Flats, Outreach, Research Programs

BNNHC Update #2

Day 2 of the Bahamas National Natural History Conference had a session devoted to new research on life history and management of a popular gamefish of the Bahamas, the bonefish (Albula vulpes). The bonefish session, moderated by Dr. Dave Philipp, Executive Director of the Fisheries Conservation Foundation (FCF), started off with a talk by UMass PhD student Chris Haak, who discussed his findings on the early life history of bonefish. With his findings, he theorized that juvenile bonefish actually mimic another species in the flats ecosystem, mottled mojarra, as a way to blend in with their schools for protection from predation.

Next to speak was Dr. Karen Murchie from the College of the Bahamas, talking about movement patterns in bonefish and experiments with acoustic telemetry. She found that bonefish move regularly among tidal creeks in South Eleuthera, and was able to follow some fish for almost two years! Dave Philipp then discussed the reproductive ecology of bonefish, and some implications for conservation in the Bahamas. He emphasized the importance of determining source/sink populations to inform management. Continue reading →

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Lionfish, Research Programs, Sharks

Scientists from CEI head to Bahamas National Natural History Conference in Nassau, Update #1

On Tuesday, March 5th, 4 scientists from the Cape Eleuthera Institute made the trip to Nassau for the first Bahamas National Natural History Conference, co-hosted by the Bahamas National Trust and the College of Bahamas. On this first day of the conference, the audience got to hear from Dr. Jocelyn Curtis-Quick, manager of the Lionfish Research and Education Program, discussing the positive impact of removing lionfish from Bahamian reefs. Presenting data collected by Dr. Stephanie Green from Simon Fraser University, Dr. Curtis-Quick showed the audience a model for determining the effects of lionfish on native fish production, and posed the idea that although total eradication of lionfish is unlikey, partial removals (from targeted removals and derbies) can be an effective management strategy.

Later in the day, Dr. Edd Brooks, manager of the Shark Ecology and Conservation Program, spoke about his six years of research on the Caribbean Reef shark in the Bahamas, an ecologically important apex predator. Dr. Brooks showed interesting sex differences in depth that the sharks inhabit, based on data he obtained from satellite tags that tracked the shark’s movements over a period of 8 months.Both talks were well attended, and were a great way to start off the conference. Aaron Shultz, Director of CEI, and Claire Thomas, who studies queen conch ecology, will present later in the week. Thanks for representing CEI!

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Flats, Research Programs

Another update on the North Eleuthera Bonefish Seining trips!

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We have tagged many bonefish around South Eleuthera (around 2500 fish) over the last few years, and several more over the last three months off Abaco and Grand Bahama (a little over 1500 fish).  To fill in the gap in effort between those sites, however, we recently took our seines and tags up to the north end of Eleuthera.  Working out of the Rainbow Inn, our FAVORITE home base in all of Eleuthera for field work outside of CEI, Dave Philipp and Chris Haak from the Fisheries Conservation Foundation and Mickey Philipp, an IS SP09 alum and current sophomore at University of Vermont, teamed up with Zev Wasserman and Gershom Rolle from the Rainbow Inn to hunt the wily bonefish on the flats around the Current, way up at the northwest tip of Eleuthera.

Because Gershom seemed to know exactly where bonefish were going to be hanging out, we had great luck, tagging over 300 fish in our first net haul (just south of the road) and almost 200 in our second haul (over on Current Island).  On the island, Jonathon Rahming, a local resident that was justifiably concerned over strangers netting fish in front of his house, gave us his perspective on fisheries, evolution, and life in general…a fun and enlightening experience.  We then moved to Corrie Sound, where our efforts were not nearly as successful (or physically easy!).  At the end of two days, however, we had tagged over 500 fish in a great location to test bonefish movements — both down island to the Cape and across the deep water of the Bahamas strait to Abaco or Grand Bahama Island. Continue reading →

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Research Programs, Sharks

Historic Bahamian Shark Abundance Project Update #3

The Historic Project shark team has begun to examine and compare the preliminary results from the November 2012 expedition with the previous two expeditions. The data from both November expeditions seems to show similar patterns of a higher Caribbean reef shark species abundance compared to tiger sharks; the two dominate total species captured for this project.  This is the opposite of the historic data, as tiger sharks historically had a higher abundance.  

The total catch for November 2011 was 52 sharks over 5 scientific longline sets. The catch per unit effort (CPUE; number of sharks caught per unit of time) from November 2011 was 0.12 Caribbean reef sharks per hour, dominating catch rates at 79% of the total catch.  The CPUE for tiger sharks was 0.02 sharks per hour and 17% of the total catch, with the rest of the catch consisting of silky sharks.  November 2012 total catch was 36 sharks over 4 research sets. CPUE for Caribbean reef sharks was 0.07 sharks per hour, comprising of 86% of the total catch.  The remainder of the catch consisted of tiger sharks, with a CPUE of 0.01 sharks per hour.  Due to rough weather the crew was only able to set 4 research lines, resulting in a fewer number of sharks in November 2012 than 2011, although the numbers are still comparable.  Interestingly, the March 2012 expedition showed a more equivalent species catch rate.  Thirty-two sharks were caught over 6 sets, with Caribbean reef sharks’ CPUE at 0.039 sharks per hour and 47% of the total catch, and tiger sharks’ CPUE at 0.044 sharks per hour and the rest of the total catch. Continue reading →

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Research Programs, Sharks

New CEI research on migratory behavior of oceanic whitetip sharks can help shape conservation strategies

In association with Microwave Telemetry, Inc. and the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, Edd Brooks and CEI’s Shark Research and Conservation program have discovered new findings while studying the migratory behaviors of ocean whitetip sharks that can help shape conservation strategies. Some sharks spend extended time periods in the protected waters of The Bahamas yet roam long distances when they leave. For the full article, read below or click here.

As the nations of the world prepare to vote on measures to restrict international trade in endangered sharks in early March, a team of researchers has found that one of these species – the oceanic whitetip shark – regularly crosses international boundaries. Efforts by individual nations to protect this declining apex predator within their own maritime borders may therefore need to be nested within broader international conservation measures.

The research team, which included researchers from Microwave Telemetry, Inc., the Cape Eleuthera Institute, and the Institute for Ocean Conservation Science at Stony Brook University, attached pop-up satellite archival tags to one male and 10 female mature oceanic whitetip sharks off Cat Island in The Bahamas in May 2011, and monitored the sharks for varying intervals up to 245 days. The tags recorded depth, temperature, and location for pre-programmed periods of time. At the end of the time period, the tags self-detached from the sharks, and reported the data to orbiting satellites. Their findings, published online today in the journal PLOS ONE, show that some of these sharks roamed nearly 2,000 kilometers from the spot where they were caught, but all individuals returned to The Bahamas within a few months. Continue reading →

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Lionfish, Research Programs

Intern Profile: Elizabeth Underwood dives with lionfish!

Here is a short bio on Lionfish Research and Education Program intern Elizabeth Underwood:

I’m originally from Atlanta, GA and my passion for marine biology research really took off when I was a senior in high school and conducted a year- long research project on the behavior of the whale sharks at the Georgia Aquarium. I graduated from Davidson College with a BS in Biology and also played Varsity soccer there. Davidson doesn’t offer a marine science program but they do have a great herpetology lab, so I spent the majority of my senior year conducting research on a variety of reptiles and amphibians. I focused primarily on the feeding ecology of diamondback terrapins living in the salt marshes of southeast United States and hope to have my research published in a journal in the next year.

To get my marine science research “fix” during college I participated in the School for Field Studies program on South Caicos the spring semester of my junior year, and had the time of my life. This is when my interest in lionfish research began and I haven’t looked back since. I spent a week this summer in Belize on a REEF lionfish collecting research trip, collecting hundreds of lionfish throughout the week and spending late nights on the back of the boat measuring, dissecting, and filleting the fish. Continue reading →

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Outreach, Sustainable Systems

CEI partners with One Eleuthera and Out Island Eco Company to provide alternative disposable products to styrofoam on Eleuthera

The Island School and CEI’s journey to becoming a zero-waste campus while extending the
concepts of this model to our neighbors on the island of Eleuthera has taken patience, but we are
now excited to announce we are one step farther.

This particular initiative began in 2010 as CEI outreach collaborated with the Deep Creek
Homecoming Association at its annual homecoming festival “Conch Fest” using the tagline “da Creek gone green”. CEI worked diligently with the food vendors to source products that promoted sustainability and were a viable alternative to using Styrofoam. The venture was particularly challenging, as sourcing the right company to provide the products proved difficult. The import duty on Styrofoam-alternative products was 45%, which made using these to replace Styrofoam was an unattractive and expensive option for the average resident. Through generous sponsorship, CEI provided the products to the vendors, which drastically reduced the cost of going green. Continue reading →

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Educational Programs, Student Research, Sustainable Systems

Gap Year Update #2

An excerpt from the Gap Year Student update from Gapper Will Fox:

Beach Plastic
Gap year beach plastic CEIOne of our last activities of the Gap student beach plastic CEIweek was on beach plastics with Kristal. We started in the presentation room, watching Kristal’s presentation on her experience researching the Pacific Ocean gyres. We then went out to a beach in Wemyss Bight to do some surveying. The results we got were pretty surprising — we found a ton of micro plastic pieces in each of the quadrants we surveyed in. The microplastics came from larger pieces of plastic in the ocean breaking up, a current environmental issue that researchers at CEI are hoping to learn more about in order to affect change both locally and globally. Continue reading →
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Educational Programs, Sustainable Systems

CEI is teeming with young scientists!

Last week, 22 middle school students from the Lillian and Betty Ratner School in Pepper Pike, Ohio visited The Islands School and CEI. Over the course of the week, Ratner dove into our various programs on campus. Many of the students experienced snorkeling  for the first time, visiting  our off-shore wreck, the reefs off fourth hole and the mangroves of Paige Creek. This group also learned firsthand about plastic pollution circulating throughout the worlds’ oceans through a plastics workshop with our own plastic guru Kristal Ambrose.

 

 

 

 

 

The final days of this energetic group were filled with lionfish dissections , permaculture explorations, cutting lettuce in the aquaponic grow beds, and getting a real taste for the sustainable lifestyle of our community. Continue reading →

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