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.