January 13th, 2012
A talk from TedxCuraçao.
Jerry Christopher Butler currently serves as the Executive Director and CEO of Global Equity Consultants Ltd., a Bahamas firm managing a network of Caribbean bankers, lawyers, and accountants specializing in identifying and executing Caribbean project investment opportunities. He is the founding Chairman of Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF) and Board member of the Latin American Caribbean Council on Renewable Energy (LAC – ACORE).
November 1st, 2011
A recent expedition to Curaçao’s “middle-light” reefs has discovered several new species of fish:
Ensconced in a plexiglass bubble some 500 feet beneath the azure waves of the southern Caribbean Sea, Carole Baldwin spied a lumpy oddball of a flesh-colored fish. It looked like an anglerfish, also known as a sea toad. Yet Baldwin, one of the most experienced Caribbean fish specialists alive, had not seen this variety.
She directed a technician in the five-person submarine to grab the creature with the vehicle’s suction arm. A squirt of anesthetic slowed the oddball so the arm could drop it into a milk crate strapped to the front of the sub.
Here, on one of 21 dives Baldwin and her colleagues made just off the island of Curacao, was another prize, another species probably new to science. Then the sub dropped. The groggy fish floated out of the crate, roused and wriggled off into the dark.
“There’s always one that gets away,” Baldwin said later in her office at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History, where a taxidermied swordfish presides from high atop the back wall. But at least a half-dozen newly discovered species did not escape the milk crate this summer.
While much of the ocean remains a vast unknown and no doubt full of unseen creatures, most of the Caribbean has been well surveyed. Pulling new species from this sea was “a huge surprise,” Baldwin said. “Everyone thought, ‘Been there, done that.’ ”
Read more in the full story from the Washington Post and take a look at the accompanying photos.
Previously on Green Antilles: Puerto Rico’s “middle-light” reefs explored for the first time.
[Photo: Barry B. Brown via washingtonpost.com]
June 27th, 2011
I was asked to share this event notice and invitation (for everyone who is interested in renewable energy in the Caribbean) with Green Antilles readers:
Event: Ecopark Curacao presentation
Date: July 7th
Time: 3.30pm
Location: Aula, UNA
Registration: www.aanmelder.nl/ecoparkcuracaoHereby, we would like to invite you to the presentation of the Ecopark Curacao project that will take place on July 7, 2011 at 3:30pm at the Aula of the University of the Netherlands Antilles. The Ecopark Curacao will be a high-tech research facility and technology park located near the Hato International Airport and will make use of Deep Sea Water that will be supplied to the airport’s Sea Water Air-Conditioning system. This project has won the prestigious TU Delft Design Challenge contest and may offer you a great insight into the newest developments and business opportunities in the Caribbean.
The team hopes to see you on July 7th. Please register via the website: www.aanmelder.nl/ecoparkcuracao.
Ecopark for Curacao
The Curacao Ecopark will be an industrial park for high-tech production and research facilities with a sustainable character located near the Hato International Airport. While having a minimal impact on the environment, the aim of the Ecopark is to create economic growth, stimulate industries on the island and educate public about the opportunities that renewable technologies offer. The facilities in the Curacao Ecopark will be clustered around and will utilize deep sea water that is to be used for a Sea Water Air Conditioning system of the Curacao airport. Activities in the Ecopark will have a commercial, pre-commercial, R&D or educational character and will be of ‘tenant-like’ structure — ensuring that new tenants (modules) can be added to the Ecopark and co-exist or operate in synergy with other technologies.For more information about the Ecopark:
Website: www.bluerise.nl/ecopark
E-mail: Ecopark@bluerise.nl
You can also find out more about the Ecopark in the flyer below:
April 15th, 2011
Several Caribbean territories were represented at a recent European Union climate change workshop:
The “Islands and Adapting to Climate Change” workshop … was geared towards small islands, addressed challenges and applicable tools that overseas territories can implement to manage climate change adaptation initiatives and strategies.
In attendance were representatives from The Cayman Islands, Aruba, Bonaire, Curaco, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten, Wallis & Futuna, Fresh Polynesia, New Caledonia, St. Pierre ET Miquelon, the Falkland Islands and Greenland.
Also in attendance were representatives from the European Commission, the Overseas Countries and Territories Association, (OCTA) the United Kingdom´s Department of International Development (DFID) and the Caribbean Community Climate Change Centre (CCCCC).
In an update to the Department of Information and Public Relations on her return to office last week, [the British Virgin Islands] Climate Change Coordinator, Ms. Angela Burnett Penn, highlighted some major items discussed.
“Overseas Countries and Territories are among the most vulnerable to climate change impacts. The Caribbean overseas territories (OT) of the UK are currently working on a joint climate change declaration to push our agenda,” Burnett Penn reported.
She added that, “Workshop participants agreed that a priority for OTs is the development of a common adaptation strategy on climate change. This would encompass three central pillars which are sustained financing, a local and EU level political strategy and local capacity building.”
For more information read the full article from BVI Platinum News.
[Photo: Anthony V.]
April 12th, 2011
In their latest blog post the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) explains some of their recent conservation work, monitoring and mapping flora and fauna in Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten:
Protecting this paradise is the goal of the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA), a partnership organization made up of the islands’ protected area managers. DCNA works to ensure the islands preserve their unique natural world through focused management. Effective conservation requires exceptional management, and exceptional management requires objective, reliable data that can be used to measure progress and make critical decisions.
“A Geographic Information System (GIS) is one tool that will contribute to us achieving our mission of safeguarding nature in the Dutch Caribbean,” said Nathaniel Miller, DCNA’s Conservation Projects Assistant.
In addition to working to build a trust fund that will sustain at least one land and one marine park on each Dutch Caribbean island, DCNA is developing a regional approach to conservation and has embarked on multiyear initiatives to standardize management plans, evaluate conservation success, and monitor biodiversity and key habitats.
Through ESRI’s Grant Assistance Program, each protected area management organization on each island and DCNA are benefiting from ArcInfo GIS licenses.
“DCNA is working to help the protected area managers use GIS and ArcInfo software to collect data on environmental threats, key species, vegetation, visitor resources, and other information that will aid in all aspects of management,” said Kalli De Meyer, Executive Director. “Partnering with the ESRI office based in Curacao, DCNA is training protected area staff not only on how to use and understand GIS, but also how to apply these skills to their day-to-day work.” Assessments of protected area management over the last three years have shown gaps between protected area needs and how resources are allocated.
“One of our first GIS goals,” Miller said, “is to enable park management staff to map their protected area threats and resources and then overlay where and how they are expending their resources. This data visualization will give us a fresh perspective on the biodiversity we are protecting and allow us to be more efficient in the work we are doing to ensure its vitality.“
Read more about the DCNA’s work to map nature in the Dutch Caribbean at their blog.
The DCNA was recently mentioned in this post on Green Antilles: Suriname Conservation Foundation and Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance provide good practice examples of conservation trust funding.
[Image: via the DCNA]
April 8th, 2011
A recently published study about the long term benefits of permanent conservation endowments includes case studies and examples of best practice from Suriname and the Dutch Caribbean. I’ve embedded the full paper below, and here’s one of the relevant excerpts:
A remarkable thing has occurred with most of the Conservation Trust Funds we have observed. Each has attracted substantial additional funding from new partners.
In Suriname, the Suriname Conservation Foundation (SCF) has attracted multiple corporate grants to enhance conservation efforts around the country. SCF has also attracted several million dollars in grants from a Private U.S. Foundation to do scientific research in unmapped areas of the Amazon rainforest of Suriname.
Conservation Trust Funds offer an important vehicle through which donors can channel funds or through which ecosystem payment
programs or corporate payments can be organized to ensure effective and transparent management of resource flows.The Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA), based in Bonaire, Netherlands Antilles, was founded by grants from the Dutch Government. Only a few years old, it has been recognized for its capable administration and capacity to deliver results. The Dutch Postal Lottery, a beneficial state agency, has added a $500,000 Euro commitment each year for five years to help expand their conservation impact of DCNA in the six Caribbean islands.
Find out more about the organisations in question at their websites/Facebook pages: the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance and the Suriname Conservation Foundation.
March 17th, 2011
Some residents of Curaçao are of the opinion that it’s about time for the Venezuelan-owned oil refinery there to be decommissioned. Reuters news agency reports:
Lighting up the night sky with flames from its chimneys, Curacao’s giant Isla refinery is at the center of an increasingly acrimonious dispute over the island’s economic and environmental future.
Run by neighboring Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA, the smoky, 335,000-barrels-per-day facility is the second-biggest in the Caribbean but has long been plagued by technical problems.
Now some residents say PDVSA should give up the refinery when its contract expires in 2019 — freeing up land in the heart of the capital Willemstad, removing the distinctive smell of sulfur emissions and an eyesore that puts off tourists.
“The refinery has already had its day,” said Edgar Leito, who worked at Isla for 39 years, including as its health, safety and environment manager. He recently formed a political group that is lobbying to have the aging refinery dismantled.
Isla, opened by Shell during World War One, puffs out clouds of toxins and contributes little to local tax income, but supports many families via hundreds of jobs.
…
Environmental activists in Curacao have accused PDVSA of breaches including contaminating soil and failing to handle waste materials properly—allegations the company denies.
Opponents of the refinery have high hopes for the future of the land, which is the site of an old slave market. Leito said the European Union could help Curacao find investors.
“It could be converted into a cluster of alternative energy projects…” he told Reuters.
Get more details in the full Reuters story.
[Photo: gailf548]
February 9th, 2011
New research suggests that marine scientists may have been underestimating the biodivesity of the Caribbean sea:
Things are not always what they seem when it comes to fish — something scientists at the Smithsonian Institution and the Ocean Science Foundation are finding out. Using modern genetic analysis, combined with traditional examination of morphology, the scientists discovered that what were once thought to be three species of blenny in the genus Starksia are actually 10 distinct species. The team’s findings are published in the scientific journal ZooKeys, Feb. 3.
…
“DNA analysis has offered science a great new resource to examine old questions,” said Carole Baldwin, a zoologist at Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History and lead author of the paper. “This discovery is a perfect example of how DNA barcoding is illuminating species that we’ve missed before, particularly small cryptic reef fishes like Starksia blennies. We don’t know where we stand in terms of understanding species diversity, and our work suggests that current concepts may be surprisingly incomplete.”
But DNA analysis cannot stand on its own — Baldwin and her team only recognize genetic lineages as species if they are supported by morphology. So traditional morphological analysis, such as comparing patterns of pigmentation and numbers of fin rays, is conducted to solidify their findings.
One interesting aspect of the research is that Starksia species that were thought to be broadly distributed throughout the Caribbean — as most Caribbean reef fish species are — break up into multiple species with geographically restricted ranges. One species in the study, for example, was divided into three — a species in the east (Bahamas/Turks and Caicos), one in the south (Curacao, Netherlands Antilles) and another in the west (Belize, Central America). Baldwin predicts that other widespread species in the genus may also represent species complexes that break into multiple, geographically distinct species after further study. Furthermore, the team’s DNA data suggest that other types of Caribbean fish (e.g., some gobies) may similarly represent species complexes comprising numerous new species, and traditional concepts of speciation in the Caribbean may need to be re-evaluated.
Read more in the complete article from ScienceBlog.com.
[Photo: Kevin King]
January 26th, 2011
Researchers from the University of Amsterdam have recently published an article about a previously overlooked threat to corals in Curaçao:
In a recent joint study by the UvA’s Institute for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Dynamics (IBED) and the Curaçao based marine research station Carmabi showed that turf algae are stressing and killing nearby corals to an alarming extent. The research team was led by Dr. Mark Vermeij, who holds a shared position at UvA-IBED and Carmabi. Vermeij performed the study together with Dr. Petra Visser of UvA-IBED, as well as several MSc students of UvA-IBED’s MSc program Limnology and Oceanography.
Turf Algae
Turf algae are communities of small algae that belong to a large number of different species. Due to their small size and often uncertain taxonomic status, they are hardly ever considered in traditional surveys and ecological studies on coral reefs. This is very surprising given the fact that these small algae are the most dominant algal group on present day coral reefs and by far exceed the surface area covered by fleshy algae. The study by UvA-IBED and Carmabi shows that the presence of nearby turf algae has severe consequences for corals. While the researchers found that corals can normally overgrow turf algae, eutrophication quickly reverses this balance and causes turf algae to rapidly overgrow corals. Vermeij: “I found it startling that the negative impacts of turf algae on coral reefs exceed those of traditionally considered fleshy or macro algae, yet no one seemed to have noticed this until now”.Conservation Measures
Even more alarming is the finding of Vermeij and his team that the presence of herbivores that eat the turf algae could not reverse the dominance of turf algae over corals. This means that traditional conservation measures aimed at reducing algal abundance through measures such as increasing herbivore populations through the establishments of Marine Protected Areas or by tightening fishing regulations will not reduce the impact of turf algae on local coral communities as long as eutrophication persists.
For further information you can read this news release at the University’s website. The research article has been published online in open-access journal PLoS ONE: read it here.
[Photo: spooner427]
January 25th, 2011
Here are a few lionfish stories from around the Caribbean. In the British Virgin Islands, there is concerned about the fact that lionfish are now being sighted, not singly, but in pairs:
The threat of the Lionfish to the Virgin Islands marine and eco system continues to be of major concern but more so with the invasive sea species spotted in pairs, a cause for concern as it is an indication that reproduction can take place, leading to the destruction of the entire marine ecosystem and the commercial fishing industry.
Almost a year ago, on March 4, 2010, the Virgin Islands had its first confirmed sighting of the Lionfish and today those sightings have grown where the department is now receiving up to 10 calls per week on lionfish sighting from all over the Virgin Islands with about 35 to 40 fishes caught and destroyed.
The Conservation and Fisheries Department (C& FD) has ever since embarked on a massive campaign to bring awareness to the detriment that awaits from lionfish invasion and has been putting systems in place to tackle and minimize impact to the marine environment.
In Curaçao, special gear has been imported to combat the lionfish invasion:
In a special press conference, Curaçao Health Minister Jacinta Constancia announced the urgent need to reduce the number of lionfish currently spotted in the surrounding waters. To achieve this, 100 hundred mini-harpoons will be imported from the United States.
The mini-harpoons will be distributed among a group of sailors and thirty volunteers from the diving industry specifically for the purpose of fishing lionfish. All volunteers will be a trained. Constancia explained that the Marines will mainly focus on the hard to reach places where the lionfish have invaded, such as the north of the island, and volunteers will go to work in Caracas Bay and Boca Sami. The harpoons are specifically made for lionfish hunting. Common harpoons are detrimental to the reef, but these mini-harpoons are not.
The minister is working to reduce the lionfish population with the help of the Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries Services (LVV) and Medio Ambiente Carmabi, an environmental organization where Mark Vermeij is as a marine biologist. Vermeij has worked there since October 2009 and has been engaged in the destruction of the lionfish, since the invasion was first reported in Curaçao. He explains that the current situation was unsustainable since the number of lionfish has increased dramatically.
And in Cuba, Danae Suárez speculates about the possibility that lionfish may be included in Cuban food rations:
[A] few days ago I paused in front of the TV while my family was looking at an interesting evening Round Table program on the lionfish.
…
This animal, according to the researchers, has become a threat to the Cuban ecosystem because it feeds on any type of animal that is lower than itself on the food chain, including fish that are eatable by humans. They also commented about the first aid treatment that should be given to anyone attacked by a lionfish, and they drew attention to its strange beauty, among its other aspects. But what alarmed me most about the documentary were its conclusions.One of the scientists argued that this animal is perfectly eatable if its poison is extracted, while a fisherman admitted that he had tasted it and that it had a good flavor. Another more daring interviewee didn’t discard the possibility that the biological control of this fish could be achieved by people themselves.
At home we all looked at each other in shock. We all know that this year is looking difficult; we are familiar with the difficult food supply situation and we remembered the popular television cooking-show host Nitza Villapol; she used to show us how to “sweeten the bitter pill” of the Special Period crisis by coming up with all types of recipes under difficult circumstances of poverty and shortages.
All this made us tremble in light of the possibility that — in case the ration book isn’t eliminated — they might at any moment began issuing us lionfish in the place of regular fish.
Read the source articles by following the respective links above.
Other Green Antilles posts mentioning lionfish can be found here.
[Photo: carfull53]
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