AGRRA

Fundacion Parke Nacional Aruba (FPNA) is proud to be hosting its first Coral Reef Monitoring Workshop this week, together with trainers – marine biologists Tadzio Bervoets from the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) and Roxanne-Liana Francisca from STINAPA Bonaire. Participants include representatives from FPNA, JADS, ScubbleBubbles, Caribbean Lionfish Alliance (CLA), Aquawindies and the Directorate of Nature and Environment (DNM).

During this four-day workshop, the participants – all certified divers – will be trained as data collectors following standard coral reef monitoring practices as described by the Global Coral Reef Monitoring Network (GCRMN) and the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA). Besides being trained in monitoring criteria, techniques and protocol, participants will also be trained in fish, invertebrate, coral recruits (baby coral), algae, coral disease, and invasive species identification – which are a crucial part of monitoring the health of coral reefs.

Coral reefs are ecosystems with possibly the highest biodiversity and unlike anything else on the planet. Apart from being incredibly varied and beautiful, and hosting an array of amazingly interesting life forms, coral reefs are essential to the economy of Aruba. Coral reefs protect our coasts from storms and are a nursery and home to numerous species that are vital to our fisheries. Coral reefs and their specialized fish also provide for Aruba’s beautiful white sandy beaches that tourists worldwide come to enjoy. However, coral reefs and their inhabitants are increasingly being threatened by coastal development, marine and coastal recreation, maritime activities, extractive activities, and land, air and marine pollution, and other impacts.

FPNA’s interim Marine Park Manager Sietske van der Wal is excited to finally start with data collection. “FPNA manages four Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that are collectively known as Parke Marino Aruba. We are the only island within the Kingdom not yet structurally monitoring the health of our coral reefs and with this workshop we will now acquire the skills to do so ourselves.”

After this workshop, FPNA – together with its partners – will be conducting coral reef surveys every two years at representative locations in order to assess the state of Aruba’s reefs, compare data over time and adapt management accordingly. Data will be shared with DCNA, GCRMN and others to be able to follow trends at a national, Kingdom and regional level. The data acquired through these surveys will also be incorporated into the management of Parke Marino Aruba.

FPNA appreciates and thanks all facilitators and participants for their support in making this workshop possible and a success – be it financially, by supplying equipment and transport, or by devoting their time and effort.

Watch here the live version on 24ora: https://fb.watch/5itHHQyI9c/

Article published in BioNews 42

Eels play an important role in coral reef ecosystems as part of nuclear hunting groups and as top predators. They are often underrepresented in fish population surveys due to their hiding behavior. There is consensus among the scientific community that most visual survey methods are not able to give an accurate measurement of the eels in the area surveyed. This study conducted surveys using the methods of two environmental and research organizations: the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF) and the Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment (AGRRA). The surveys conducted in this study looked specifically for eels and the results were compared with historic data collected using both methods. This comparison indicates how accurate these methods are at representing eel populations in Bonaire. Using the same protocols but looking specifically for eels this study found eels more frequently and in greater numbers than the REEF surveys from the online database. The density of eels found using the AGRRA protocol was higher but not significantly different than the density reported in a similar study from 2011. The conclusions from this study are that the REEF methodology, while excellent at reporting species diversity, in not a very accurate method when it reports eel densities. The AGRRA method is about as accurate as a visual survey method can be for eels and allows the data to be reported in a much more usable manner.

This student research was retrieved from Physis: Journal of Marine Science XIII (Spring 2013)19: 39-44 from CIEE Bonaire.

ABSTRACT: Region-wide assessments of coral cover typically rely on meta-analyses of small- scale ecological studies which have combined different coral reef habitats. This is particularly problematic on forereefs where at least 2 habitats can be found; coral-based bioherms and colo- nized hardgrounds (hereafter Orbicella reefs and gorgonian plains), each with very different structure and scleractinian coral cover. Here, we quantify the degree to which the failure to differ- entiate forereef zones dominated by framework building corals, mainly Orbicella spp. (hereafter Orbicella reefs) from gorgonian plains can lead to biased assessments of coral cover. We also pro- vide a baseline of an extensive sample of Caribbean coral reefs in 2010−2012 for the 2 habitats within the forereef. Mean scleractinian coral cover (±SE) at Orbicella reefs was 24 ± 1.3%, more than double the coral cover found on the gorgonian plains (10 ± 1.6%). The difference in coral cover between habitats within the same geomorphological zone is consistent with those calculated from an independent dataset for the basin (Atlantic and Gulf Rapid Reef Assessment). Further- more, the average coral cover calculated for Caribbean Orbicella reefs was more than double the values previously reported for entire reefs in the region a decade ago (10%), which integrated data from different habitats, depths, time periods and surveyors. Differentiating between forereef habitats has provided a meaningful baseline of coral state, which allows for realistic targets for management in the Caribbean basin.