Innovatieve koraalrifmonitoring op St. Maarten

Bericht uitgegeven door Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA) [land] op [publicatiedatum]

Of het nou klimatologisch, chemisch of fysisch is, koraalriffen zijn extreem gevoelig voor veranderingen in hun leefmilieu. En juist dat maakt ze erg geschikt als indicator voor het monitoren van de huidige en toekomstige effecten van menselijke activiteit op het mariene milieu. De afgelopen vijftig jaar hebben de Caribisch koraalriffen ernstig geleden onder kustontwikkeling, overbevissing en vervuiling. Tachtig procent van de oorspronkelijke koralen in de Caribische Zee is onderhand verdwenen en daarnaast hebben de riffen tegenwoordig te maken met invasieve exoten, klimaatverandering en verzuring van de oceanen. Van langetermijnmonitoring van de status van de Caribische riffen zijn echter maar een paar voorbeelden te bedenken. De Catlin Seaview Survey is een baanbrekende, wetenschappelijke expeditie die probeert dat gat op te vullen en probeert de hoeveelheid data die wereldwijd vrij beschikbaar is voor wetenschappers omtrent de effecten van klimaatverandering op koraalriffen aanzienlijk te vergroten.

Lees verder in het Engels…

Coral reefs, being acutely sensitive to environmental change, offer a model indicator for monitoring the current and future impacts of human activities on the marine environment. Over the last 50 years Caribbean reefs have been devastated by coastal development, overfishing and pollution. By now, 80% of corals in the Caribbean have disappeared and in addition, reefs are also threatened by invasive species, climate change and ocean acidification. Long-term monitoring data on the status of Caribbean coral reefs is scarce. The Catlin Seaview Survey is a pioneering scientific expedition aiming to fill that gap and significantly expand the data available to scientists about coral reefs worldwide and the impact of environmental changes on these ecosystems.

In 2012, Catlin Seaview Survey made the global news with their ground-breaking scientific study of the Great Barrier Reef, taking over 100,000 360-degree panoramic images, at 32 separate locations, along the entire length of the 2,300-kilometre long reef, using specially built cameras. The images are now being used to create a vital scientific baseline of the reef that can be used to monitor change. What the project will be more known for to the general public, is that it provided the very images used by Google to make Australia’s Great Barrier Reef available to everyone without getting their feet wet through Street View in Google Maps.

In December 2013, the Catlin team visited St. Maarten (and French St. Martin) to conduct reef surveys within the Natural Reserve of Saint Martin and the Man of War Shoal Marine Park. In partnership with the St. Maarten Nature Foundation, the team surveyed key local reef sites to capture the current condition of the coral reefs.

With the use of their unique underwater camera system, they can now assess the state of coral reefs over larger scales and in more precise detail than ever before possible to establish a vital scientific baseline to study the potential factors driving change in the health of the coral reefs around St. Maarten and the rest of the world. The cameras are mounted on underwater-scooters to cover large stretches of reef, adding a dramatic increase to the amount of reef that can be surveyed and to the level of accuracy in detecting the health of the coral ecosystem. The data is captured by three digital cameras positioned at angles to record unique 360° panoramic images. The high-definition photographs are stitched together with a computer and tagged with accurate GPS coordinates. This will facilitate solid and comparable baseline information, allowing for a comparison of reef health over time.

The St. Maarten survey completed a year-long Caribbean campaign for the survey team. Throughout this year, the project has visited more than 13 Caribbean countries (including Aruba, Bonaire, Curaçao and St. Eustatius) to create a comprehensive and standardised, region-wide survey. By studying the state of the Caribbean reefs, the survey team also aims to provide insights into the future prospects for coral reefs in other regions of the world.

Catlin Seaview Survey firmly believes in contributing to independent, impartial research that is freely available to the world’s scientific community. Therefore the scientific data collected will be freely available to everyone in an online research tool called the Global Reef Record. The tool aims to encourage global collaboration between scientists, reef conservation managers, governments and the general public. Photographic images in the record are scanned for coral species, identified, and combined with regional coral bleaching data to allow for advanced analysis of worldwide reef health. The data is important for the future conservation and management of coral reefs both in the Caribbean and worldwide.

On St. Maarten, the data collected during the survey will be used to provide informed scientific advice to local reef conservation agencies and management authorities.

Read the entire article in BioNews

Text: Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA)
Photo: Catlin Seaview Survey
Published by: Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA)
Nederlandse inleiding: Paul Westerbeek, Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance