The Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources (DFMR) and the Anguilla National Trust (ANT) have now completed underwater rapid ecological assessments within all five of Anguilla’s Marine Parks.

The information collected represents the first ever record made of what is present within the Parks. Since management and legislation is currently very limited for these special areas, this information can be considered a baseline ‘snapshot’ dataset. Baseline data are essentially a photograph of what exists within a specific area before the introduction of conservation management strategies. The baseline can be referred to later on, after the implementation of such measures, to assess the success of the management strategies.

Currently within Anguilla’s Marine Parks, the only major conservation policy in place is one that prohibits anchoring, except in specially designated areas that also have mooring buoys put in place and maintained by DFMR. It is likely that, over the years, this situation will change: more measures will most likely be needed to protect the beauty and ecological integrity of Anguilla’s natural environment from human activities. This will allow future generations to enjoy it as much as we do.

The survey effort, conducted jointly by persons from DFMR, ANT, interns, and volunteers, set out to record information at thirty specific locations spread throughout the island’s five Marine Parks. Twelve were located in the Shoal Bay and Island Harbour Marine Park, three in the seagrass beds near Little Bay, four at Sandy Island, eight within the reef areas of Prickly Pear, and three around Dog Island. Full ecological surveys were conducted, with one surveyor concentrating on assessing percentage covers of the various habitat characteristics that are seen in our waters (coral, algae, sponges, sand, sediment etc), while others recorded fish size, abundance and diversity (see photographs). These details not only provide DFMR with the much needed baseline dataset, but also forms the ecological basis for a much larger project run by ANT, entitled ‘Enhancing Marine Park Management’. This two-year project has been funded by the Overseas Territories Environmental Programme (OTEP)

Preliminary analysis of the information collected show that the densest fish populations in the coral reef-dominated Marine Parks were found in areas of Dog Island. These areas had over 18,000 fish per hectare of available habitat. Next in line came Sandy Island where there were over 13,000 fish per hectare of available habitat and Prickly Pear with over 12,000. The Shoal Bay-Island Harbour Marine Park was found to house the lowest densities of fish with a little over 10,000 per hectare of available habitat. Little Bay, different from these four Marine Parks because it is dominated by seagrass beds rather than coral reef, demonstrated that it was a very important area for juvenile fish with over 6,000 such individuals residing in certain areas of it. Indeed, it was in Little Bay where the only Nassau Grouper was sighted, a juvenile of less than 10cm in length. Nassau Grouper, which have been historically over-fished by harvesting their spawning aggregations are now the least abundant common grouper species. It is good news, though, that juveniles are still present in our waters.

Surveys that investigated fish sizes found that the largest fish, namely certain species of Parrotfish, were found in areas north of Seal Island. As a general pattern, the offshore cay Marine Parks were home to larger fish than coastal ones, with the largest of all fish broadly occurring in the least accessible areas. This suggests that fish size may be linked to human activities, which is an issue that will likely be looked at in more detail during the coming years.

From a habitat point of view, the surveys revealed that some of the reefs within the Marine Parks are not in the best of health. Although there is much variety between the different sites surveyed, some areas of Shoal Bay-Island Harbour Marine Park had live hard coral cover of less than 5%, and fleshy algae cover of almost 35%. This clearly illustrates the change in community composition that has occurred over recent decades - we would have expected these percentages to be reversed. This issue is of utmost importance to DFMR who is doing everything it can to help reverse the situation. Having said this, some offshore reef areas are in much better condition. One area in particular, near the Wreck of M.V. Sarah, had a live hard coral cover of almost 25%, with almost no fleshy algae and limited amounts of sediment. These percentages are crucial for a healthy reef ecosystem as fleshy algae grows over and smothers live coral, as does sediment.

So where do we go from here? Now that baseline data has been collected it is clear what the situation is in Anguilla. We have important reef systems and generally healthy populations of fish but we must not become complacent that this will always remain so. With initiatives such as the larger ANT project, and ongoing work by DFMR (for example, habitat monitoring and water quality testing) it is hoped that these and other coastal regions will be conserved for future generations to enjoy and reap the benefits of. For more information on this or other marine related issues please contact DFMR at the top of Crocus Hill on 497-2871. To learn more about the OTEP-sponsored Marine Parks project, please call the ANT at 497 5297.

| Printer-friendly page | Send this article to a friend |

World News