Category Archives: Sharks

Educational Programs, Flats, Lionfish, Outreach, Plastics, Research Programs, Sea turtles, Sharks

CEI attends Abaco Science Alliance Conference 2014

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Stephen, Owen, Tiff, Meaghan, and Joce at the conference.

FRIENDS of the Environment hosted the 6th Biennial Abaco Science Alliance Conference (ASAC). The conference goals were to provide a forum for networking and information sharing for Abaco and Bahamas-based research projects, to encourage the use of research for local education and environmental management purposes and to stimulate further research in The Bahamas.

The research and educational programs team traveled from South Eleuthera to Marsh Harbour, Abaco to represent the Cape Eleuthera Institute. The team presented on various research topics currently conducted at the Institute. From mangrove restoration to deep water sharks, here is list of ASAC attendees representing CEI:

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Owen’s presentation

Stephen B Cone Jr, an outstanding 2013 summer flats intern, gave a talk titled “The mangrove action plan: an adaptive outreach and ecosystem rehabilitation initiative.”

Dr Owen OʼShea, research associate for CEI’s shark research and conservation program, gave a fantastic talk on deep water elasmobranch surveys. His deep sea videos caused much excitement!

Dr Jocelyn Curtis-Quick encouraged all to eat lionfish and talked about her study on the interactions between the Caribbean Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus, and Invasive Lionfish, Pterois volitans.

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The whole CEI group!

Kristal Ambrose gave a passionate talk on the spatial and temporal patterns in the abundance and diversity of plastic marine debris on beaches in South Eleuthera.

Megean Gary presented on her turtle research examining the spatial dynamics of immature Green Turtles (Chelonia mydas) within a foraging ground on the Atlantic coast of Eleuthera.

Continue reading →

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Plastics, Research Programs, Sharks

Interesting research on weather balloons by CEI researcher Dr. Owen O’Shea

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

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Research Programs, Sharks, Student Research

The Shark Research team posts footage of their deepwater research with the Medusa!

The Island School Deepwater Sharks Research Team with the Medusa
The Island School Deepwater Sharks Research Team with the Medusa

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.

Continue reading →

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Research Programs, Sharks, Student Research

Update on RA semester project: Ian Bouyoucos

Preliminary data collection and preparation are underway for the yellow stingray immunology study. Following experimental wounding to illicit an immune response, stingrays will be subjected to low-pH conditions, acidified with CO2. However, prior to conducting these trials, it is imperative to understand how yellow stingrays react to low-pH conditions. To do so, 10 stingrays (six males and four females) were observed under increasingly acidic conditions to determine their tolerance for low pH. Water pH was lowered by approximately 0.1 units every minute until stingrays ceased spiracle contraction (i.e., stingrays became too stressed to ventilate). Under our experimental conditions cessation of spiracle contractions occurred at a mean pH of 5.35.

This methodology was adapted from Aaron Shultz’s doctoral research, which is observing how extreme environmental conditions in mangrove creeks affect several fishes. In preparation for the immunological study, however, researchers are learning more about the seasonal (lack of) abundance of yellow stingrays. A first replicate of 20 stingrays should be completed by December.

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Conch, Educational Programs, Lionfish, Outreach, Plastics, Sharks, Student Research

Update on recent visiting programs!

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
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.
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 →

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Conch, Educational Programs, Outreach, Plastics, Research Programs, Sea turtles, Sharks, Student Research, Sustainable Systems

Time flies when you are turtling!

DSCN1321Our Gap Year crew has been very busy in their first month here at CEI with marine research, road trips, classes and community service. We’ve studied human ecology, coral reefs, mangroves and more.  We analyzed sustainable aspects of our Island School/CEI community here and compared them to our home communities with the ultimate goal of designing a solution to an issue of sustainability at home.

Outside of our classes, we’ve helped out with many on-site research projects studying everything from green sea turtles to Caribbean sharks to a local favorite, queen conch. We’ve also conducted plastic surveys and helped out in our permaculture garden. Last week we explored outside our immediate community and volunteered at the Tarpum Bay Arts & Cultural center doing a landscaping project (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Eleutheras-Art-and-Cultural-Centre/234550843232729). There we met the lovely director, Audrey Carey, who regaled us with stories about what life was like when she grew up in the Bahamas (very sustainable!) and showed us the local students’ and artists’ work.  Continue reading →

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Sea turtles, Sharks, Student Research

A Spotlight on CEI’s new Research Assistants

Here are brief bios from CEI’s three fall research assistants:

IMG_2278Ian Bouyoucos graduated from the University of Michigan with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology. This research assistant position is his third time at CEI, following an internship in the summer 2010 and spring 2013 semesters. Ian’s research background is focused on shark stress physiology, as well as sturgeon bycatch reduction. Specifically, he has conducted research concerned with the secondary stress response in the smooth dogfish, and the potential for electropositive metals to serve as a method of bycatch reduction for Atlantic sturgeon. In addition, he has assisted on projects dealing with nursery habitat use of juvenile lemon and blacktip sharks, and bycatch reduction in sandbar sharks. On top of the research he will be involved in with the shark research and conservation program, Ian will be conducting a project focused on the immunological response in yellow stingrays to a chronic stressor, which will serve as a model for sharks. Continue reading →

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Research Programs, Sharks

Shark team recovers satellite tags as part of ongoing project

An X-Tag on a shark's dorsal fin.
An X-Tag on a shark’s dorsal fin.

Last Thursday our shark team, captained by Dr. Edward Brooks, embarked on another exciting satellite tag recovery to the Exumas – a small group of cays situated due west of the Cape Eleuthera Institute.  This particular project, run in collaboration with Microwave Telemetry Inc, has deployed eight Microwave Telemetry X-Tags  over the last two years.  This particular PSAT had popped off a male Caribbean reef shark (Carcharhinus perezi) after five months, three months earlier than its planned 8 month deployment, due to a failure of the tag anchor.  The X-Tag has been logging the depth and temperature of the shark every two minutes, in addition to logging ambient light levels, from which daily geolocation estimates can be generated from day length and sunrise and sunset times.

The team searching for the tag.
The team searching for the tag.

These tags are not designed to be recovered, instead transmitting their archived data via the ARGOS satellite system.  Typically 100% data transmission is not achieved due to limitations in battery life and satellite bandwidth, so if a tag washes ashore it provides a rare opportunity for 100% of the logged data to be recovered manually.  The two minute resolution data will yield a treasure trove of information on this poorly understood species.

At 6:30am the team readied the boat with all necessary gear for a long day out in the field. The two most important items aboard consisted of a GPS with approximate location of the last transmission, and a VHF receiver and yagi antenna to narrow the search area from the individual burst transmissions from the tag. Timing is imperative, as detections from the tag only transmit during a two-hour window when the satellite is directly above the tag’s location. Transmissions were in one-minute intervals, between 9:15 and 11:15, meaning the team had to arrive at the Exumas no later than 9 am in order to anchor the boat and assemble the GPS and satellite receiver. Continue reading →

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Educational Programs, Flats, Outreach, Research Programs, Sea turtles, Sharks, Student Research

Students come to CEI to participate in Sharks, Flats, and Turtles Week

Students from the US and Puerto Rico came to the CEI campus for a week of working with researchers in the Shark, Flats, and Turtle Programs. Here is an update from each group.

Campers tagging and measuring a fish.
Campers tagging and measuring a fish.

Flats Team: Campers working the with flats team got a crash course in learning about flats ecology, mangrove ecosystems, and the economic and ecological importance of one target flats species, the bonefish. They gained experience seining, where they caught bonefish and lemon sharks and were able to practice tagging and releasing. Campers also got to try their hand at fly fishing on the flats, and each group caught a few bonefish. Continue reading →

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