Monitoring of Endangered Right Whales in Coastal Waters of NE Florida by a Volunteer-Based Citizens Network: Science and Stewardship
Endangered right whales rely on waters of the coast of northern Florida for their calving and winter grounds. While scientists and government agencies have attempted to track, document and protect this population, citizens have played a significant role as well. Beginning in 2001, the Marineland Right Whale Project connects citizens with scientists to keep track of this at-risk species and the critical marine habitat it needs. A Fund grant is helping this project strengthen and expand its volunteer-based citizens network to ensure timely tracking data can be collected and used toward the stewardship of this whale and its ocean home.
Dugong conservation in Melanesia - Stage 1: Population status and awareness raising
Endangered right whales rely on waters of the coast of northern Florida for their calving and winter grounds. While scientists and government agencies have attempted to track, document and protect this population, citizens have played a significant role as well. Beginning in 2001, the Marineland Right Whale Project connects citizens with scientists to keep track of this at-risk species and the critical marine habitat it needs. A Fund grant is helping this project strengthen and expand its volunteer-based citizens network to ensure timely tracking data can be collected and used toward the stewardship of this whale and its ocean home.
Marine turtle nesting in the Bastimentos Island National Marine Park, Bocas del Toro Province, Panama
A project to promote recovery of what was once the largest hawksbill nesting population in the Caribbean has been under way since 2003 at Chiriqui Beach and the Zapatilla Cays (Bastimentos Island National Marine Park) in Bocas del Toro Province, Panama. In 2006 and 2007, with support from the Fund, surveys were extended to Playa Larga, another historically significant hawksbill nesting beach within the park, which also supports nesting by leatherbacks and green turtles. Although nesting levels remain low due to previous exploitation, the remnant population has the potential to recover quickly given adequate protection. The SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund continues to fund the research and monitoring at this beach that is needed to support the park's efforts to protect the habitat, nesting females, and eggs. The work would enhance larger efforts to recover hawksbill populations along this coastline and promote community involvement in conservation through training and stewardship opportunities.
Conservation of whale sharks in the western Indian Ocean: Avoiding a Tragedy of the Commons.
Though the whale shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest fish on Earth, little is known of its biology, life history ecology, and biogeography. Recent telemetry tracking in the Pacific Ocean and eastern Indian Ocean and molecular genetics studies in all ocean basins have documented that whale sharks are highly mobile among seasons and years and that at least some move among ocean basins. The ecology and biogeography of whale sharks in the western Indian Ocean are less well known but a recent pilot study suggested that the coastal waters of Kenya may be key seasonal foraging areas and important migratory corridors linking southern, northern, central and eastern Indian Ocean whale shark aggregations. Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute is continuing collaborative studies of whale sharks in Kenyan waters with the East African Whale Shark Trust, Aqualand Watersports, Southern Cross Scuba, and local communities in Diani Beach. The Institute is also expanding the collaboration to coastal waters further north in Malindi with Hemingway's Resort and local communities there. The collaborative group plans to attach satellite-linked radio recording transmitters to 20 sharks and passive streamer tags to another 40 to 60 sharks. With this grant from the Fund, the satellite-linked data will be processed and reported by Hubbs and the Service Argos Data and Location Service. With this data, Hubbs experts and others will be able to engage legislative and judicial bodies of local and national governments of Kenya and coastal ecotourism businesses to develop a framework for a science-based conservation plan to govern the operation and inform the quickly developing whale shark ecotoursim interests in Kenya.
Long term-monitoring of the Indian River Lagoon bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) population using an aerial survey: A critical tool for understanding population health.
Bottlenose dolphins are well-known inhabitants of Florida's Indian River Lagoon estuary. Their abundance, distribution and habitat use, however, are not well understood. In 2002, the Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute initiated the first comprehensive aerial surveys of this population. Abundance patterns suggested an influx/efflux of dolphins. This study, with financial support from the Fund, is continuing comprehensive, line- transect aerial surveys. The objectives are to continue monitoring dolphin abundance, population structure and habitat use, determine group size and composition and document seasonal abundance and movements. In recent years, the estuary's dolphins have exhibited decreased health and increased mortality. Because it is impossible to make management decisions or evaluate threats without long-term monitoring and accurate abundance estimates, this study will help establish a long-term monitoring program to ensure the conservation of these animals and their habitat.
Educating longline fishermen in order to test mitigation measures to reduce seabird bycatch in Southern Brazil
Seventy percent of the national fishing fleet in the south and southeast Brazilian coast operate with longline fishing practices. Estimates show those vessels are responsible for the bycatch of approximately 10,000 seabirds per year. The goal of this project supported by the Fund is to develop educational activities for the fleet operating in these harbors. Such activities will be accomplished by having the Instituto Albatroz staff maintain contact with the skippers and crew, providing educational and promotional materials, and having observers onboard the fishing vessels to ensure the mitigation measures are occuring.
Coral Cryopreservation for Gene Banks: Tools for Addressing Infectious Disease
Coral reefs are some of the most diverse ecosystems on the planet. They provide invaluable benefits such as nurseries and feeding grounds for fish and invertebrates, storm barriers for coastlines and potential sources for undiscovered pharmaceuticals. Unfortunately, coral reefs are dying throughout their range due to human impacts. These influences cause stress and increase diseases in coral populations. The populations with the greatest disease-related decline are the reef-building corals in the Caribbean. With a grant from the Fund, researchers are studying coral sperm and stem cells with the objective of creating a frozen genetic bank. The goal of this project is to lay the groundwork for long-term preservation of coral sperm and stem cells, thereby producing a viable resource for future studies of disease and for conserving species and genetic variability.
Coral Culture and Restoration
Coral reefs are under increasingly destructive pressures worldwide. Recent work done by The Florida Aquarium and partners has shown that many species of Caribbean scleractinia (hard or stony corals) can be fragmented and grown in aquaculture systems and, following a newly established health certification process, successfully returned to the wild. Many questions remain, including how different culture techniques affect reintroduced fragments. SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund support is helping The Florida Aquarium construct an experimental culture system and compare the microbial community of corals' protective mucus coating and the geochemical and mineralogical properties of the coral skeleton. This comparison will take place under different culture conditions as well as in field settings throughout the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Discovering the best strategies for culturing healthy coral fragments for restocking wild populations could contribute signifcantly to coral reef conservation strategies.
Nassau Grouper Tagging
The Nature Conservancy's work on the Mesoamerican Reef aims at protecting 10 percent of this valuable marine ecoregion by 2015, while addressing the needs of the people whose lives depend on its resources. TNC's strategy for sustainable harvest addresses sustainable livelihoods for the fishermen through better management of fishery resources. The Conservancy, with Fund support, aims to increase site fidelity and to study movement patterns between known spawning aggregation sites of the Nassau grouper, an endangered species. The Nassau grouper is a long-lived, slow growing and regionally important serranid that forms temporally and spatially predictable spawning aggregations and is particularly vulnerable to overfishing. The Nassau grouper is a representative species of the delicate balance between sustainable fish populations and economically viable harvest.
Changes in habitat use and distribution of bottlenose dolphins in the Choctawhatchee Bay estuary following recent red tide episodes
Harmful algal blooms happen with increased frequency and cause dolphin mortalities. Recently, blooms impacted Choctawhatchee Bay in Florida. In 2005, 50 dolphins died. A bloom in 1999 took more than 100 dolphins in this same bay. Currently, another bloom has caused massive fish kills. These perturbations have a measurable effect on how dolphins use the estuary. The National Marine Fisheries Service conducted a rapid population assessment in August 2007 and remains concerned about this bay. The ongoing long-term study, supported by a grant from the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, aims to develop a local database that can assist NMFS in identifying trends in dolphin movements, distribution and abundance. This work is linked to a model of how dolphins change their habitat use due to disturbance and will hopefully result in improved resource management practices.
Dispersal, Behavior and Survivorship of Post-Hatchling Sea Turtles; Dr. Katherine Mansfield - Principal Investigator
Little is known about the early life histories of several endangered and threatened Atlantic sea turtle species, including the loggerhead and leatherback. A grant from the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund is helping explore new tagging technologies to track the early dispersal and survivorship of neonate loggerhead and leatherback turtles off the southeast Florida coast. Study objectives are to test small-scale telemetry technologies and attachment methods, characterize when and how the hatchling dispersal patterns spatially diverge, and comparatively characterize offshore nursery habitats including oceanographic features that may influence dispersal. Providing data to management agencies to refine species' survivorship estimates during their first 24-hours in a pelagic/oceanic environment and adjusting existing dispersal and oceanographic models to identify probable oceanic nursery areas and dispersal patterns will benefit the long-term survival of these sea turtles.
Eliminating the Illegal Slaughter of Leatherback Turtles in Dominica, West Indies
The slaughter of egg-bearing females on nesting beaches is a serious hindrance to population recovery of leatherback sea turtles in Dominica. Such activities also hinder the ability of this poor country to both sustainably manage and profit from a thriving sea turtle resource. This program, with support from the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, seeks to facilitate a sustained commitment to conservation goals by fostering capacity for livelihood diversification and income-generation. Community members - many of whom are poachers - are encouraged to consider sea turtle ecotourism as a professional alternative livelihood. As the program continues to partner with coastal communities interested in assuming greater responsibility for sea turtle survival in Dominica, the Fund's support is helping underwrite beach patrols and the development of outreach materials.
Monitoring the world's largest leatherback sea turtle nesting population
With support from the Fund, this project will provide a complete nesting population estimate for the world's largest colony of the critically endangered leatherback sea turtle. Initiated in 2007 with the development of standardized methods, an annual assessment is being conducted and used in monitoring nesting trends for the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Current estimates suggest that Trinidad supports more than 80 percent of all leatherback nesting in the insular Caribbean. The status of this vital population, however, is unclear due to lack of an accurate annual survey. To accomplish this objective, support and training will be provided to four village-based non-governmental sea turtle conservation groups who manage the primary nesting colonies on Trinidad under a co-management agreement with the Trinidad and Tobago government. For more than 15 years, the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network has been an integral partner to this island community's government and local conservation groups, and serves as the lead partner implementing this project.
Preventing harm caused by sound produced by the oil and gas industry to the endangered hawksbill sea turtle.
Despite the increasing level of anthropogenic noise in the oceans and the critically endangered status of hawksbill sea turtles, no data exist on how anthropogenic sound impacts this species. Of particular concern is the rapidly increasing use of seismic airguns for oil exploration and drilling near hawksbill nesting beaches and foraging areas such as coral reefs. Seismic airgun noise has been described as the equivalent of exploding dynamite in the water every 30 seconds for 12-24 hours. Methods to protect marine wildlife from harmful acoustic sources are in place, but information on what constitutes dangerous levels of sound for hawksbills is unknown, and current mitigation measures are not effective. Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network, with support from the Fund, seeks to determine the hawksbill hearing sensitivities using auditory-evoked potential techniques in order to develop successful mitigation techniques.
Status and Conservation of the West African Manatee (Trichechus senegalensis) in Gabon
Very little is known about the status, distribution, behavior or physiology of the West African manatee (Trichechus senegalensis). There are no recent estimates of abundance, and the impact of hunting and habitat destruction are poorly documented. The trade in manatee bushmeat, however, is well known in Gabon and elsewhere in West Africa. In 2006, Wildlife Trust and the Fund began a long-term, collaborative project comprising field research, interviews, and market survey components to assess manatee status and distribution in Gabon. Objectives include determining current manatee distribution, habitat use and movement patterns, preliminary genetic analysis, analyzing existing bushmeat data to assess the impact of hunting, training local biologists/resource managers in manatee research and conservation techniques, and developing recommendations for long-term conservation and management to government and other agencies.
Smart Gear
Bycatch is among the greatest threats to the continued survival of a large number of marine species. It also wastes fishermen's time and costs hundreds of millions of dollars in damaged gear. The urgency to find solutions cannot be understated, and World Wildlife Fund is committed to reducing the damaging impacts of bycatch through a number of strategies, including its International Smart Gear Competition. With support from the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund, this program seeks to inspire innovative ideas to reduce fisheries bycatch. The competition awards cash prizes to winning ideas and aims to engage all stakeholders, particularly fishermen and industry. With its global network, funders, and partnerships, WWF plans to advance winning ideas so that their application may make a real difference in helping to reduce the incidence of bycatch around the world.
|
