Just like careless hikers in the woods can have an impact on the local plant and
animal life, careless divers can have serious impacts on marine species, and
particularly on the fragile coral reefs. One of the ways to stop this kind of
underwater damage is to create underwater nature trails to educate divers.
One of the water activities the students here at the School for Field Studies
have been involved in is the establishment and maintenance of an underwater
trail. This trail is located at the Admiral’s Aquarium and is marked by seven
stops where snorkelers and SCUBA divers can learn more about the animals
they discover. A few years ago, a group of SFS students set up the seven stops
along the underwater trail, wrote technical descriptions and explanations for
each stop on special waterproof paper, and wrote a leaflet that was distributed
to tourists who wanted to learn more about the trail. By reading and learning
more about the species in the Admiral’s Aquarium, the divers and snorkelers
become more aware of the damage they may inflict if they are not responsible
divers.
Since the trail is a few years old, the signs at the seven stations are no longer
visible. A few weeks ago, the current students at the SFS research center
cleaned up each of the seven trail stops. All the descriptions are once again
clearly marked and we all hope that tourists will once again visit the trail.
Through initiatives such as this underwater trail and a greater awareness on the
part of the divers and snorkelers, we can hope to limit this impact and preserve
our precious marine resources.
Research Update: Conch Directed Research Project
James Guimond - University of Rhode Island
I am one of five people in the Conch Directed Research project, and we are
now beginning the sixth week of our study. The goal of our research is to count
the number of conch in a small area near South Caicos, and, in the process,
find out whether or not the fishermen in the area are over-fishing. In case you
are not sure what conch are, they look like really large snails with shells. The
work we do involves diving down to the sea floor and looking for the conch
shells on the bottom. If we see one, we pick it up and place it in a bag. After
our bags are full we swim to the surface with the conch.
Once we are back in the boat, we measure the length and weight of the conch
and record these measurements. We do this to establish whether or not the
conch are juveniles or adults. We are also trying to find out what type of habitat
the conch like to live in. Sylvia is responsible for this information. To help her
with her observations, she uses a quadrat to estimate the bottom type for the
area in which we are diving. The information she collects is used to establish
what the conch like to eat and where they like to live. A typical week for the
Conch DR involves diving for conch on Mondays and Wednesdays, and then
entering the data into the computers on Friday. Just a few weeks are left for our
work, but never fear, the conch hunt continues.
