Sea & Learn what all the noise is about!  Our 6th annual event has been a great success thus far.  Join us in our final week as the momentum continues.  Read below for a few highlights of this year's program. 

The 2008 Calendar with field projects and children's schedules is now on-line and will continue to be updated.

Coral Gardening: Elkhorn transplants spur new growth

©Photos & story courtesy Suzanne Nielsen, St.Maarten Daily Herald

SABA—“It’s not rocket science or brain surgery,” says Marine ecologist Graham Forrester about his project to rebuild reefs by transplanting Elkhorn coral. Forrester is in the midst of a four year Caribbean project to find ways to make marine protected areas more effective.  

Forrester worked with the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) Marine Park twice last year including a stint at the 2008 Sea and Learn October lecture series. He explained that Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) is one of the top three reef builders. Since 2005, it is also on the International Union of Conservation of Nature (IUCN) red list as critically endangered. 

Once common through the Caribbean, the species is dwindling at an alarming rate—and with it the fish population for which it provides habitat. This led Forrester to explore the possibility of coral transplants. He wanted to make it so uncomplicated that divers of any age could do it, making it easy to combat the problem by mobilizing a veritable army of coral transplant gardeners throughout the Caribbean.

Importance to reef
Elkhorn coral is one of the easiest corals to identify. Its Latin name–palmata–gives it away….it often looks like a palm with spreading branches. It customarily grows in turbulent, shallow areas, at a depth of one to 35 feet, often so close to shore that snorkelers and even swimmers can see it. In some coastal areas affected by tides, the coral may even appear above the water line, visible by anyone walking on the beach. The colony can actually cover acres in a shallow-bottomed area and will be particularly abundant in islands with fringing reefs.

The coral colonies form thick flattened branches resembling the horns of moose or elk. The surface is covered with small, protruding, tubular corallites. The “branches” are usually brown to yellow-brown and the terminal corallites are white (not bleached!) which gives the edges of the outer branches a white outline. The branches of the coral will orient themselves parallel to the direction of the surge. The basic form of the coral can vary quite a bit depending on the conditions (wave action, current) where it lives. Sometimes it has large plates, sometimes more dainty branches. 

The coral strand is full of fry and juvenile fish, who seek protection in the density. The predicament for the Elkhorn coral is that while it protects the shoreline and hinders beach erosion by absorbing wave action, it is vulnerable when this action is too strong – such as hurricane surges. The branches break off or the holdfast disengages and all is swept away. Only a rubble field remains. 

Why has the Elkhorn coral population declined?--in some places by as much as 95%, according to expert Forrester. Climate change with more storms break it off and heightened water temperatures bring bleaching actions from which the coral does not recover. Marine biologists have been working on a solution for some time, including protective activities, such as marine zoning, channel markings, restoration efforts , and predator and disease control. Forrester mentioned that there was a recent four-year epidemic of coral white-band disease across the Caribbean, which has left only isolated Elkhorn colonies.  

The good news
Recovery can be relatively quick, since this species grows rapidly, five to six inches a year in optimum conditions and colonies can reach maximum size in 10-12 years. Elkhorn reproduces by once yearly broadcast-spawning into the water column, but the dominant mode of reproduction for it is asexual, with new colonies forming when branches break off and reattach to the substrate on their own  

By 2000, scientists were working with human intrusion: could man intervene and take the broken-off bits, position and attach them strategically, and see new growth and thereby replant the decimated underwater forest? 

Forrester has tried numerous experiments with how and where to attach broken off coral. He has used hydrostatic cement, epoxy, and cheap plastic cable wrap ties. The cable ties actually work quite well, and since they are readily available, inexpensive, and easy to use for non-scientists, this became a preferred method.  

Marine scientists have tried different attachment locations: hard bottom, loose rubble, sand, and live coral. Survivorship of transplanted fragments proved to depend on the type of substrate. Not surprisingly, sand was the worst and epoxy the best. 

The broken-off bits used in transplants are usually the size of a man’s hand or smaller, and all are identified with a number tag in order to track growth. Forrester chose to use animal marking tags since the number is actually physically stamped into the marker making it impervious to fading.  

Saba Marine Park performs underwater surgery
During Forrester’s visit October 2008, about 40 transplants were undertaken on two dive sites on the southeast side of the island, where Elkhorn forests were once well established. The October experiment happened just after Hurricane Omar so there was plenty of living, broken coral to use in the exercise. 

SCF Education Officer Sue Hurrell and Marine Park Ranger Greg van Laake, who dove with Forrester, said they used two attachment method: epoxy and the cable wrap ties. They have visited the sites twice since the implantation exercise, and say that the majority are doing well. “Several of our attachments wobbled,” Hurrell said, and these had not thrived and are covered in algae. From this learning experience, the next operation will make sure that all attachments are tight. Hurrell recalled that there used to be extensive Elkhorn coral forests off of Core Gut. “It’s all gone now,” she lamented, holding out hope that this project can eventually reforest the area. 

SCF Manager Jan den Dulk said that he has no plans right now to do more transplants, since he does not want to harvest transplant material from healthy organisms. The next storm would unfortunately provide another opportunity to become Mother Nature’s underwater gardener.

In the meantime, the Marine Park will continue to monitor the progress of the transplants and pass on this information to Forrester. Forrester, who is Assistant Professor in the University of Rhode Island Department of Biological Sciences, has a long list of publications to his credit and will publish his findings in a technical journal in the near future.

Inside Saba's Bromeliads
©story and photos courtesy of Carole Iritz

Internationally known for her studies of bromeliads (the most well known being the pineapple), Sea and Learn was pleased to have Barbara Richardson as one of this year’s experts.  Richardson looks at the complete ecosystems that can be found within the water containing compartments of the plants. 

Arriving just in time to experience Hurricane Omar, Barbara and husband Michael, came to Saba not only to share their knowledge regarding the bromeliad plants and the microcosms within, but also to scout the island for an upcoming January 2009 study.  

On Friday, October 17^th, Richardson was received as a guest lecturer for a group of biology students at the Saba Comprehensive School. The group was given a brief introductory talk, which covered everything from: what a bromeliad is and where they can be found to the invertebrates that can be found within. This was followed by a dissection of a dry-forest bromeliad and collection of “nutrient soup” – the combination of sludge and invertebrates. The students were then given the opportunity to participate in a more interactive manner by looking at the invertebrates under magnification and assisting with the location and extrapolation of these organisms from the “soup”. The presentation was very well received and a number of students offered to help with the study when the Richardsons return early next year. 

Later that day, Barbara enlightened the general public with a talk at the Brigadoon, which generated interest in the next day’s field project. A small but enthusiastic group arrived on Saturday morning, October 18^th, for a hike up the Sandy Cruz trail with the Richardson's and local naturalist, James Johnson. In addition to learning about island nature, the hike ended with a field dissection. Due to hurricane Omar, no dry-forests individuals were found, however, upon entering the wet forest a number of suitable individuals were located.

Bromeliads grow in almost every ecosystem found on the island of Saba; the dry forest species in lower altitude, the wet forest species in rainforest conditions and the cloud forest species up near the top of Mount Scenery.  To our knowledge, studies have never been performed on the Saban bromeliad populations and the Richardson's are extremely excited to return to the island and do data collection, hopefully discovering some new and exciting information.

Sharkwater Plays to Huge Audience

Production Assistant and childhood friend to the filmmaker of Sharkwater, Tyler MacLeod, introduced the award-winning film to an audience of more than 120 @ Tropics Cafe regular Movie Night setting on Friday, October 3. 

An audience consisting of local families, tourists, and of coures the diving community were captivated by the dramatic documentary. 

Each year, the Sea & Learn on Saba program looks at various ways to accomplish their mission of enhancing environmental awareness.  Recognizing that movies attract the mass market, the program deviated from its normal format of Powerpoint presentations and showed a feature film. 

The film is the story of Canadian Rob Stewart's passion for the ocean and love for sharks and how he is attempting to save perhaps one of the world's most misunderstood creatures.  Whether you are a fan of sharks or not, once you view the film, you will  understand that the removal of the top predators threatens the planet--not just the ocean. 

The film will be made available for further viewing by Saba's local residents.

Hands on Learning with S&L's Bat Men
After intriguing the capacity audience at the Opening Night presentation on October 1, 2008, bat experts Muchhal and Murray went to work in the field. 

Using information from local naturalist, James Johnson, they started at the trail head for Bottom Mountain Hill Trail, close to Queen's Gardens Resort.  More than 5 years ago, Johnson accompanied other bat researchers to this location where they found bats feasting on almonds. 

Before coming to Saba for the Sea & Learn program, Muchhala and Murray obtained a proper permit from Saba Conservation Foundation and the Saba Government to allow them to mist net and thereby capture and release bat species for proper study.

The Sea & Learn program coordinated the experts to work with Saba's Sea Scout program as well as the public.  Gia Robinson and 10 Sea Scouts traveled to the trail headon Thursday, October 2.  They were first briefed on the importance of bats to eco systems and the various roles bats play from pollination to seed dispersal and insect control.  The Scouts then learned knot techniques in order to set up mist nets which Muchhala and Murray would monitor that evening. 

A field project open to local adults and chaperoned children as well as tourists was scheduled for Saturday evening.  The response was so overwhelming (35+ participants) that two sessions were organized for 5:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.  The field project was held on the trail to Mt. Scenery, about 12 minutes from the Mountain Road in Saba's Cloud Forest.  Two species of bats, different than those captured at Bottom Mountain Hill trail, were caught in the mist nets.  A fruit eater was found both the previous evening and the night of the field project.  But to the delight of Nathan Muchhala, who specializes in nectar-feeding bats, a longer nosed bat was also found at this location.

Mist nets are placed in specific areas based on the forest canopy and surrounding plant life.  The nets are monitored hourly.  When bats get caught in a mist net, they are carefully untangled and subsequently weighed and measured.  If the researchers are lucky, the bat will defecate sometime during this process so that a slide can be preserved for later analysis with a microscope to determine what the bat is eating or pollinating.  Bats are fed before their release back to the area of capture. 

Muchhala and Murray continue their work for the next few days looking at locations near the sea and along Saba's Sandy Cruz trail.  A follow-up presentation on Saba's bats is scheduled for Monday, October 6, 2008 @ The Brigadoon restaurant.  

Sea & Learn 2008 opens
Story & photo courtesy of Suzanne Nielsen & St. Maarten Daily Herald

SABA—Lt. Governor Jonathan Johnson opened this year’s Sea & Learn event at Scout’s Place restaurant Wednesday evening.

This year’s month-long program started with a quick overlook at the bat family and common myths presented by bat experts Kevin Murray and Nathan Muchhala. Murray tackled straight on old folklore tales that bats are as blind as a – well – bats. He showed picture of many bat species which use their eyes (rather than ears) to locate their prey. It’s also not true that bats are flying rodents, in fact, Murray said, scientists are not sure what mammal is closest to the bat. Bats also do not necessarily live in caves: some nest, some roost in tree cavities, termite nests, or man-made structures. Vampire bats have been popularized, but in fact only three species “drink blood,” the rest live off of insects, fruit, fish, small vertebrates, and nectar. Nectar-seeking bats are particularly important as pollinators.

The 1,100 species of bats come in many sizes and make up 21% of all mammals, with the most diverse examples found in the tropics. About 25% of all bats are threatened or endangered because of loss of habitat, other invasive species, hurricanes, and because they take a long time to recover from these stressors.

Muchhala told the capacity audience that bats are extremely important to agriculture: they control insect populations and, since they defecate seeds during flight, they help in replanting deforested areas. In some places, 90% of the regrowth is due to bat behaviours.

The two experts will be conducting a field trip this weekend and on Monday evening at the Brigadoon, their talk will be specifically on Saba Bats.

Schedules of October’s Sea & Learn activities are posted at Community Bulletin boards, are available in the information tent at Lambee’s Place, or on the Internet at SeaAndLearn.org/

Saba Bank Update

Everything you always wanted to know about the Saba Bank, is now finally available on a public web site:  http://www.mina.vomil.an/biodiversity/saba_bank.php
You'll find the results of the work done last year as well as earlier work, and a management plan drafted on the basis of those results.

Holy Bat Study!

SABA--The Sea & Learn 2008 program promises to start out with some excitement.  Perhaps not Zoom! and Bang! accompanied by the Joker and the Riddler but it's sure to be entertaining and intriguing.  Two bat experts will start this year's program with the first night emphasizing the importance of bats to our environment and the role they play in keeping the ecosystem naturally in balance.  Nathan Muchhala specializes in bat pollinization.  After spending some time on Saba, Nathan and his colleague, Kevin Murray, will give a next presentation focusing specifically on Saba's bat populations.  Saba is known to have 5 species of bats--a considerably high number in just 5 square miles.  But researchers believe we may have up to 7 species.  Stay tuned as Sea & Learn conducts hands on mist netting surveys to find out more. 

SABA—Three inspect specialists – entomologists – are spending the week on Saba looking for ants, spiders, and beetles.

This latest study to be sponsored by Conservation International (CI) will be the first comprehensive listing of these insect species on Saba. The work is being conducted by Derek Sikes, Curator of the University of Alaska Museum, Gary D. Alpert from the Harvard Museum of Comparative Zoology, and Joey Slowik, research associate from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. 

CI has recognized the Caribbean as a “hot spot” because of its tremendous biodiversity, which is under documented and at risk. Nearly three-quarters of the world’s most threatened birds, amphibians, and mammals and over half of all the world’s plants live in just a tiny fraction of the Earth's surface – the biodiversity hotspots. CI previously sponsored a biodiversity study of the Saba Bank, an inventory of Saba’s flora, and now the current insect study.

 With the support of the Saba Conservation Foundation, the three scientists are collecting their specimens from various spots on the island. During the day, Sikes and Slowik collect species by holding a “beating sheet” under a tree and then beat the branches to dislodge insects into the sheet. The sheet is a piece of white cloth stretched on a square frame. After discarding the larger pieces of debris, they can separate out the sometimes minuscule insects, which are put into a small glass vial with alcohol. Alpert pointed to a tiny ant small enough to go through the eye of a sewing needle. They will also be collecting at night.

Beetle expert Sikes said that beetles are actually the biggest family of life on earth, with 60,000 species making one out of every four animals is a beetle. Over 2,000 new species are found every year and there are over two million beetles yet to be described yet. Sikes is anxious to see whether he will discover a new beetle species during the Saba expedition.

SABA—Commissioner Bruce Zagers signed Tuesday afternoon an agreement with Bakker Recycling of St. Maarten, which will rid the island of over 1,500 metric tons of metal.  

This coming weekend a barge will bring the necessary heavy equipment to Saba: two excavators and a crusher. One of the excavators will remain in the Fort Bay area and the other and the crusher will be located near the landfill. Three expert technicians with the company will come to Saba to operate the equipment and oversee the operation, which should take about a month. The metal objects go into the crusher and then the compressed results are cut into manageable size. The final results returned to Bakker will be the volume equivalent of about 68 20-foot containers and should make up one load on the barge returning to St. Maarten.

Jean James, Bakker Recycling Managing Director, said that it had taken time since his first visit last June for both parties to be prepared to sign an agreement. The cost of the operation to Saba Government is approximately NAf 68,400, which includes room/board for the Bakker crew, shipping of materials to and from Saba, fuel to run the equipment, and trucking on Saba by Big Rock Engineering. All proceeds from the sale of the metal will go to Bakker. 

Commissioner Zagers said that he had met with stakeholders from the Planning Bureau, Public Works, and Big Rock Engineering. In addition, the government will reach out to the population to help gather any metal items that might still be on private property. Zagers said that government would organize the pick up and let the villages know in advance. 

Zagers said that once the landfill is cleared of metal objects, metal would be separated out and collected in one spot in the landfill. He said that the new waste management program, earmarked for NAf 400,000, is one of the SEI initiatives. The plan is that there will be no more landfill burning, but refuse will be buried.

Saba—Lt. Governor Syndey Sorton updated the Island Council during its Friday meeting on seismic activity experienced on the island in the month of January. He assured that all on-island measuring equipment is in good working order.

Two tremors were felt on Monday, January 14 at 10:30am (3.8 Richter Scale) and 10:35am (3.9 Richter Scale). They were measured near Saba at a depth of approximately 10 kilometres. On Sunday, January 27, another two tremors were felt shortly after midnight, measuring 3.5 and 3.6 respectively on the Richter Scale and located in the same area. The Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute (RNMI) analyzed the earthquakes and concluded that they were cause by shifts in the nearby tectonic plates, and were not volcanic in origin.  

Sorton explained that the RNMI was charged by the Central Government in 2006 with seismic monitory on Saba, replacing the Seismic Research Unit of the University of the West Indies (UWI) in Trinidad. The RNMI installed systems on the three Windward Islands in November 2006 and it continually monitors activity over the Internet. Locally, the SATEL phone company is in charge of the equipment. 

Sorton said that representatives from the RNMI, the Meteorological Office of the Netherlands Antilles/Aruba, the Puerto Rico Meteorological office, and technicians from the Seismic Research Unit met February 25-29 at UWI in Trinidad. The meeting resulted in an agreement that a protocol should be signed between the RNMI and the UWI Seismic Research Unit to monitor activity on the Windward Islands.  

Citizens can obtain current seismic and weather information by visiting the RNMI web site at http://www.knmi.nl. 

There's no reason you can't participate as well.  Remember, Sea & Learn on Saba is fun, it's free and it's for everyone.  For more information or a reservation, email:  info@seaandlearn.org or contact one of our sponsors. 

Read more from our previous events in 2004 and 2003: