Sam the queen conch researcher here; ready to give the low-down on my first week back after break, and even better... the first week of research! :)
Last Wednesday marked the first day of our directed research, so the three other queen conch-ers and myself headed out to a site about 20 minutes away where local fishers collect conch. First of all, it was beautiful because we have never really been out that far. We went to a site that was close to one of the cays on the Caicos Bank, called Six Hills Cay (appropriately named since there is clearly seven distinct hills). Luckily, the water was pretty calm and it was sunny! The way that we collect the conch is a scientific survey method called "random heading transects." Basically we pick a random compass heading from a list of numbers and then stretch out a 50 meter long measuring tape in the direction of the random heading. Then two people swim above the tape (with mask, fins, and snorkel) and collect conch that is 2.5 meters on either side of the tape. So it is pretty easy, however the water was about 12 feet deep, so when you dive down to collect the conch, you have to take good breath. For our first collection we did well, but after doing three transects, my ears were feeling a little weird and I was exhausted after! Once we got back, we entered the data into our data sheet and then we were done for the day.
On Thursdays, we have a day full of class and then a field exercise after lunch. Our field exercise was for our marine ecology class, where we did a coral bleaching survey.
Okay; so here is a little marine ecology lesson... Coral is basically a colony of tiny little animals, called polyps, living together... The polyps secrete calcium carbonate (which is why they look hard, and when you see coral washed up on the beach it is stony). Within the polyps there are even smaller organisms called zooxanthellae (zoo-zan-thell-eee). Coral polyps and zooxanthellae have a symbiotic relationship, which basically means that the zooxanthellae live within the polyps and they both benefit from each other... so the coral provides shelter and the zooxanthellae provide food for the coral. The zooxanthellae are the reasons why corals have such pretty colors, without them, the coral just looks white. So this is where coral bleaching comes in to importance, because scientists believe that when the coral gets stressed, they expel the zooxanthellae (which is really bad, they usually can't live long without them). This is why we study coral bleaching because it can show us the health of the coral reefs and how much stress they are under from the environment changing (i.e. the ocean warming). So, that was my lesson... back to the story. We went on dives to assess coral bleaching using this little color wheel... luckily, my buddy and I didn't see any bleaching! After finishing the exercise, we were beginning to ascend when all of the sudden a pod of 7 dolphins swam right under us. First of all, this was awesome because dolphins are actually really large animals and its crazy to swim with them under water. Second of all, we rarely see dolphins here... even some of the staff has never seen them here before, so it was awesome and everyone in my group was squealing like little girls.
No matter what, it seems like on every dive there is something else to be in awe about.
On Friday, we had another day of research where my group went to collect data in an MPA (marine protected area). Theoretically, fisherman are not supposed to fish here, however there is very little implementation of policy here. In the MPA, almost all of the conch are juvenile, so they are only about 200 mm long (~4 inches). So we did another three transects, like before. Luckily it was only about 6 feet deep at this site, however it was probably the strongest current I have ever swam in. And it was no leisurely swim, because it was my turn to lay out the transects... so after laying out three, I was in the water for almost 2 hours straight! I think we all agreed that we will have some pretty strong leg muscles after we are done with our research. Also, we collected 55 conch... compared to the 11 we collected the first day, this seemed like a lot! One component of our research also involves dissecting the conch, so we brought two back to the center. The way that you get the animal out of the shell is called "knocking," which involves taking a crow bar, hammer, or chisel and hit it on the top, near the pointy part. The fisherman can do this in one hit, however it took us newbies at least 20 times, but finally we got it. If I have ever seen an animal that looks like an alien... a conch without it's shell takes the cake. They are seriously weird looking. Once we get them out of the shell, we look at their gonads (sex organs) and weigh them. This helps us establish whether they are sexually mature, which is important because about 90% of the conch that are fished have not yet spawned, so they haven't contributed to the population (one of the reasons the species is in so much trouble). After dissections, we entered the data again and were done with research for the day!
Saturday was just like every other week; diving and then outreach! Except it wasn't just like every other week because this was probably one of my favorite dives I have been on (so far). We went to one of my favorite dive sites, called the Grotto, which has the HUGE coral heads (like 10-15 feet tall)! We saw a 7 foot reef shark, which sharks are always really curious... so we saw it once and then it came back around behind us to check us out again. Then we swam deeper to about 100 feet to where the large coral heads are. We saw a ton of fish and a few turtles! So not only am I happy as a clam swimming along seeing all of these incredible animals, but the entire time we could hear whales were taking off in the distant ocean. I can't even begin to describe how incredible it was! After 42 minutes (my longest dive yet) we ascended and just because of that awesome dive... my day was automatically made! All I can think about is how much I am going to miss scuba diving in this incredible place!
Sunday was a day of working on a paper that we had due on Monday... with laying out by the pool in between completed paragraphs.
Monday and Tuesday were both days full of class and more assigned projects. In our environmental policy class, we have been talking about the current outlook on the fisheries... which as you can imagine is really depressing. South Caicos pretty much thrives off of the fishing industry here, however it is in grave danger because of overfishing. Currently, there is no alternative livelihood for the fishers on the island, and the status of the island is critical right now. It's actually really cool to be here at the moment because there is a high chance of tourism taking off on the island, so we may be witnessing a huge shift on South Caicos.
Today is Wednesday, another day of research, where we will be diving for data collection for the first time!
Sometimes I wonder why everything beneath the surface of the water is so intriguing to me... and at this point, its inevitable that I will spend my summer looking up graduate schools in marine sciences. :)
We only have 37 days left on this island that I have grown to love so much. Every time anyone mentions our time left, we all shake our head and clear the though from our minds. This experience has changed my outlook on so many things, and I am so incredibly fortunate to be here!
Last Wednesday marked the first day of our directed research, so the three other queen conch-ers and myself headed out to a site about 20 minutes away where local fishers collect conch. First of all, it was beautiful because we have never really been out that far. We went to a site that was close to one of the cays on the Caicos Bank, called Six Hills Cay (appropriately named since there is clearly seven distinct hills). Luckily, the water was pretty calm and it was sunny! The way that we collect the conch is a scientific survey method called "random heading transects." Basically we pick a random compass heading from a list of numbers and then stretch out a 50 meter long measuring tape in the direction of the random heading. Then two people swim above the tape (with mask, fins, and snorkel) and collect conch that is 2.5 meters on either side of the tape. So it is pretty easy, however the water was about 12 feet deep, so when you dive down to collect the conch, you have to take good breath. For our first collection we did well, but after doing three transects, my ears were feeling a little weird and I was exhausted after! Once we got back, we entered the data into our data sheet and then we were done for the day.
On Thursdays, we have a day full of class and then a field exercise after lunch. Our field exercise was for our marine ecology class, where we did a coral bleaching survey.
Okay; so here is a little marine ecology lesson... Coral is basically a colony of tiny little animals, called polyps, living together... The polyps secrete calcium carbonate (which is why they look hard, and when you see coral washed up on the beach it is stony). Within the polyps there are even smaller organisms called zooxanthellae (zoo-zan-thell-eee). Coral polyps and zooxanthellae have a symbiotic relationship, which basically means that the zooxanthellae live within the polyps and they both benefit from each other... so the coral provides shelter and the zooxanthellae provide food for the coral. The zooxanthellae are the reasons why corals have such pretty colors, without them, the coral just looks white. So this is where coral bleaching comes in to importance, because scientists believe that when the coral gets stressed, they expel the zooxanthellae (which is really bad, they usually can't live long without them). This is why we study coral bleaching because it can show us the health of the coral reefs and how much stress they are under from the environment changing (i.e. the ocean warming). So, that was my lesson... back to the story. We went on dives to assess coral bleaching using this little color wheel... luckily, my buddy and I didn't see any bleaching! After finishing the exercise, we were beginning to ascend when all of the sudden a pod of 7 dolphins swam right under us. First of all, this was awesome because dolphins are actually really large animals and its crazy to swim with them under water. Second of all, we rarely see dolphins here... even some of the staff has never seen them here before, so it was awesome and everyone in my group was squealing like little girls.
No matter what, it seems like on every dive there is something else to be in awe about.
On Friday, we had another day of research where my group went to collect data in an MPA (marine protected area). Theoretically, fisherman are not supposed to fish here, however there is very little implementation of policy here. In the MPA, almost all of the conch are juvenile, so they are only about 200 mm long (~4 inches). So we did another three transects, like before. Luckily it was only about 6 feet deep at this site, however it was probably the strongest current I have ever swam in. And it was no leisurely swim, because it was my turn to lay out the transects... so after laying out three, I was in the water for almost 2 hours straight! I think we all agreed that we will have some pretty strong leg muscles after we are done with our research. Also, we collected 55 conch... compared to the 11 we collected the first day, this seemed like a lot! One component of our research also involves dissecting the conch, so we brought two back to the center. The way that you get the animal out of the shell is called "knocking," which involves taking a crow bar, hammer, or chisel and hit it on the top, near the pointy part. The fisherman can do this in one hit, however it took us newbies at least 20 times, but finally we got it. If I have ever seen an animal that looks like an alien... a conch without it's shell takes the cake. They are seriously weird looking. Once we get them out of the shell, we look at their gonads (sex organs) and weigh them. This helps us establish whether they are sexually mature, which is important because about 90% of the conch that are fished have not yet spawned, so they haven't contributed to the population (one of the reasons the species is in so much trouble). After dissections, we entered the data again and were done with research for the day!
Saturday was just like every other week; diving and then outreach! Except it wasn't just like every other week because this was probably one of my favorite dives I have been on (so far). We went to one of my favorite dive sites, called the Grotto, which has the HUGE coral heads (like 10-15 feet tall)! We saw a 7 foot reef shark, which sharks are always really curious... so we saw it once and then it came back around behind us to check us out again. Then we swam deeper to about 100 feet to where the large coral heads are. We saw a ton of fish and a few turtles! So not only am I happy as a clam swimming along seeing all of these incredible animals, but the entire time we could hear whales were taking off in the distant ocean. I can't even begin to describe how incredible it was! After 42 minutes (my longest dive yet) we ascended and just because of that awesome dive... my day was automatically made! All I can think about is how much I am going to miss scuba diving in this incredible place!
Sunday was a day of working on a paper that we had due on Monday... with laying out by the pool in between completed paragraphs.
Monday and Tuesday were both days full of class and more assigned projects. In our environmental policy class, we have been talking about the current outlook on the fisheries... which as you can imagine is really depressing. South Caicos pretty much thrives off of the fishing industry here, however it is in grave danger because of overfishing. Currently, there is no alternative livelihood for the fishers on the island, and the status of the island is critical right now. It's actually really cool to be here at the moment because there is a high chance of tourism taking off on the island, so we may be witnessing a huge shift on South Caicos.
Today is Wednesday, another day of research, where we will be diving for data collection for the first time!
Sometimes I wonder why everything beneath the surface of the water is so intriguing to me... and at this point, its inevitable that I will spend my summer looking up graduate schools in marine sciences. :)
We only have 37 days left on this island that I have grown to love so much. Every time anyone mentions our time left, we all shake our head and clear the though from our minds. This experience has changed my outlook on so many things, and I am so incredibly fortunate to be here!
One of my favorite animals... the spotted eagle ray (Aetobatis narninarni). They are massive and one of the most graceful animals (not to mention their markings are beautiful!) This picture was taken by another student here!
I have to admit, lionfish are pretty... but they are really bad for the reefs! They are an invasive species to the Caribbean and have spread like wild fire. Originally there were only 6 released in Caribbean waters, and now they have spread to South America, Florida, up the east coast into New England. They are very poisonous and all around a horrible fish!
This picture was also taken by a fellow student :)
This picture was also taken by a fellow student :)
A picture of a coral reef in an MPA... at a site called "Admiral's Aquarium."