Uncategorized

Educational Programs October Update

The month of October has been busy and bustling with visiting educational programs from Palm Beach Florida and Nassau.

Palm Beach Day Academy, located in South Florida, recently visited for a 5 day program where they focused on research and sustainable systems at the Island School and CEI. After spending a memorable first day tagging juvenile green sea turtles they spent the next morning with the aquaculture team for an entertaining (and delicious) presentation where they were able to eat some of the Cobia grown in the 3000 m3 offshore cage. Throughout the remainder of their trip they enjoyed a presentation and dissection on the invasive lionfish as well as an engaging bonefish dissection from the Flats researchers just to name a few.

Lyford Cay International School, a K-12th grade International Baccalaureate authorized school in western New Providence, The Bahamas, brought their grade 10 students last week for a 3 day program focusing on sustainable water usage and conservation techniques at CEI/Island School. Each morning the students joined the morning chore of measuring the water in the cisterns around campus. Continue reading →

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Flats, Research Programs

Bonefish tagging trip in Abaco update #1

In October, CEI researchers Aaron Shultz and Zach Zuckerman, along with Illinois Natural History Survey scientist and chair of the Fisheries Conservation Foundation Dave Philipp, took a trip to the neighboring island of Abaco to tag bonefish, as part of a Caribbean-wide effort to gain knowledge on the population dynamics and movements of these economically important gamefish.
Tagging efforts on Abaco were a huge success, despite having to deal with Hurricane Sandy.  Early on in the trip, the team headed out to the Southern End of the Marls and captured several schools of bonefish that came in waves of 50-150 fish.  Buddy Pinder, bonefish guide and member of the Abaco Flyfishing Guides Association helped them tag 162 fish on the first day of seining.  The next day they saw piles of fish moving along the same shoreline and tagged an additional 496 bonefish! One of the fish had been tagged by Aaron two years earlier in Cross Harbour.  The team suspects these fish are using this stretch of shoreline as a corridor to the southern end of the island, where fish aggregate prior to spawning.

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Sustainable Systems

Biodigester Comes Online as the Newest Piece of Energy Puzzle

In recent weeks, the CEI/IS biodigestion system has quietly been generating an unheralded form of renewable energy: biogas. Although biodigestion is the most recent addition to the renewable energy scheme on campus, the process of generating renewable energy through anaerobic digestion is arguably the cleanest form of energy production we have. By closing the loop between food production, energy production, and waste management, biodigestion represents a serious step forward in our efforts to become more self sustaining and generate models that can be replicated on a local level. Cape Eleuthera Institute, BiodigesterWhat is biodigestion, though? In layman’s terms, biodigestion is simply the breakdown of organic material in an anaerobic setting. As naturally occurring bacteria consume organic wastes, they generate gas, mostly methane, which can be used as a fuel source. During the break down process,any potential pathogens or harmful bacteria are out-competed, leaving nutrient rich fertilizer as an end result. In short, biodigestion uses safe waste management techniques to generate renewable energy and nutrient dense fertilizer, which is capable of increasing plant yields significantly. Continue reading →

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Educational Programs, Research Programs

New blog for the Cape Eleuthera Institute

Hi all and welcome to the new Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) blog! We are excited to have a new space to highlight the innovative and exciting research being done at CEI. There will also be information on sustainable systems projects on campus, and updates on the many different educational programs that utilize CEI researchers to provide a science-based curriculum.

Check back weekly for new posts on the current happenings at CEI. Past blog posts involving CEI research can be found at www.islandschool.wordpress.com

 

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Aquaculture, Research Programs

Culturing Penshells at the Cape Eleuthera Institute

Two weeks ago the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) harvested over one hundred black penshells from a beautiful beach at Ten Bay, located near Palmetto Point. Penshells are a kind of scallop, and we aim to culture them here at CEI for a of couple reasons. As filter feeders, penshells thrive in water with higher nutrients, using the nutrients to grow and as a result clean the surrounding water. Currently, we have our collected penshells in two separate groups: one group in the wet lab in a flow through tank, and another group in a small cage about 100m off the beach where our main pump intake is. In the lab, we feed the penshells concentrated microalgae, whereas the group out in the ocean does not get fed. We are monitoring both groups daily, by recording temperature, dissolved oxygen and salinity.

Once both groups are acclimated and showing good growth rates, we are going to attempt to breed them and raise penshells into maturity. We plan on putting the resulting stock in the mangrove

Continue reading →

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Educational Programs

GAP Program Update #3

By Calvin Clapp

Here in South Eleuthera, the past couple weeks have been somewhat of a blur. Whether the blame falls upon camping trips, scuba diving or research, there is no doubt that we have been fully engaged in life on the island. Last weekend, the interns organized a small camping trip to Surfer’s Beach. So we started bussin’ it down the island, making any of the necessary stops to make it a proper camping experience. After sharing stories and laughs, with the fire simmering down, we all headed to bed ready for a fun-filled day of aquatic activities. The last minute decision to camp was not regretted by anyone.

With drowsy eyes and with a trailing stench of campfire, we rolled back to campus ready to take on a couple days of learning in the field with our respective research groups. We soon realized that our recent camping trip was only a pre-game for our exclusive DIT (Down Island Trip) for the gaps and our leader, Scotty.

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This served as a great opportunity to explore and experience Continue reading →

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Uncategorized

CEI’s Kristal Ambrose as Guest Speaker at Bahamas National Trust

Last week the Bahamas National Trust hosted Kristal Ambrose, Aquaponics Technician at Cape Eleuthera Institute, as a public meeting guest speaker. The topic for the evening featured her internship to study plastics in the North Pacific Western Garbage Patch, an area highly concentrated with plastic debris and an environmental issue only just beginning to be studied by scientists. Kristal recounted her expedition, which sought to answer questions that explore what happens to plastics that enter the ocean, from ingestion by marine life, to absorption of harmful pollutants. The opportunity to share this experience with a Bahamian audience was especially important to Kristal, as her primary goal following this study is to find real solutions through education, research and outreach projects in her home country. After peaking the interest of one attendee at the BNT meeting, Kristal was approached to also share her experience with students at St. Andrews School where she spoke to two classes on Friday.

Kristal’s study was supported by the BNT, Bahamas Reef Environment Foundation (BREEF) and The Nature Conservancy, all of whom were represented at the meeting Continue reading →

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Student Research

Island School Students’ First Week of Research Class

Research classes kicked off this week for The Island School students. On Tuesday, students broke into their 8 different research groups and spent the afternoon getting to know their research advisors–members of the research team at the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI). They also learned about the study they would be working on for the next 3 months. Thursday afternoon was their first field block, where they got out on the water or into the lab for the first time! The 8 studies being conducted this semester focus on shark ecology & physiology, the impact of climate change on bonefish & mangrove flats species, lionfish & reef fish population ecology, and sea turtle & conch abundance & distribution around South Eleuthera. These studies are well-established areas of research at CEI and as a result, many visitors and collaborators will be visiting our campus over the next few weeks to share their knowledge and expertise with the students.

Research class is an exciting opportunity for students to gain new skills in the field – from fish identification and handling to public speaking and PowerPoint creation. Students learn about and contribute to global conservation issues, work in small groups, and ultimately, have the experience of a lifetime!

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Uncategorized

The Story of Sharks

Last spring, CEI interns, Brendan Talwar and Ian Rossiter, created a short film about the endangerment of sharks to share with the public at the Governor’s Harbour Agricultural Expo. They used a unique method of film making called stop motion, which requires taking thousands and photos and stringing them together to create motion. The result of their efforts was incredibly impressive–so much so that it caught the attention of famous French underwater videographer (and former member of Jacque Cousteau’s prestigious dive team), Didier Noirot during his visit to the Cape Eleuthera Institute in April. Didier helped Brendan and Ian perfect the film and encouraged them to submit the film to a festival. This summer, their short film was chosen as a finalist in the 2012 BLUE Ocean Film Festival in the Animated category. Brendan and Ian will be attending the festival along with Edd Brooks, CEI’s shark project manager, September 24-30 in Monterey, CA. Below is the trailer for their film, “The Story of Sharks”. Good luck to Brendan and Ian!

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Uncategorized

OSU’s Dr. Mark Hixon at CEI

Dr. Mark Hixon plus four graduate students have been conducting lionfish research at CEI this summer. Dr. Hixon is the most cited coral reef biologist in the last decade and recently gave a TED talk about the lionfish invasion.

Mark and his team our the first long-term residents in Hallig House. He speaks about his experience at CEI in the video below. Mark will return later in August with Carl Safina and a film crew in tow. They will be shooting an episode for Saving the Ocean.

 

 

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