Lemon Drops

"Our" baby lemon sharks are growing big and strong. Must be all that fish we keep on cleaning around the pier!

Small sharks can be easily caught in gill nets. Such as the ones around our pier. Damien Chapman caught the seven baby lemon sharks that seem to have taken residency around Middle Caye to tag them and follow their progression as they grow.

Unfortunatly this is also one of the causes of decline of shark all over the world. Fishermen use gill nets around mangroves and seagrass, usually near the mouth of rivers, which are good shark nursing ground. Sharks pups are easily trapped and die in the net. The sharks are bycatch and have little value either as meat or for their fins at the sizes caught in those nets.

The same phenomenon exsits with drift nets, which are gill nets set in open water usually used by fisherment targetting Tuna or Marlins. Juvenile and adult sharks get caught in them and by the time the gill nets are checked they are usually dead, asphixiated. Again these sharks will be bycatch and have a low commercial value. The fins would probably be sold on the Asian market for soup, but little of the meat would be used.

We hope to see our little lemon drops for many more years around the waters of Glovers and help protect them and future generations.

The return of the Shark Team

Demian and his shark team came back in October to pick up and continue their work tagging the Sharks of Glovers Reef (see May entry).

Demian and Debbie on their way to pick up receivers

This time Demian was accompanied by his lovely assistant/better half, who showed us a trick or two in staying cool in the face of these toothy animals.

Norlan Lamb is picking up a receiver which records each time a shark with an transmitor swims by.

Beside his usual activities of tagging Glovers reef sharks to get an estimate of the population and to monitor it, Demian tested a deep long line to see what lurked beneath 100(+)m waters of Glovers. To everyone's surprise and delight he recorded a species that had not yet been observed: the Cuban Night Shark or Carcharhinus signatus.

Carcharinus signatus coming up from the depths.

Commonly caught in Cuba, these sharks travel in schools, prefering waters between 50 to 100m deep with some occuring down to at least 600m. It makes vertical migration to the surface at night. (see http://www.fao.org/figis/servlet/species?fid=2815)

This night shark measured about 2m. Demian is flipping it on its back to remove the hook and release it.

TheNight Shark is classed as a species of concern. Historically night sharks were the main catch of cuban artisanal fisheries in 1937-1941. However the population seems to have declined with the development of longline pelagic fishing industries. These sharks are often caught as bycatch on longlines targetting tunas. (see http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/pdfs/species/night_shark.pdf)

Releasing the shark is always a strategic moment as you don't want to hurt it or it to hurt you!

Until next time, please stay off shark fin soup....

LAMP Survey Training

In the back: Williams- Fisheries

From left to right in the middle: Elias Cantun, Biologist at Glovers Reef-Fisheries; Kenneth Esquivel, Capture Fisheries Unit; Hamptom Gamboa-Caye Caulker Marine Reserve- Fisheries; Nerissa Baeza, Biologist at Bacalar Chico-Fisheries; Dwight Neal and Wilson Mendoza from Friends of Nature; and Dr. Charles Acosta.

In front: Ramon Carcamo from the Capture Unit-Fisheries

Charles Acosta held another Long Term Atoll Monitoring Program (LAMP) survey training this August, the 4th one since LAMP surveys were established at Glovers Reef.

The LAMP protocol is designed specifically for the long-term monitoring of physical and biological parameters at Glover’s Reef atoll and for generating data comparable to the existing CARICOMP (Caribbean Coastal Marine Productivity protocol was created to monitor the Caribbean basin).

LAMP is divided in different sections, one of which is the Fisheries monitoring. This focus on the commercial species of Glover’s Reef, including Spiny lobsters (Panulirus argus; P. guttatus), queen conch (Strombus gigas), mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis), hogfish (Lachnolainus maximus), queen triggerfish (Balistes vetula), Nassau grouper (Epinephelus striatus) and black grouper (Myteroperca bonaci).

Monitoring the variation in abundance of these target species gives information to managers to evaluate the effectiveness of the no-take zone and be able to adjust the regulations accordingly. For species with open and closed seasons (in addition to no-take zones), like lobsters and conchs, measurements are taken before and after open season. This gives an idea of the impact of fishing on the population of these species and helps answer questions such as should there be quotas on the number of fish to catch? Is there overfishing? Are the population healthy and capable of maintaining themselves? It also helps measure the level of poaching in the no-take zone where no fishing is allowed.

The LAMP training gives the opportunity for reserve biologists to go over the simple field methods and ask questions and to make sure everyone is measuring the same thing. It also gives the aprticipants an extra boost of motivation to go out there and spend hours underwater counting conchs!

Some information about Closed Season:

Open and closed fishing season are usually established for animals that reproduce and hatch their eggs at a known period. For example a female lobster caught during closed season will usually have eggs under her abdomen.

Unfortunately due to various reasons high value species such as lobster, conchs and groupers are still fished during closed season.

As a consumer there are simple steps you can take to help stop the poaching.

-When you are traveling be aware that most countries will have closed seasons for species like lobsters. So remember to ask.

-For all ceviche and lobster lovers: Belize OPEN season (so go ahead and enjoy them)
For lobster: July 1st to September 30th
For conch: Oct 1st to June 30th

-Do not order or buy conchs and lobsters outside of the open season. In Belize although fishing becomes illegal, restaurants are still allowed to serve these products. In the case of lobsters the restaurants buy the ones “prepared” for export. These lobsters will most likely be caught during their reproduction/spawning critical period.

LAMP participants leaving in Physalia, one of Fisheries boat.

PACT Challenge 2007

PACT Challenge 2007 organizers

In September 2007 Middle Caye hosted the PACT Challenge reconnaissance team, helping them organise this second edition. The organisers had an intensive day of snorkelling, kayaking and diving and felt sure that this stage of the Challenge would indeed be challenging!

What is PACT?

The Protected Areas Conservation Trust (PACT) is an environmental trust fund serving an enabling and empowering role in the conservation, preservation, enhancement, and management of Belize's natural resources and protected areas.

To learn more about PACT and its conservation role in Belize, please visit their site at www.pactbelize.org

What is the Pact Challenge?

This will be the second year PACT will organised the PACT Challenge. It's main goal is to promote the importance of conservation and sustainable management of Belize’s marine resources.

The specific objectives of the PACT Challenge 2007 are: (from www.pactbelize.org)

To promote awareness of Belize’s natural resources;
To promote and stimulate interest for the sustainability of these resources;
To generate financial support for the management of these resources;
To understand and highlight the natural, social economic and cultural conditions associated with the management of these resources.

The Challenge hopes to address the following broad areas: the current status of the marine environment; management issues in the marine environment; importance of MPAs as a sustainable fisheries management tool; and Funding for MPA management in Belize.

Why Glovers Reef?

Glovers Reef is one of the Marine Reserve which is part of the Belize Reef System included in UNESCO's World Heritage Site. Many important research and conservation projects take place on the atoll, including monitoring the Nassau Grouper Aggregation Sites, monitoring commercial species such as conchs and monitoring the state of corals. This gives opportunities for the PACT challengers to get first hand experience in activities to protect this fragile environment.

PACT Challenge organizers after a busy day of snorkelling, diving and kayaking.

Middle Caye will be the hosting ground for the Challengers.

We hope to see many of you and Good Luck!!!!

Picture of the Day

It has been a while since we posted recent photos/stories on WCSGlovers blog. The station has been quiet for the past two months and we've taken this time to upgrade some of the facilities. We also took some time to go on holiday!

This picture is what pulled me back to the computer to update the blog. Flyfishermen are strange creatures! This was taken early morning, the bonefish were biting but not his fly and out of desparation he got up on his kayak to get a better casting position...

Balancing trick

The next few entries in this blog were due about 3 months ago, so we apologise for the delay.

Conch and Lobster Tagging

Charles Acosta is looking for a lobster to tag in the crevices of the reef at Glover's Reef

Dr. Charles Acosta was back for the second time this year, in early August, to carry out a LAMP survey training (see previous entry) but also to continue his work on queen conch and lobster tagging (see posting “Commercially important species at Glover’s Reef”).

This time he came back with Sarah Register and Melissa Miller, two students from Nothern Kentucky University where Dr. Acosta is also a professor.

Melissa and Sarah measuring conchs and tagging them. They measure the lenth, width and look for a "flared" lip to see if they are adults.

Dr. Acosta is originally from Belize and has a long history of studying its marine resources. He has been a WCS research associate since 1996 and among other things has compiled the Long term Atoll Monitoring Program (LAMP) tailored specifically to monitor reefs like Glover’s Reef.

Dr. Acosta is constantly questioning the role of marine reserves such as the one at Glover’s Reef in order to modify and adapt regulations to get the most effective results for conservation.

The most recent project aims to show two functions of a Marine Reserve:

-Protection of species with commercial value and which are targeted by local fishery

-Spill-over effect: are the protected species traveling out of the reserve and helping maintain the fishing industry?

To study this Charles Acosta is looking more closely at the population dynamics of commercially-exploited species (spiny lobsters, queen conch, and fishes) in the Glover's Reef Marine Reserve. He is particularly interested in the spatial ecology of these species and the dynamics of the refuge populations and adjacent fisheries

Dr. Acosta has started tagging conch and lobsters and following their progress within the boundaries of the reserve. This is an ongoing study that will take a couple of years to produce the first results.

To find out more about Charles Acosta’s work please visit his webpage: http://www.nku.edu/~acostac/research1.html

More pictures

Rita (our divemaster) caught this lobster to get tagged. It's putting a fight and almost dragging her in the water. Did you know that lobster swam backwards?

Charles is "folding" the lobster to fit into the mesh bag-not an easy operation.

Measuring conchs underwater

Getting ready on Slippery. From left to right: Faegon- boat captain, Rita-dive master and lobster catcher!, Melissa and Sarah going to tag conchs.

Shark Fin Soup Anyone?

A Lemon Shark pup looking for some toes to nibble on.

Four young Lemon sharks have appeared near our dock in June and have decided to stay for a while. These pups measure about half a meter and have the character of young teenagers: they seem to take a particular interest in the toes of anyone cleaning fish on the dock!

Three of the four pups who chose the area around our dock as a nursery ground.

Quick facts about Lemon Sharks

(from http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=490)

The Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris (Poey, 1868), is named for its pale yellow to brown coloring on the dorsal side and lighter yellow on the ventral side.
The body of the Lemon shark large and robust and commonly reaches lengths between 2.4-3m with a maximum of 3.2-3.5 m. The growth rate of the Lemon shark is 0.54cm per year.

Feeding Behavior

The Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, feeds on bony fish including: catfish, mullet, jacks, croakers, porcupine fish, and cowfish; as well as guitarfish, stingrays, eagle rays, crabs, and crayfish. On occasion the Lemon shark will also eat sea birds and smaller sharks.

Life History

The Lemon shark, Negaprion brevirostris, is viviparous, meaning females give birth to live free-swimming pups. Females and males reach sexual maturity at 6-7 years of age or at 2.4m and 2.24 m respectively. Mating takes place in the springtime in shallow water followed by a 10-12 month gestation period. Females return to shallow nursing grounds between April-September to give birth to 4-17 pups that measure between 60-65cm. Pups remain in the nursing grounds for several years.

Swimming to breath.

Threats to the Lemon Shark

(from http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/LemonShark/LemonShark.html)

The Lemon shark is targeted by commercial and recreational fishermen along the US Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean, and in the eastern Pacific Ocean. The US bottom longline fishery commonly targets this species and it is also caught as by-catch in both pelagic and gillnet fisheries. Their fins are highly prized and exported to Asia for shark fin soup. Their skin may be used for leather and their meat can also be consumed, all of which make this shark very marketable. There is some concern that populations in the western north Atlantic and eastern Pacific Ocean are declining due to over-fishing.

Needless to say that we hope to see these sharks grow big and strong (well not TOO big) and come back to give birth to another generation... In the mean time we'll watch out for our toes....

Tyson the shark, with no guidance as to what to eat, he's playing it by ear.

For more information on Lemon Sharks please visit the following sites:

http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/Gallery/Descript/LemonShark/LemonShark.html
http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=490

Brits Abroad

Although you wouldn’t have expected a group of 40 odd Bristish to be traveling away from TV in the middle of the World Cup, the students from Manchester University arrived (pasty white) mid-June in Belize and ready to show support to their nation.

Divided into 2 groups (and defying Middle Caye’s maximum capacity of 18 people by piling an extra four wherever they could find room) the Mancuniens spent 10 days in the forest and a week on Glover’s Reef studying the biodiversity of terrestrial and marine tropical ecosystems.

The students used Glover's Reef Research Station to carry out small projects, going through the scientific process of research. They had to come up with a question, design an experiment to test their hypothesis and carry out a discussion on the different conclusions that could be drawn from the results. Projects were as varied as the feeding behaviour of parrotfish, or the nocturnal activities of hermit crabs.

The Brits are well known for their high spirits while abroad, this group did not let us down and managed to work hard and party hard, leaving the Caye with more than a glowing tan.

A few pictures taken by Phil Weater, Richard Preziozi, Daniel and Emma Shaw.

A busy week for GRMRS

Blue, red, yellow, you never get tired of the colors of tropical fish

Reef creatures

Commercially Important Species at Glover’s Reef

Georges Dawson collecting conchs for Charles Acosta and his studenst to tag.

Dr. Charles Acosta was back at Glovers Reef continuing his research on the efficacy of a Marine Reserve on commercially important species. Charles Acosta has been a WCS research associate since 1996 and has been doing field work at Glovers Reef for the past 10 years. His website: http://www.nku.edu/~acostac/research1.html

He was accompanied by two of his students from Northern Kentucky University, Liza Hernandez and Anthony DiBello and a student from the University of Belize, William Mendoza.

Clockwise: Liza Hernandez, Anthony Dibello, Charles Acosta, William Mendoza

Introduction to the project

Charles Acosta has been studying the design and function of marine reserves for the protection of tropical marine biodiversity and heavily-fished populations.
The most recent project aims to show two functions of a Marine Reserve:
· Protection of species with commercial value and which are targeted by local fishery
· Spill-over effect: are the protected species traveling out of the reserve and helping maintain the fishing industry?

To study this Charles Acosta is looking more closely at the population dynamics of commercially-exploited species (spiny lobsters, queen conch, and fishes) in the Glover's Reef Marine Reserve. He is particularly interested in the spatial ecology of these species and the dynamics of the refuge populations and adjacent fisheries

Methods

Charles Acosta and his team spent a week tagging conchs, lobsters and fish.

Conchs

Nearly 1000 conchs were tagged in the Marine Reserve. The location and size of the conch was also recorded.
The next step is to wait for the conchs to be collected by fishermen and tags returned. With the help of Danny Wesby and Georges Dawson (WCS) it should also be possible to know the area where the conch was collected. This way the distance traveled, and the proportion of conch traveling outside the reserve (spill-over effect) can be estimated.

This tagging experiment will also allow to verify a mathematical model created for the conch population of Glover’s Reef during previous field work at Glovers Reef.

Measuring the max length, lip size and width of a tagged conch.

Lobsters

The same protocol is used to study the spill-over effect of lobsters. The tag is placed on the head, which has no commercial value to the fishermen. Again the next step is to wait and see where and how many tags are collected.

Fish

The same protocol is used for the commercially important species of fish. However this group is more challenging because it is much harder to catch these species for release.

Parallel project

Liza and Athony are conducting a parallel project. They are collecting otoliths from the heads of commercially valuable fish (fishermen are asked to keep the heads of fish they filet before selling).

To explain the role of otoliths here is an extract from the Otolith Research Laboratory http://www.marinebiodiversity.ca/otolith/english/home.htm

“Otoliths ("earstones") are small, white structures found in the head of all fishes other than sharks, rays and lampreys. Otoliths provide a sense of balance to fish in much the same way that the inner ear provides balance in humans. Fish otoliths also aid in hearing.
To the fisheries biologist, the otolith is one of the most important tools for understanding the life of fish and fish populations. Growth rings (annuli) not unlike those of a tree record the age and growth of a fish from the date of hatch to the time of death. Daily growth rings formed in the first year of life, and visible only through a microscope, record daily age and growth patterns in surprising detail. And sophisticated chemical techniques allow the reconstruction of everything from the year of hatch, to migration pathways, to the temperature of the water. Indeed, virtually the entire lifetime of the fish is recorded in the otolith.”

Here Liza and Anthony will look at otolith to see where the fish at Glover’s Reef are coming from and where they are spending their different life stage. This will provide information on the role of the Marine Protected Area in protecting fish through their different life stages.

More pictures...

Charles Acosta looking for a conch

Liza, close to the reef crest looking out for a nurse shark!