Piontek, S.

The avifauna of the Dutch Caribbean island of St. Eustatius has been little studied. We document 22 new bird species for the island and update the status of several important species based on our recent observations. The documented avifauna of the island amounts to 75 published species records. We conclude by pointing out several positive developments in the avifauna and ascribe these to the combined effects of reduced hunting, the legal establishment of protected park areas, and a growing environmental awareness among the island’s inhabitants.

This article was published in the following report:

MARINE BIODIVERSITY SURVEY OF ST. EUSTATIUS, DUTCH CARIBBEAN 2015 by Naturalis Biodiversity Center and the Netherlands ANEMOON Foundation

Kai Wulf, Tadzio Bervoets, Melanie Meijer zu Schlochtern and Steve Piontek represented the Caribbean Netherlands at the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) Bio-physical training workshop held April 18-22 of this year at the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory in Jamaica. The goal of the workshop was to increase capacity for effective integrated coral reef monitoring among GCRMN- Caribbean countries, using bio-physical and socio-economic data in coastal management decision- making to improve standardized and strategic reporting at the regional level. 

This news article was published in BioNews 24.

BioNews is produced by the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and funded by the Ministry of Economic Affairs.

Raw photo material of the 2016 reef survey using the GCRMN method.

The 20 survey sites lie within the St. Eustatius National Marine Park, which surrounds the island from the high water mark to a depth of 30 meters.  To maximize comparability across the region, GCRMN data was collected solely from forereef habitats at depths ranging from 8 – 15 meters. Sites included the industrialized harbor area along with sites with perceived lower anthropogenic influence on the north and south ends of the island. For each site 5 transects were surveyed. Photographs were taken along the 5 transect lines set for counting fish, capturing 15 images per transect line. Download the summary data of the photo-analysis. See this report for details.

Please contact the DCBD administratorfor access to the raw digital photographs.

The goal of the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN), an operational network of ICRI, the International Coral Reef Initiative, is to improve data collection, archiving and the network internal functioning for a better diffusion of information on coral reef development and to increase the support for regional and sub-regional cooperation.By applying the GCRMN monitoring methods for a second year, St Eustatius is now on the way to providing scientifically pertinent coral reef data to the Marine Park

The survey location is the St. Eustatius National Marine Park (SNMP), which surrounds the island from the high water mark to a depth of 30 meters.management and the Island Government. To maximize comparability across the region, GCRMN data was collected solely from fore reef habitats at depths ranging from 8 – 18 meters. An effort was made to include sites within the industrialized harbor area along with sites having perceived lower anthropogenic influence on the east, north and south sides of the island. Within the SNMP the 20 sites selected for 2015 were again monitored in 2016:

Raw photo material of the 2015 reef survey using the GCRMN method.

The 20 survey sites lie within the St. Eustatius National Marine Park, which surrounds the island from the high water mark to a depth of 30 meters.  To maximize comparability across the region, GCRMN data was collected solely from forereef habitats at depths ranging from 8 – 15 meters. Sites included the industrialized harbor area along with sites with perceived lower anthropogenic influence on the north and south ends of the island. For each site 5 transects were surveyed. Photographs were taken along the 5 transect lines set for counting fish, capturing 15 images per transect line. See this report for details.

Please contact the DCBD administratorfor access to the raw digital photographs.

Coral reefs provide some of the most valuable ecosystem services for the islands. They are a driver of tourism, they protect against storms, and support local fisheries. To monitor this resource the regionally agreed Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) scientific methods and guidelines for the Caribbean, provide a basic framework to contribute inter-comparable data that support a regional understanding of status and trends of Caribbean coral reefs, providing a systematic snapshot of ecosystem health and insight into temporal trends in reef condition. The data contribute to our understanding of processes shaping coral reefs, and to actionable advice to policy makers, stakeholders, and communities.
The Ministry of Economic Affairs, as part of its efforts for the International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), together with GCRMN and the SPAW protocol convened a regional workshop in Curacao August 6th – 8th, 2014 during which coral reef experts from the region came together and discussed how to better coordinate ongoing Caribbean coral reef monitoring and stimulate and support monitoring in areas that lack capacity for sustained monitoring efforts. There was a clear consensus on the importance of revitalizing and formalizing the regional network, with the adoption of a simple and accessible regional data set and associated methods. The group agreed on a minimum core set of data to be collected, with associated recommended protocols and methods, developing a model for simple, accessible, but also scientifically pertinent and sustainable monitoring, both from a regional and local perspective.
The local situation on St Eustatius is in desperate need of scientifically pertinent and sustainable coral reef monitoring. Historically there have been only widely scattered and non-sustainable coral reef monitoring efforts in Statia’s waters. Following the protocols established at this and subsequent GCRMN workshops will allow the Island Government of St Eustatius to establish a 2015 baseline of coral reef health indicators, record future changes in coral reef health and manage natural and anthropogenic disasters which may affect the coral reefs.
The survey location is the St. Eustatius National Marine Park (SNMP), which surrounds the island from the high water mark to a depth of 30 meters. To maximize comparability across the region, GCRMN data will be collected solely from forereef habitats at depths ranging from 8 – 15 meters. This report descibes the main findings

Caribbean coral reefs have been declining for decades due to a combination of anthropogenic drivers such as unsustainable fishing practises, pollution, erosion and coastal development and natural phenomena like hurricanes. The degradation of coral reefs is characterised by, among others, a decline in coral cover, three dimensional structure, sharks, large groupers and snapper, herbivorous fish and invertebrates and an increase in macroalgal cover. In the past 40 years throughout the Caribbean large-scale shifts have occurred from coral dominated to macroalgal dominated reef communities.
Healthy coral reef ecosystems and sustainable fisheries are of utmost importance for the small island economies of Bonaire, Saba and St Eustatius. St. Eustatius (21 km2) is located in the north-eastern Caribbean and is surrounded by the 2700 ha St Eustatius National Marine Park (SNMP) which was established in 1996. From 1996 the SNMP included two marine reserves, the Northern Reserve (163 ha; rezoned in 2015 as harbour area) and the Southern Reserve (364 ha), in which no fishing or anchoring is allowed. In this report we document the 2015 status of a range of indicators for the health of St Eustatius coral reef ecosystem and its fisheries. Where possible the current status and trends of the indicators are discussed in a historical and wider geographical (Caribbean) perspective.

Status coral reef: Coral cover declined to a historic low. Dominance of macroalgae is established.The grouper species composition is characteristic for highly fished areas with little management.The status of key herbivorous fish (parrotfish and surgeonfish) biomass is reasonable at best.Using the most conservative survey results (precautionary approach), the overall Reef Health Index scored the reefs St Eustatius as “poor” in 2015

Status fishery: The capacity of the coastal fishery has remained roughly the same over the past 15 years, and possibly even since 1908

Abstract

The problem of roaming livestock is a major impediment to agricultural development and nature conservation on St. Eustatius, as it also typically is on other islands in the region. In support of a government-led culling program, we here conducted a baseline study of livestock abundance and distribution on the island in the final quarter of 2013. Population density of cattle, goats, sheep and chickens were estimated along 33.5 km of permanent trails, representing six different habitat zones. Each of the 13 trails was assessed five times. The results show overall high densities of chickens, goats and cattle. Clear and statistically significant livestock density differences were found in different zones of the island. The two most ubiquitous species of feral farm animals were goats and chickens which were found in all habitat zones. Island population estimates (± 1 SE) based on habitat-specific detection curves for goats is: N = 2470 ± 807. For chickens, habitat-specific detection-curves were insufficiently distinct to affect population estimates and the island population size estimate for chickens is: N = 2248 ± 668.
Cattle and sheep were more restricted. Our estimate for sheep numbers is only crude 1300 ± 992 and only indicates a minimum count for the island of about 300 sheep. As cattle are large animals and dependent on man-made trails for their movement through the terrain, population size estimates for cattle extrapolated using the Distance approach were found to lead to an excessively high mean population estimate (N = 1012 ± 458). Our best estimate, based on tag-resighting rates for cattle is: N = 600 animals, which does fall within 1 SE for density estimation. So, while the established transects are a useful tool for monitoring livestock density, the counts for cattle should not be used to extrapolate population size.
The density of roaming small ruminants (ie, goats and sheep) are currently at levels considered excessive for sustainable range management in other semi-arid landscapes. Our estimates for goat density per km2 and combined population size for the wooded habitats of the Northern Hills and the Quill where the terrestrial national parks are established are as follows: d = 109 ± 27 and n = (1323 ± 329). Such livestock densities cause soil degradation, loss of organic matter, reduced water retention and erosion in semi-arid rangelands. Therefore the results stress the need to cull, restrict and better manage the roaming livestock herds of the island. Of these, goats are the most problematic due to their habit of preferring steep terrain and cliffs. These are more vulnerable to erosion and harbour higher densities of rare species due to micro-habitat availability.
Complementary counts of cattle by LVV along the same network of trails show that over the last year cattle abundance has not appreciably declined, notwithstanding the ongoing removal efforts. Therefore cattle needs to be removed at a higher rate and/or longer period than achieved to date, to be able to effect a measurable population decline. As a final note we point to the high density of feral chickens on Statia. Chickens are aggressive omnivores capable of impacting small terrestrial animals and seedling regeneration. Their effect, particularly on the rainforest plants and animals of the upper Quill slopes and Quill crater deserves further assessment. 

Brief description of the recently started (Feb 2015) coral reef monitoring program in St. Eustatius using the guidelines agreed upon by the Caribbean (Global) Coral Reef Monitoring Network (Caribbean – GCRMN).