Kramer, O.

Raw Invertebrate monitoring data. During monitoring the species and the number of individuals of that species is counted at 66 different locations.

Monitoring took place in: 1999, 2007, 2013, 2016 and 2017.

Distinguished species: 

Please contact the DCBD administrator or STINAPA for access to the raw data.

Raw data of seagras monitoring on Lac, Bonaire. 

At 49 locations 6 square meter quadrants are investigated. The coverage per seagrass species is measured per quadrant using a 10 by 10 cm grid. 

Observed species:

• Thalassia testudinum (Turtlegrass, Species code: Tt) - IUCN Red List
• Syringodium filiformi (Manatee Grass, Species code Sf) - IUCN Red List
• Halodule beaudettei (Shoal grass, Species code Hy - IUCN Red List
• Halophila stipulacea (Species code: Hs) - IUCN Red List
   
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Please contact STINAPA for more information

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User fee systems are effectively utilised in different places throughout the Caribbean and provide sustainable financial resources that successfully enable and support conservation efforts. The main advantage of this market mechanism is that it alleviates the reliance on philanthropic and political trends that are out of reach from PA managers and subject to unpredictable but significant fluctuations. However, in several cases, user fee implementation proves to be infeasible, impracticable or otherwise too challenging. In previous research, financial flows and mechanisms were structured and hypothesised in the ‘Eco2Fin’ framework, theoretically closing a sustainable finance loop for nature conservation. But due to a lack of empirical evidence, the contextual factors that influence the functioning of sustainable finance mechanisms remain under-emphasised in academic literature. Effective utilisation of the theoretical sustainable finance mechanisms is still faced by numerous obstacles in reality. This research, with the specific -focus on user fee systems, thoroughly investigates the implementation process from firsthand knowledge and experiences. By interviewing eleven key stakeholders from ten different island states in the Caribbean, the results provide additional depth, nuance and complexity to the current base of knowledge on user fee implementation. Concluding, the most challenging obstacles that limit or constrain user fee implementation are social and political resistance, especially the combination of both, whereas the most significant drivers of user fee implementation lie in the governance and communicative domain.

Elasmobranch populations (sharks, rays and skates) worldwide have declined drastically over the past decades and the situation in the Dutch Caribbean is no different. In Sint Maarten waters a shark sanctuary was established in 2011 and will remain in effect until 2021. In this period the Nature Foundation Sint Maarten is required to compile data on the status of elasmobranch populations to demonstrate the effects of these regulations. A stereo[BRUV survey conducted from March till May 2015 has successfully provided baseline information to enable a future assessment of the effectiveness of the shark sanctuary. The results from this baseline study can be compared with other surveys in the Caribbean to provide further insights into the status of elasmobranchs in the region and compare effects of legislation and management measures. The immediate results from this study have given insights into the relative abundance, species composition and distribution of elasmobranchs across different management zones around Sint Maarten. The widely used sampling technique Baited Remote Underwater stereo[Video (stereo[BRUV) has been used to collect data over 113 deployments. Three different shark species were identified, Carcharhinus perezii (Caribbean reef shark), Ginglymostoma cirratum (nurse shark) and Galeocerdo cuvier (tiger shark) and two different ray species, Dasyatis americana (southern stingray) and Aetobatus narinari (spotted eagle ray). Relative abundance of D. americana was highest of all elasmobranch species in this survey and was found widely distributed across management zones and habitat types. All sharks measured in this study were juveniles, of which C. perezii and G. cirratum have been observed in relatively higher abundances inside the marine park compared to the area outside the marine park. Especially the Conservation Zone within the marine park has shown significant differences in the presence of these species compared to other management zones. This should however be treated with caution as the majority of deployments in the Conservation Zone consisted of reef habitat, for which both species have a preference. Furthermore, previous tourist[driven shark[feeding excursions around Sint Maarten may have an influence on their distribution. This survey on its own is not elaborate enough to provide supporting evidence towards an expansion of the existing marine park. However, the significant numbers of juvenile C. perezii and G. cirratum inside the marine park provide an indication that the shallow coastal waters with high coral reef cover inside the marine park provide an important and protective habitat for these species. These findings, coupled with the effects of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) on shark populations, provide grounds for a continued protection and conservation of sharks through additional management measures in the marine park. For the juvenile C. perezii, an endemic species to the Caribbean, these grounds are even more solid by providing a spillover effect to adjacent areas around Sint Maarten.