apprentice.

Her current duties include grading tilapia, organizing feeding rates and schedules, collecting fry, getting involved in outreach with DCMS, setting BRUVS for turtle research, tagging and releasing turtl,es and habitat mapping. Whitney’s future goal is to leave CEI with all the knowledge and experience that she has gained, and apply it to her daily life, and to inspire others to do the same. Next summer she is planning on resuming her education at the College of The Bahamas, then moving on to attend Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, Canada to study Marine Biology and fisheries conservation. Good luck to her in the future, and we are lucky to have her talents a work right now at CEI!

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Seven Queens University students, a group of visiting students from Ontario, Canada here fulfilling the field requirement for their teaching degree, came to lend a hand. We split the students into groups where they rotated between three different stations. In the Wet lab, they not only saw all the checkered puffers, bonefish, juvenile lemon sharks, lionfish, yellow stingrays, cobia, tilapia, etc. but they also learned how and why we are studying these marine species. The next station was a virtual tour of a coral reef – a movie by BREEF (Bahamas Reef Environmental Education Foundation) where the students learned what makes a coral reef, its importance in the Bahamas, and how to protect this fragile coastal ecosystem. The third station was split between the farm with pigs, ducks and a permaculture garden, and the sustainable systems of campus. The systems tour exposed students to how we make biodiesel for our school vans, resource/recycle ~90% of what we use, and how we reduce our energy “footprint” by using solar panels and a wind turbine to produce energy. And last but not least, the trip ended with homemade chocolate chip cookie bars as a treat from our kitchen! It was a fun and energetic afternoon that is for sure.

Sharing our unique campus & systems with students who our research directly affects is really something special and more than important for the protection of these ecosystems. I hope to see Cooper Primary as well as other local schools here to visit us in the near future!

Tiffany Gray, Lead Educator

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The CEI booth was packed with information on a range of issues including plastics awareness, conch conservation, sharks, climate change, bonefish best handling practices, aquaponics, and aquaculture info. We also had free giveaways! The fried lionfish and tilapia samples were a big hit, especially with all the local kids! The aquaculture mini system and free lettuce was also very popular. The day in Rock Sound was great fun – thank-you to all the CEI staff and interns who help run the booth. Look forward to the next homecoming!

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This eyewitness account was written by a student in the University School-Hathaway Brown Program:

Before getting started, allow me to explain one reason why the Island School was such an eye-opening, incredible experience for my group and me. We are from Cleveland. Between the incessant snow and cloudy days, it seems that conservation is the last thing on our minds. So when our science research-based school club (the Anderson Scholars) of five boys, in addition to five girls (also interested in science research) from our all-girls sister school Hathaway Brown, received the notice that we would be spending a week in the beautiful, sunny Bahamas, we didn’t know what to expect.

The Island School is its own microcosm of shape shifting individuals. From the engaging curriculum, an individual becomes a motivated student. From the hands-on outdoor activities, one becomes a teammate. From the encouragement of others, one transforms into a leader. While most schools are trying to discover a way to make their curriculum applicable to the outside world, the Island School has already developed several tried and true methods to make it a precedent for said schools. The school is a place where the words “when will I ever use this outside of class?” will never be uttered from a student’s lips. The students are warm, outgoing, and most importantly, passionate; they are passionate about school, conservation, and lifting each other up. The science researchers are driven, and extremely helpful. One researcher we worked with struck the perfect balance between letting us work in isolation and holding our hand through the process. He was educated, patient, as well as open-minded. Our group couldn’t have completed our aquaponics projects without him, mainly because he allowed our own ideas to be displayed, in addition to helping us when we reached a fork in the road.

Outside of doing traditional school-type work, we completed a series of activities that were simple extraordinary. On our six scuba dives, we not only saw several species of beautiful marine life, but also learned about the names and impacts of the organisms on the environment. The group learned about the effects of the invasive lionfish species on the Bahamas, and solutions to the issue. Diving or snorkeling always contained a purpose that educated us even further. Our guide was always sure to enlighten us on our surroundings and their individual histories.

Although this experience was otherworldly, there are definitely connections I can (and will) make with my life back home. First, the conservation issues will be important to me forever, and I know I (as well as my HB and US peers) will make a conscious effort to save water, energy, and resources. Second, I quickly learned how to interact with new people, and am certainly glad I did so, as many friendships and bonds were made during my time here at the Island School. The experiences and people during this time have combined to make a profound impact on my being. So, as I step onto the plane tomorrow en route to Cleveland,  I will miss the experience, but will be thankful for all the pearls of insight I can take home with me.

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Besides being used in the dining hall, the harvested lettuce was handed out to CEI employees, as well as community members throughout South Eleuthera, making for a joyous holiday season for all.

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