Friends of the Environment

June 2012  

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Save the Date


July 16-20 Junior Summer Camp 
July 23-27 Senior Summer Camp

August (TBA) Sailaway!

More details to come!  
Lionfish Derby Results!
     

 

Counting Lionfish Counting the winning boat's catch 

  

The third annual Central Abaco Lionfish Derby was successful and provided interesting numbers as compared to last year's derby. With the assistance of our sponsors, 

participants and volunteers we were able to remove a total of 667 lionfish from the Sea of Abaco as compared to 2,957 fish last year. 
 
The difference in numbers hopefully reflects the impact that these derbies are having on local lionfish populations. The winning boat, "Kiki", consisted of four local fishermen 
who participated and won 3rd place in last year's derby. Although they brought in a total of 406 lionfish to win this year, they stated that they had to go to triple the amount of 
fishing grounds to capture less lionfish than they did last year. This suggests that there has been a significant reduction in the local population.

Thank you to Marsh Harbour Exporters and Importers, The Bahamas Marine Exporters Associatuion, Tropic Seafoods, The Jib Room, Lauren Yeager, Stephanie Archer, Joey Peters, The Department of Marine Resources and The Bahamas National Trust for all of your help!  

 

Broad Creek Restoration Update
By: Lauren Yeager, Florida International University

 

 
Muddy Girls
Over 500 students and community members were involved with the Broad Creek Restoration

Over a year and a half after the restoration project, even more changes are visible at Broad Creek. Before the restoration project, the upstream side was covered in nasty, thick cyanobacteria mats (97% of the area had a layer 1/2 inch thick or thicker). Now, only 15% of the area still has remnant cyanobacteria mats. Also, in these shallow creeks, macroalgae (like pipe cleaner alga, Batophora oerstedii) has increased from covering 8% of the creek before the restoration to 35% of the creek area after. Pipe cleaner alga provides important shelter and food for many creek species, including queen conch.

The fish community has changed, as well, after the restoration. Before the restoration, fishes observed upstream of the road included gray snapper, barracuda, yellowfin mojarra, and mosquito fish. However, these fishes were essential trapped and would frequently experience die-offs due to the harsh environmental conditions. Now the number of fish species using the previously blocked side has doubled; gray snapper, cubera snapper, schoolmaster snapper, blue-striped grunt, yellowfin mojarra, checkered puffer, sergeant major, and mosquito fish all use this habitat. The increased flow and connectivity with the ocean is causing steady improvements to the habitat at Broad Creek and converting the ecosystem back towards its natural state.

 



East Abaco Creeks Park Proposal Mentioned in the House of Assembly
The newly appointed Minister of the Environment and Housing, the Honourable Kenred Dorsett, presented his budget contribution in the House of Assembly on the 11th June 2012. We were thrilled to see that the East Abaco Creeks National Park Proposal was mentioned in his speech! Read the full address HERE
Abaco's Environment in Pictures - Parrot Fish are SO Cool!   
Things that make parrot fish awesome:
  • Parrotfish keep coral reefs clean by eating the algae on the coral. If you listen closely while you are snorkeling on a reef, you can hear the parrotfish scraping the reef with their beaks.
  • Most parrotfishes are protogynous, sequential hermaphodites, meaning they start out as females but can switch to males later in life.  In some species, the males maintain harems of females.  When the male dies, one of the females will change into a male to take his place.  This sex change also corresponds to a change in coloration.    
  •  Some species of parrotfish, like queen parrotfish, create a cocoon of mucus to sleep in at night.  This cocoon may prevent predators from being able to smell the parrotifsh and protect them from parasites as they sleep. It takes about 30 minutes to make the cocoon and another 30 to get out of the cocoon in the morning.   
  •  Most of sand around reefs and on many beaches is actually parrotfish poop! When parrotfish eat corals and scrape limestone rock, they grind up the skeleton/rock with specialized teeth and poop out the remains as sand.  It is estimated that parrotfish can produce up to one ton of sand per acre of reef per year.   

Parrotfish