Category Archives: Flats

Flats Ecology and Conservation team removes fishing line from black grouper at 90 feet!

Sometimes all it takes is a few minutes with a trusting grouper to realize our impact on the ocean and how we can make a difference. This week, the Flats Ecology and Conservation Team at the Cape Eleuthera Institute went to retrieve a temperature logger located at the base of the Aquaculture Cage.

Located 90 feet deep near the wall of the Exuma Sound, the Cage serves as an aggregation spot for large marine creatures. Many fishermen frequent the area to catch large jacks, snappers, and groupers attracted to the cage.

Diver Silloette

Within minutes, a well-known large black grouper, affectionately named Bradley, approached the divers. Bradley came quite close to the group, turning and showing multiple hooks, wire leaders, and weights hanging from his jaw and gills. He moved in closer as Kelly Hannan, a University of Illinois graduate student, took out a pair of scissors.brad3

Bradley investigated the scissors and seemed to decide that Kelly was not a threat. He let her cut off two feet of tangled wire leader and three fishing weights that were hanging from the right side of his mouth. Unfortunately, the scissors were not strong enough to cut the hooks out, but the team hopes to return to the Cage with wire cutters to remove them from Bradley’s jaw in the near future.

Bradley seemed to understand that no harm would come to him from these divers and was very calm throughout the procedure. He continued to follow the divers throughout the rest of the dive.

Bradley the Grouper-1

Later that week, at the same dive site, the Flats team removed over 50 feet of fishing line from a nearby reef. Another wire trace with lead weights was picked up near the base of the Cage.

Although these dives had positive outcomes, they serve as a reminder of the impacts of fishing pressure and pollution on the marine environment. Thanks to Bradley, we had a very personal reminder of our relationship with the ocean and how our actions can affect the lives of the creatures that live in it.

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Graduate student research update: Petra Szekeres and her work on juvenile bonefish

 

Nearshore habitat where juvenile bonefish have been found in groups of mojarra; this bit of shoreline is just outside of Rock Sound.
Nearshore habitat where juvenile bonefish have been found in groups of mojarra; this bit of shoreline is just outside of Rock Sound.

Petra Szekeres is a Master’s student in the Fish Ecology and Conservation Physiology Lab from Carleton University in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Her research topics focus on the behaviour, physiology and ecology of juvenile bonefish (Albula vulpes). To date there has been very little research conducted on juvenile bonefish; this is due to the difficulty in locating them. In the past two decades, exhaustive efforts along the Florida coastline have yielded few results with regard to juvenile bonefish capture.

In recent years, researchers have turned to the relatively pristine coastline of The Bahamas to find these elusive juveniles. Petra’s research will be building upon Christopher Haak’s research, which he conducted at CEI in 2013. Christopher is a PhD student at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst and has conducted thousands of seine hauls along the coastline of Eleuthera to locate areas juvenile bonefish inhabit. Now that some of these locations have been identified, Petra hopes to build on the foundation provided by Christopher. She will be collecting juvenile bonefish from the flats of southern Eleuthera and, for the first time, will be transporting live juvenile bonefish to the labs at CEI for further behavioural and physiological experiments.

A juvenile bonefish previously captured in southern Eleuthera.
A juvenile bonefish previously captured in southern Eleuthera.

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IS Students shine in SP 15 Parents’ Week presentations

Last week The Island School hosted Parents’ Week. The week included an opportunity for parents to tour our campus, view a student art exhibit, parent-teacher meetings, and a day for students to show their families the island of Eleuthera.

The head of Island School addresses all of the visitors before presentations begin.
The head of Island School addresses all of the visitors before presentations begin.

52 excited Island School students had the opportunity to present their semester long research projects to their parents, real world scientists from The Cape Eleuthera Institute, and The Island School faculty. Each research group had 10 minutes to present the culmination of their semester’s work including an introduction to their project, their hypotheses, a description of methods employed, results section, and conclusions of findings from their data. In addition, each group answered questions from curious parents and researchers about their topics.

A group shot of The Island School students, staff, CEI researchers, and visiting parents.
A group shot of The Island School students, staff, CEI researchers, and visiting parents.

The parents learned about how plastic pollution can end up in a fish’s stomach, exciting new research focused on the deep-sea, the current status of important fisheries species in South Eleuthera and new research focused on the inland pond systems in Eleuthera. Guest commented on how impressed they were with The Island School students’ level of professionalism when presenting and their ability to share in-depth knowledge on their chosen research topic.

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Flats team field update

The flats team heading out to seine Airport flats.
The flats team heading out to seine Airport flats.

This March, the Flats Ecology and Conservation Team expanded their effort to assess the local bonefish population by implementing an en mass tagging expedition of all the tidal creeks in South Eleuthera. The Flats Team, including, Research Manager Zach Zuckerman, Research Assistant Nick Balfour, Carleton University Graduate Researcher Petra Szekeres and Flats Intern Georgie Burruss, were joined by the CEI Turtle Team, volunteer Gary Cook and Berkshire High School over six days of seining and angling to tag and collect DNA samples from adult bonefish.

The Flats team with Berkshire High School seining bonefish
The Flats team with Berkshire High School seining bonefish

After being caught and transferred to a submerged net, the fork length of each fish was recorded along with where it was caught, and the ID number on the tag being implanted. Each of these codes is unique and can later be used to identify each fish once recaptured. The tag is then implanted using a special tagging stick. Lastly, before releasing the fish, a small section of the dorsal or caudal fin is removed for DNA analysis.

These “fin clips,” are collected from each bonefish as part of an ongoing study by Dr. Liz Wallace, a postdoctoral researcher with the Florida Department of Fish and Wildlife. Dr. Wallace uses these samples to compare the genetic relatedness of bonefish populations throughout the Caribbean in order to better understand how their larvae are dispersed.

In collaboration with the Bahamas Initiative, Fisheries Conservation Foundation, Bonefish and Tarpon Trust and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, the Flats team will continue to monitor the population of adult bonefish every six months. Their goal is to gain a more accurate estimate of the size and origin of local populations by adding several weeks of dedicated sampling in the field.

Zach Zuckerman holding a bonefish caught at Poison flats.
Zach Zuckerman holding a bonefish caught at Poison flats.

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Researchers travel to Great Exuma to present at the Bahamas Conservation Symposium

IMG_7967In March, Florida State University Master’s students Brendan Talwar and Mackellar Violich, and Flats Ecology and Conservation intern Georgie Burruss traveled to Great Exuma to present at the Bahamas Conservation Symposium. The Symposium was organized by the Exuma Foundation, the Elizabeth Harbour Conservation Partnership, the Bahamas Marine EcoCentre, and the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and hosted by the Exuma Foundation. The idea for the Symposium arose as a way to share scientific knowledge on the years that the Bahamas National Trust Conference does not meet. The Symposium was open to a general audience, drawing in community members of the Exuma Cays as well as local scientists.

Catherine Booker (Exuma Foundation/Community Conch) introduces Brendan Talwar (FSU/CEI) to an eighth grade science class at LN Coakley Secondary High School
Catherine Booker (Exuma Foundation/Community Conch) introduces Brendan Talwar (FSU/CEI) to an eighth grade science class at LN Coakley Secondary High School

Brendan Talwar gave a talk on deep-sea sharks, followed by Georgie Burruss’s talk on the Bahamas Initiative bonefish tagging program and their recent bonefish tagging trip to the Exuma Cays, and Mackellar Violich presented on deep-sea diversity, the Medusa project, and deep sea traps. Continue reading

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Collaborative research on Exuma will have conservation implications for important nearshore species

Dr. Owen O'Shea releases an adult bonefish.
Dr. Owen O’Shea releases an adult bonefish.

In collaboration with the Fisheries Conservation Foundation (FCF) and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC), the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) sent researchers to the Exuma Cays in February to tag and collect genetic samples from bonefish (Albula vulpes) and southern stingrays (Dasyatis americana). The CEI team was comprised of Director Aaron Shultz, Associate Researcher Dr. Owen O’Shea, Research Assistant Alexio Brown, Flats Ecology intern Georgie Burruss, and Sustainable Fisheries intern Adrian Feiler. They were joined by FWC Post-doctoral research fellow Dr. Liz Wallace, and a North Carolina based volunteer and avid fisherman, Chandler White. The researchers spent eight days on Hummingbird Cay, a privately owned island south west of Great Exuma, and two days at the Exuma Foundation on Great Exuma.

Adrian Feiler tags a bonefish with a uniquely coded spaghetti tag.
Adrian Feiler tags a bonefish with a uniquely coded spaghetti tag.

The focus of the trip was to continue the Bahamas Tagging Initiative in Exuma, which aims to passively track bonefish movement and growth rates throughout the Bahamas. Each fish is tagged with uniquely coded external ‘spaghetti’ and the length of each fish is recorded. This allows the assessment of growth rates and location data once the fish are re-caught. These data can then be used as a powerful tool in understanding the mechanisms of spatial distribution, natural mortality, and factors influencing growth of this highly prized sportfish. The tagging program has been implemented in Eleuthera, Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, and the Exuma Cays. Continue reading

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Grand Bahama Bonefish Update #2

In October 2014, the Flats Ecology and Conservation Program visited Grand Bahama Island to set out an array of acoustic receivers to track bonefish movements during their spawning season. This was part of an effort to determine aggregation sites and spawning areas.

A healthy bonefish being released after surgery.
A healthy bonefish being released after surgery.
Justin Lewis (Bahamas Initiative coordinator for the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust) and Malcom Goodman (Research Assistant with the Cape Eleuthera Institute) perform surgery on a bonefish in October, 2014
Justin Lewis (Bahamas Initiative coordinator for the Bonefish and Tarpon Trust) and Malcom Goodman (Research Assistant with the Cape Eleuthera Institute) perform surgery on a bonefish in October, 2014

In December 2014, the project received a substantial equipment grant from the Ocean Tracking Network (OTN), providing an extra 32 receivers for the study array.  The team, consisting of CEIS board member Dr. Dave Philipp, College of the Bahamas professor Dr. Karen Murchie, CEI Research Assistant Eric Schneider and Bonefish and Tarpon Trust’s (BTT) Bahamas Initiative Coordinator, Justin Lewis, downloaded the initial array in January 2015 to determine where the additional receivers should be deployed based on preliminary data.

Out of the 56 fish tagged in October 2014, 19 had been detected in the array.  Movements to date included use of the Grand Lucayan Waterway, along with at least two key areas that appear to be aggregation sites on the south side of Grand Bahama.  Movements to the aggregation sites typically occurred during moon phases during which spawning events normally occur. Continue reading

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Pufferfish shine in video contest

What happens to the research done at CEI after the excitement of the field season and the hours in the lab are over? Researchers need to find interesting and accessible ways to share their discoveries with others. Naomi Pleizier, a student from Carleton University, is doing this by showcasing her research on pufferfish at CEI in the NSERC Science, Action! video contest.

Take a look at the 60 second video to get a glimpse of one of the emerging projects from CEI, and like and share it to show your support!

Naomi and her team studied several key survival behaviours of checkered pufferfish, a common mangrove fish, to determine whether consistent individual behaviours can be altered by a stress hormone, cortisol. The results help us understand how a resident of these vulnerable ecosystems might respond to natural challenges and stress caused by humans. Follow the link to see research at CEI in action!

 

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