The Transect Line – March 2012

By Krista Sherman, GEF FSP Coordinator, Bahamas National Trust

Sharks are an extremely diverse group of marine animals that can be found in various habitats worldwide. Sharks belong to the class Chondrichthyes, subclass Elasmobranchii that contains 12 orders of which three are extinct and 1100 species have been described. Chondrichthyes are cartilaginous fish characterized by the presence of five or more gill slits, paired fins, a true jaw and nostrils. There are approximately 500 shark species ranging in size from the 27cm pygmy shark Euprotomicrus bispinatus to the 21m whale shark Rhincodon typus. Collectively, sharks have played an instrumental role in marine ecosystems for over 400 million years as evidenced by fossil records of the Devonian and possibly lower Silurian. However, because of their K-selected life history strategy (i.e. slow maturation and reproduction, producing few viable offspring) and increasing anthropogenic pressures they are extremely vulnerable and susceptible to overexploitation. Some estimates report that global shark populations have declined by as much as 80% within the last 20 years. Additionally, the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Shark Specialist Group (SSG) lists 30% of shark and ray species as threatened or near threatened with extinction.

Increased awareness about the impact of global shark fisheries, habitat destruction and the combined effects this will have on the marine environment and economy has improved collaborations between scientists, conservationists and government officials. The Bahamas National Trust (BNT), established in 1959, is mandated with conserving both natural and historic resources in The Bahamas and is the only non-governmental organization in the world mandated to manage a country’s entire national park system. BNT’s vision is to create a comprehensive system of national parks and protected areas, with every Bahamian embracing environmental stewardship. This vision has driven and continues to drive the organization to establish new parks, engage in community outreach and promote conservation, education and research in The Bahamas.

Bahamian shark populations are relatively healthy when compared to other parts of the world, which is due in part to the 1990s longline commercial fishing ban. However, to ensure that shark populations within The Bahamas remain healthy, in 2010 BNT partnered with the PEW Environment Group to launch a national “Protect the Sharks of The Bahamas” campaign to ban the commercial sale and trading of sharks and shark products within the country’s exclusive economic zone.

The campaign launched in May 2010 with participants including government officials, representatives from NGOs, scientists, dive tour operators, conservationists, media and other key stakeholders. The benefits of maintaining diverse and abundant shark populations to sustain healthy ecosystems and the associated economic benefits through dive-related tourism (valued at approximately $78 million per annum to the Bahamian economy) were highlighted. BNT partnered with PEW and local NGOs to raise public awareness on the global status of sharks through education and outreach programmes. A series of presentations, public meetings, community walk-throughs and outreach through social network forums and the media occurred during 2010-2011. More than 5,600 Bahamians signed handwritten petitions asking the government to “prohibit commercial fishing and selling of any shark or shark related products within the Commonwealth of The Bahamas”. In July 2011, the Bahamian Government created an amendment to the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act (Chapter 244) to prohibit commercial shark fishing along with the sale, importation and export of shark products within 630,000 km² (243,244 mi²) of its waters. This marked another huge accomplishment for The Bahamas, which now protects over 40 known shark species. Shelley Cant, BNT shark campaign manager stated, “This new legislation has established The Bahamas as the regional leader for shark conservation”.

Decades of scientific research on sharks in The Bahamas has been used to assess their diversity and abundance and address deficiencies pertaining to their life history characteristics, diet, behaviour and distribution. Continued advancements in research combined with local capacity building, fisheries regulation enforcement and improved public awareness will lead to better conservation management. An ecosystem based approach will undoubtedly be most effective to sustain the diversity and function of sharks within marine ecosystems.

Editor's Note: Read our previous stories on sharks- New Laws in California & Marshall Islands Protect Sharks and An Asian-American Perspective on Shark Finning

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By Ted Reckas, One World One Ocean

Reef Check recently became a partner organization in the One World One Ocean campaign, a multi-year, for-purpose media campaign that is harnessing the power of film, TV and new media to generate greater global awareness of the ocean’s importance to society.

The campaign was started by twice Oscar-nominated Greg MacGillivray, who has been making documentary IMAX Theater films for the past thirty years in far-off places like the top of Mt. Everest, the ice caves of Greenland, the Nile River, and the deep-ocean reefs of the South Pacific. Reef Check worked with MacGillivray Freeman Films on Coral Reef Adventure which they showed at Rio+10, the World Summit for Sustainable Development in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2001. Greg was also honored at Reef Check's 2008 gala event with the Spirit of the Reef Award.

MacGillivray's team is now focused on being the ocean's storyteller. As such, One World One Ocean will inspire and connect millions of people to restore and protect the world's oceans by sharing the undersea environment with the world in a way they’ve never seen it. We are making three IMAX 3D movies, a 9-part TV Series, tons of videos, field reports, stories, and photo galleries. We are highlighting the incredible creatures that live in the ocean as well as the amazing people who are working hard to save them. Based on guidance from a team of top-notch ocean scientists, including Dr. Gregor Hodgson, Executive Director of Reef Check, we are focused on the most important stories in the ocean that have the highest conservation value and most inspirational material.

Our science advisor and National Geographic Explorer In Residence Sylvia Earle, Her Deepness, said what we do in the next 10 years will determine what happens to the ocean in the next 10,000.

The time is now. Visit OneWorldOneOcean.org and join our effort.

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By Colleen Wisniewski, Reef Check California Southern California Manager

Reef Check California (RCCA) wins an Emmy Award! That's probably not what you expected to hear, but it's true (well actually I won the Emmy Award, but it wouldn't have been possible without RCCA). We were part of the inaugural season of “SciGirls”, a series where viewers follow teams of middle school girls and their mentors as they create their own inquiry-based investigations of the environment, technology, engineering, animal behavior and health.

We filmed our episode during August 2009 with two sisters from Southern California named Meg and Elle, who are both snorkelers and scuba divers and have extensive experience on our local rocky reefs. The location for the shoot was Catalina Island Marine Institute at Toyon Bay (CIMI) where we spent three days exploring their laboratories and snorkeling and diving at various locations around the island, collecting data inside and outside a marine reserve. We developed a modified protocol to allow the girls to collect data while snorkeling from the surface. Our focus was on 7 indicator species instead of our usual 76 and the girls discovered that changes in the populations of indicator species are interconnected through predator/prey relationships on the reefs.

Our Emmy Award is in the “New Approaches Daytime Children's” category and was noted for its unique merging of television and the web. Episodes of SciGirls are still being broadcast on PBS stations around the United States. In addition, our episode (number 109: Ocean Ecosystems) is also available online at the SciGirls website in case you haven't gotten a chance to see it. I recently received an official Emmy Award certificate from the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and it's very exciting, but I'm still holding out for a golden mini-Emmy statuette for my desk!

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By Rita Bento, Reef Check United Arab Emirates Coordinator

For the third consecutive year Biosphere Expeditions and Emirates Diving Association (EDA) concluded a successful Reef Check expedition in Musandam Peninsula, Oman. Twelve volunteer divers from different countries came together for a week in October 2011 to help collect data on the health and threats facing Musandam’s coral reefs.

The findings from the expedition show an amazing coral coverage in North Musandam with an average of 58%, the dive site Coral Garden being the highlight with a total coral coverage of 81%, hence its name. As usual for the Musandam area, for our indicator fish groups, snappers and butterflyfish were the most common ones, although we had a slight decrease in the average number of butterflyfish when comparing 2010 and 2009. But on the other hand the average number of snappers for the north area of Musandam shows a significant increase as well as the average sizes of groupers that were counted. We also observed a sad increase in the amount of trash, including lost fishing nets, and general damage than in previous years.

After all the data is analyzed, the final report of this expedition will be sent to respective government authorities and we hope that some of the problems found will be addressed in the future.

We look forward to this year’s trip to see how the beautiful Musandam reefs are coping in 2012.

On this project Biosphere Expeditions and EDA is working with Reef Check, local dive centres, businesses & resorts, the local community, Sultan Qaboos University, the Oman Ministry for Environment and Climate Affairs, the Oman Tourism Board, as well as the United Nations Environment Programme, the World Conservation Monitoring Centre and the International Coral Reef Action Network (ICRAN). Further support comes from a Six Senses (Zighy Bay) environmental grant, the Ford Motor Company Conservation & Environmental Grants programme, as well as from the Waterloo Foundation, Land Rover and Swarovski Optik.

Visit http://www.biosphere-expeditions.org/musandam for information on this year's expedition in October.

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The 3rd Annual Punta Sayulita Longboard & Stand-Up Paddle Classic took place March 9 – 11 in Sayulita, Mexico with a terrific turnout and lots of fun as well as another great series of competitions and races featuring professional and amateur surfers from around the world. Some of the world’s leading surfers and surfing legends were there to participate. The contest is designed as a charity event to raise funds for a local school and Reef Check Mexico, and the generous sponsors helped make that happen. Reef Check thanks Kevin Roberts and his team for being amazing hosts as always, and for supporting the Reef Check education and survey program in the waters of Bahia Banderas and offshore islands.

Please visit http://puntasayulitasurfclassic.com/ for complete results, photos and videos from the Classic.

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A group of children from Bali’s Green School are some of Indonesia’s newest Reef Checkers, thanks to an adventurous education program. Run by Indonesia’s learning adventure company, Odyssey Institute, the program was designed to complement the school's curriculum, which has a conservation theme.

Odyssey’s Program director Brad Korpalski said the kids learned about the Reef Check survey method during their stay in West Bali National Park.

“We held a discussion about coral reefs and the type of information we were looking to collect, and what that information means,” Brad said.

“We had the students practice on the beach by using Reef Check's indicator species marine cards, and in the shallow water, before attempting to survey a pre-determined transect.”

Brad said the reef monitoring was challenging for the kids – especially the substrate survey, but they really seemed to enjoy the learning.

“I think students are the perfect people to get involved in this type of effort. They can easily involve monitoring in school clubs or weekend adventures, and tend to have time and energy to contribute. I think it [the program] was a success. So much so, that we are getting our Reef Check EcoDiver certification to continue the program and establish the site as an official monitoring location. The school group in the film will be the first to make an official submission to the database in May.”

Odyssey Institute is one of the only experiential education organizations in Bali and Brad says they are firm believers that the best education results from direct experience, and the best experiences are those in which we are holistically (spiritually, mentally, physically, socially, and emotionally) involved.

“Spending time in the ocean in remote corners of Bali is a great way to get connected with a world outside the one we've created. In the end, you simply hope someone's going to be impacted enough to make future decisions that take into account a world bigger than ourselves. Also, the reef monitoring provides a tangible action to the thought of ‘I want to make a difference.’”

“We always challenge students creatively with our projects. So while we did a beach clean up, we also provided them the space to use the garbage to make art and create and deliver a message about conservation. I think they did a skit using all the flip-flops and Red Bull bottles they found!”

Brad says part of their mission is to support local NGOs and communities through the provision of resources to enable specific projects and create sustainable livelihoods. Reef Check Foundation Indonesia is one of those NGOs.

Check out a fun video about the program here.

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This year's Save the Reefs, Save the Oceans Reef Check Gala will be be held September 8, 2012 at the Jonathan Beach Club in Santa Monica, California. The evening will recognize the contributions of our “Heroes of the Reef” each having demonstrated an exemplary commitment to ocean conservation.

Sponsorship opportunities are available. We are also looking for donated items for our live and silent auctions. Please contact rcinfo@reefcheckstg.wpengine.com or 1-310-230-2371 for information.

Proceeds from the gala will fund educational programs for children and the conservation of tropical coral reefs and California rocky reefs.

Details on the 2011 gala can be found at https://reefdpd.wpengine.com/events/gala2011/

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