EVERYTHING

What is a regime / phase shift

A sudden and fundamental change of an ecosystem from one state to another that persists for an extended period of time and that is usually difficult to reverse.

Often, the new state supports a less complex ecosystem, less biomass and less biodiversity than the prior state.

Importance of Coral Reefs

Living habitat

Erosion protection

Supplies organic matter (food) to inhabitants and other ecosystems

Nitrogen fixation

Oxygen production

Highly biodiverse

What are some threats to coral reefs?

Bleaching, pollution, overfishing, destructive fishing, acidification, disease, sea level rising, storms (increasing in duration, intensity, and frequency)

What is reef restoration

Coral polyps or fragments (particularly staghorn corals) are grown in nurseries and then “planted” in the hopes of reestablishing reefs.

Many such efforts are taking place around the world, including the CMRS

Used car tires: artificial reefs

Used car tires: In the 1970s, there was a brief fad of “recycling” car tires to create reefs.

Unfortunately, coral can’t grow on rubber and tires get washed away in storms

Artificial reefs: defunct vehicles

Defunct vehicles are sometimes intentionally sunk to provide artificial structure.

While not as good as live coral, they can relieve some tourist pressure on natural reefs.

Such objects must be THOROUGHLY cleaned of pollutants before deployment

What are some artifical reefs in TCI

Reef Balls (each 5,000 lbs of concrete) off of Malcolm’s Road Beach in Provo

Governor’s Beach Bio-rock project Fall 2009 Grand Turk

TCI Reef Fund

Non-profit established in 2010 to protect the reef of TCI.

Activities include:

• Installing permanent moorings to prevent damage to reefs from anchors

• Application of antibiotics to fight SCTLD

• Relocation of corals prior to construction projects

• Coral nursery (ACER and APAL) in Provo

Coral Research

The group sampled cauliflower corals (Pocillopora spp.) in the Gulf of Panama (where there are yearly temperature fluctuations) and in the Gulf of Chiriquí (nearby but with more stable year-round temperatures) and then ran an experiment to see what happens when they turn up the heat.

“We exposed corals to rapid heat stress in tanks on the yacht and, as the temperature climbed, we took samples so we could extract the DNA of the corals, their algae, and bacteria,” said Victoria. “This way, we gained insights into the relationships between the corals and the different members of their microbiome as the temperature rose.”

At the highest temperatures, the corals collected from the Gulf of Panama, where temperatures are more variable, handled the heat better. But corals from the stable-temperature environment struggled when they were heated.

Genetic Engineering: Zooxanthellae

Genetically engineering Zooxanthellae to be resistant to high temperatures and thus reduce coral susceptibility to bleaching

• Isolate strains that have a natural high heat tolerance, and identify the genes responsible for this tolerance

• Use a virus to insert more copies of these genes into non-heat tolerant zooxanthellae via CRISPR

Recent good news for coral

A bacterial probiotic helped slow the advance of stony coral tissue loss disease: Pseudoalteromonas sp. strain McH1-7: Laboratory tests showed McH1-7 stopped or slowed the progression of stony coral tissue loss disease in infected corals. It also helped prevent the disease from spreading to healthy corals.

Antibiotics are meant to kill microorganisms, but probiotics are beneficial living microbes. The idea is that a probiotic can be incorporated into corals’ natural microbiomes, ideally offering them longer-lasting protection.

The probiotic may be a good alternative to antibiotics like amoxicillin, which temporarily curb the spread of the disease but must be reapplied frequently. In addition, scientists fear stony coral tissue loss disease may one day become resistant to these antibiotic treatments—just as “superbugs” that infect humans are building resistance to our own drugs.

Reef protection - what can you do?

While reef restoration and selective breeding efforts are steps in the right direction, the best way to protect and restore coral reefs would be to fight the human forces threatening them, such as climate change (warmer water and more frequent/powerful storms), pollution (eutrophication, toxic nano particles and oxybenzones), overfishing and destructive fishing (with dynamite, toxins and trawl nets).

Fighting Climate Change: Blue Carbon Sinks

Carbon sinks are habitats take carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and sequester it in living tissues and sediments

• Seagrass meadows and mangroves are excellent carbon sinks

Mangroves and Seagrass as Blue Carbon Sinks

Reasons that seagrass and mangroves are excellent carbon sinks:

• No saturation point

• Good at trapping organic material with roots (mangroves) and leaves (seagrass)

• Some of the most productive ecosystems in the world

  • Seagrasses = productivity of 1012 g DW m2 per year

  • Mangroves = productivity of 1113 g DW m2 per year

    • By comparison, terrestrial forests = 400-600 g DW m2 per year

Mangroves as carbon sinks

Mangroves bury about 163g organic Carbon per m2 per year1

The destruction of mangrove forests releases some or all of this carbon into the atmosphere.

Seagrass as Carbon sinks

Seagrass buries about 119±26.66 g C m-2 yr-1 (Duarte et al., 2010), despite covering less than 0.2% of ocean area.

Philadelphia Freshwater Bivalve Restoration

The Academy of Natural Sciences, Drexel University, the Partnership for the Delaware Estuary, Philadelphia Water Department and Department of Parks and Recreation, Bartram’s Garden, and the Independence Seaport Museum have come together to restore freshwater mussel populations to the rivers and streams of Philadelphia.

This will improve water quality throughout the region, as mussels and other bivalves filter pollutants from the water.

The Big Takeaway

Most marine ecosystems are naturally resilient, and when human impacts are reduced or eliminated, they can recover on their own.

While active restoration (e.g., coral restoration) is an important component of environmental protection, the simplest and most cost-effective way to improve the environment is to mitigate the human pressures degrading it. This includes overfishing, destructive fishing, pollution, development and carbon emissions.

Things we can do:

Be a responsible consumer: don’t buy more than what you need and select products that are the least environmentally-damaging (this may require a bit of research)

Dispose of trash and chemicals (e.g. household cleaners, fertilizers) responsibly

Minimize your carbon footprint

Educate your friends and family

Pursue a conservation career

Donate to reputable conservation organizations

Research candidates running for office and VOTE according to your principles

Stay positive—it is easy to get bogged down by guilt and sadness, which can lead one to give up. Take care of your mental health by not focusing too much on the bad news and remember that positive effects of interventions may take years to manifest, but they will.

Netted Barrel Sponge

look coral esk but are not, have characteristic barrel shape

Long Spined Sea Urchin

Diadema antillarium

Queen Conch

Aliger gigas

Milk Conch

has white on inside of shell

Caribbean Spiny Lobster

Panulirus argus; are nocturnal and has white dots

Fire Coral

multiple growth forms including branching and plate like

Sea Fan

Mustard Hill Coral

looks like the dandelion of the ocean

Symmetrical Brain Coral

Finger Coral

Lobed Star Coral

has lobes

Yellow Pencil Coral

Staghorn Coral

Elkhorn Coral

Yellowfin Mojarra

forked tail, silver body, faint yellow on pectoral fin

Bar Jack

forked tail, silver body, black bar from dorsal side down caudal fin, accompanied by blue strip

Schoolmaster Snapper

Silver body, yellow fins, sometimes has black slash through eye, juvenile has white bars on body

Gray Snapper

silver body, sometimes has black slash through eye, also known as mangrove snapper

Yellowtail snapper

large forked caudal fin, grey body, yellow strip along body, yellow caudal fin, usually in water column, occasionally near bottom

Yellow goatfish

yellow caudal fin and stripe along body, upper body may have blueish to olive to red coloration, feet in sand / rubble using barbels

Atlantic Blue Tang

Adult: blue with yellow mark on caudal peduncle

Juvenile: yellow all over

Ocean Surgeonfish

Blueish grey olive, or dark brown body, no bars, white band at caudal base, markings around eye, blue / white edge on fins

Doctorfish

blueish grey or dark brown body, white band at caudal base, several markings radiate from eye, sometimes have white band at caudal base, blue / white edge on fins, always have body bars

compare ocean surgeonfish, Atlantic blue tang, and doctorfish

Sergeant Major

five black body bars, upper body usually yellow, male can become dark blue when protecting eggs, usually swimming in midwater

Blue Chromis

deeply forked tail, blue body, black dorsal side, black edges on caudal fin, relatively shallow body, usually feeding in small groups just above reefs

Blue Striped Grunt

yellow body, horizontal blue stripes, black dorsal and caudal fin

French Grunt

yellow body, diagonal blue stripes below lateral line, horizontal blue stripes above lateral line, yellow fins

Compare French Grunt and Blue Striped Grunt

Nassau Grouper

Epinephelus striatus, tan and white bars, black saddle spot at base of caudal fin

Coney Grouper

usually red body with small blue spots, two black dots on lower lip, two black dots behind dorsal fin, bicolor variant, yellow variant

Yellowhead wrasse

Juvenile phase: yellow body with blue stripe

initial phase: yellow chin, dark dorsal side, lines around eye

terminal phase: yellow head and forebody, dark midbody bar

Bluehead Wrasse

juvenile phase: white body with black stripes

initial phase: yellow and white (varies widely)

terminal phase: blue head, two dark midbody bars

Slippery Dick

all phases: small green and yellow spot above pectoral fin

juvenile phase: white or grey with dark stripe midbody

initial phase: multicolored

terminal phase: multicolored with dark stripe midbody and dark triangular corners on tail

compare bluehead, yellowhead, slippery dick

Queen Parrotfish

initial phase: dark body, large white stripe across side

terminal phase: green body, blue lines on fac, blue and green markings around mouth (“moustache and beard”), light bar on pectoral fin

Stoplight Parrotfish

initial phase: dark body with white spots, red fins, yellow coloration around eyes

terminal phase: light blue body, red edged scales, yellow on caudal fin, yellow dot near pectoral fin

Squirrelfish

large eyes, red body, white stripes, yellow dorsal fin, usually in shaded areas near bottom

Spotted Moray Eel

white to yellow body with dark spots, usually in crevasses / recesses, head often extended from opening

Great Barracuda

Aliger gigas

Queen Conch scientific name

Diadema antillarum

Long Spined Sea Urchin scientific name

Panulirus argus

Caribbean Spiny Lobster scientific name

Epinephelus striatus

Nassau Grouper scientific name

State of fisheries summary

Wild fish populations are in decline

Shifting baseline syndrome

Common management approaches are

• Data intensive

• Tend to be species specific

• Have limited success

MPA’s can be

easily understood by the public and fishing industry

Biomass export “Spillover”

Indirect evidence (patterns of abundance)

Direct evidence (tag and release studies)

Biomass Exports - Large Animals “Spillover”

Fishing area lost: 18%

Annual emigration: 6.7%

Net yield (numbers): -11%

Net yield (weight): +10%

Biomass export ‘egg and larval export’

Density and size of fish and invertebrates increases

Spawning potential increases

More larvae, more eggs

If larvae disperse, more stock improvement in the open fishing areas is probable

• Dispersal distance depends upon time spent in the water column and oceanic transport

• Time in the water column depends on the time required for larvae to grow to settlement size

What is fisheries management

“The integrated process of information gathering, analysis, planning, consultation, decision-making, allocation of resources and formulation and implementation, with enforcement as necessary, of regulations or rules which govern fisheries activities in order to ensure the continued productivity of the resources and the accomplishment of other fisheries objectives.” -FAO technical guidelines

Who is a Fisheries Management Authority?

Broadly used term

Legal entity which has been designated by the State as having mandate to perform specified management functions

In practice:

• National or provincial ministry, a department within a ministry, or an agency

• Could be governmental, parastatal, or private

In case of shared resources, should be international (as in FAO technical guidelines)

What are the working principles of fisheries management?

Principle 1: Sustainability of the Stock

Principle 2: Ecosystem Impacts

Principle 3: Effective Management

Fisheries Management: need to have goals and objectives

Often related to stock assessment “Reference Points”

MSY, Fmsy, MEY

• Sustainable use: “The use of the components of biological diversity in a way and at a rate that does not lead to the long-term decline of biological diversity, thereby maintaining its potential to meet the needs and aspirations of present and future generations.” (Convention on Biological Diversity 1993)

Goals of Fishery Management Divided into Four Main Categories

Biological

• To maintain the target species at or above the levels necessary to ensure their continued productivity

Ecological

• To minimize the impacts of fishing on the physical environment and on non-target (bycatch), associated and dependent species

Economic

• To maximize the net incomes of the participating fishers

Social

• To maximize employment opportunities for those dependent on the fishery for their livelihoods

what are the two types of management?

“Input” / Effort controls

• Gear

• Access limitations - privatization schemes and user rights

“Output” / Catch controls

• Total catch

• Species caught

• Size of specific species

What are some technical and ecological controls

Space restrictions

• on simply on spawning ground locations, or other similar data

  • I.e., rather than on a specific desire to limit effort

Time restrictions

• Again, based simply on ecological or population dynamics data, independent of what is known about fishery

  • E.G. closed fishing during spawning or migration

what are the different Environmental Policy Modes for Resource Management

Command Based

• Clean Water Act

  • Enacted inn 1948 -> modern form in 1972

  • Primary federal law in the US governing water pollution

  • Restore and maintain chemical, physical, and biological integrity of nation’s waters

  • Preventing point and nonpoint pollution sources

  • Improvement of waste water treatment

  • September 2019 – repeal of Obama-era clean water regulation that had placed limits on polluting chemicals that could be used near streams, wetlands.

  • November 2021 – Biden administration restores federal protections

  • Regulations weakened by Trump administration

Community Based

• Shark Reef Marine Reserve

• Established in 2004

• Diver-user fees

• Self-sustaining and profitable

• Bottom-up approach

• 2007 Shark corridor

• Fish wardens

• 2014 First National Park

What is discarding in fisheries

Discarding constitutes a substantial waste of resources and negatively affects the sustainable exploitation Fishers discard because:

• the fish is smaller than the legal size

• the fisher does not have a quota for it

• the fish is of low market value

• the fish is damaged

• it is prohibited to catch that species

Landing obligation

• Introduced in 2015

• Fully in force since January 2019

Its goal is to eliminate discards by encouraging fishers to fish more selectively and to avoid unwanted catches

Describe the North Atlantic Humpback Whales

Iconic marine mammal species

Found in all oceans around the world

Have one of the longest migrations of any animal

Weigh up to 40 tons

Reach up to around 50-60 feet in length, females larger than males

Spend the summer on the northern feeding grounds and migrate to warmer waters to breed and give birth

Whale watching in the tci

Turks Bank is the main location for whale encounters

One of the only locations in the world where swimming with whales is allowed

Whale watching “guidelines” in place but no regulations - largely self regulated by whale watching operators

TCI is unique, whales are found close to the island in clear, shallow water

What is the Turks and Caicos islands whale project

Opportunistic surveys with detailed data collection on whale watching excursions since 2021

Publicity and promotion of citizen-based science through social media

Describe whale photo identification

Photo ID using images of

• Tail flukes

• Dorsal fins

• Pectoral fins

• Identifying features / scars

Automated matching using Happy Whale, and by hand using individual regional catalogues

Describe citizen - based science and how it relates to whale data

Citizen science is the practice of public participation and collaboration in scientific research to increase scientific knowledge. Through citizen science, people share and contribute to data monitoring and collection programs.

Whale watching operators, individual tourists and residents throughout TCI contribute photographs and sighting information each season

The TCI Whale Project shares information that is learned from these photos back to operators and shares them online, increasing publicity for businesses and crediting their contributions.

This improves our understanding of migration patterns, whale behaviour and local habitat use.

What do TCI Whale Project surveys look like

Surveys begin at the time we leave the shore and end when we return.

Record data including:

Environmental conditions/weather

Whale encounters and behaviour

Boat and guest activity e.g. number of boats present and their behaviour

describe data collection

Using the ObsEnMer app we track encounters and record data for each group of whales including:

• Start/end GPS and movement during encounter

• Start/end time

• Group type: Singleton, Mother-Calf, MotherCalf-Escort, Mother-Yearling, Singer, Adult Pair, Competitive Group, Juvenile/s

• Behaviour: Resting, slow swim, surface active (breaching, tail slapping, pec slapping), logging at surface, nursing, competitive behaviour, avoidance behaviour

• Type of interaction – if in-water, number of guests and duration, whale response

• Photo-ID obtained – surface photos, in-water photos/video, surface or in-water flukes.

tci humpback whale catalogue

Currently holds 1005 individual humpback whales catalogued in TCI waters.

Whales are catalogued by tail flukes, dorsal fins and distinguishing features.

Individuals are added to the catalogue from images collected throughout TCI e.g. citizen science submissions.

495 (49%) of these are tail flukes images, with 510 (51%) catalogued by dorsal fin.

63% (n=314) flukes have been matching to feeding/breeding grounds. 9% (46 individuals) have been matched using only dorsal fin images.

Work closely with Allied Whale, Centre of Coastal Studies (Maine), Bermuda Whale Project, Whale Samana etc.

Photo-ID work has allowed us to match whales to all known feeding grounds in the northern Atlantic and other known breeding/nursery grounds in the Caribbean.

• Gulf of Maine and Newfoundland and Labrador are the predominant feeding grounds for TCI whales.

• Small proportion from Iceland, Greenland and Norway.

• Strong connections to Silver Bank and Samana Bay in the Dominican Republic (with travel from TCI to Samana in 48 hours).

• Matches to Anguilla, St. Barts and Guadeloupe

describe the spatial distribution and occurence patterns

Between 2022 and 2025, a total of 276 groups of humpback whales (n=574 individuals) were encountered

Mother-calf pairs were the most observed group type (45%) with the peak falling in March.

Other group types included:

• Adult Pairs (21%)

• Singletons (12%)

• Mother-Calf-Escort (9%)

• Singers (6%)

• Competitive groups (4%)

• Trios (1%)

Mother-calf pairs found in shallower areas around the cays

Adults found in deeper water towards the shelf edge

Occupancies range from 1 to 50 days – Mother-calf pairs have the longest occupancy time with two pairs in 2024 spending 50 and 38 days respectively.

Annual return and reproductive rates of whales

54 individuals have been observed in TCI across multiple seasons:

• 53.7% (n=29) females

• 27.8% (n=15) males

• 18.5% ( =10) unknown sex

Of these 54 whales:

• 78% (n=42) were observed in two seasons

• 22% (n=12) observed 3 or more seasons

Nearly all females (n=27) have returned in one of more seasons with a calf

During the 2025 season, 14 returning mothers were identified and 14 repeat adults.

8 of the females with a calf were encountered in the 2022 season with a calf, suggesting they are on the same 3 years calving cycle.

One male has returned over 4 seasons – the last 3 consecutive.

Describe Pinball TCI #96

Iconic whale for TCI and Gulf of Maine

Records of her during 8 different season between 2007 and 2025

In recent seasons she has been seen:

• 2020 with a calf

• 2022 in a large competitive group (AM) then with a single male (PM)

• 2023 with a calf

• 2025 with two males

Close observation of her behavior and interactions with other whales – potential to analyze genetics for paternity which is something that has never been shown before.

Describe Lucaya TCI #27

First encountered in 2019 with a calf – stayed on the Turks Bank for at least a month

Returned with her calf in 2020 – only seen once in late January.

Not seen in 2021

Returned in 2022 with a new calf and remained for 5 weeks.

Seen alone in 2024 – assumed to be here for breeding.

Seen on 29th January 2025 with a very small calf. Not seen again until February 20th and remained over a month

international collaborations

35 Research institutions, non-profit organizations and whale watching operators

• Allied Whale College of the Atlantic

• Center for Coastal Studies, Massachusetts

• Gotham Whale, New York.

• Sea of Whale Adventures, Canada

• Whales Bermuda

• Beyond the Reef, BVI

• Bahamas Marine Mammal Research Organisation

• Mingan Island Cetacean Study (MICS), Canada Group for Research and Education on Marine Mammals

• Ripples to Waves, St Vincent + Grenadines

• Caribbean Cetacean Society, Martinique

• Marine Mammal Protected Areas Task Force

• Happywhale

• University of Iceland Húsavík Research Centre

• Marine and Freshwater Research Institute

• Counting Whales

• Center for the Conservation and Ecodevelopment of Samaná Bay and its Environment, Dominican Republic

• Whales Samana, Dominican Republic

• MEGAPTERA

• Le Centre d’éducation et de recherche de SeptIles (CERSI), Dominican Republic

• Interreg Caraïbes

• Observatory for marine mammals of archipelago’s Guadeloupe (OMMAG)

• HDR Mid-Atlantic Humpback Whale Monitoring

• North Norwegian Humpback Whale Catalogue

• The Arctic University of Norway

• Greenland Institute of Natural Resources

• North Atlantic Humpback Whale Catalog

• Ísafjörðurdjúp Humpback Whale Catalog

• University Centre of the Westfjords

• Canadian Whale Institute

• Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station

• Brier Island Whale Watch

• The Coastal Research and Education Society of Long Island

• Cape May Whale Watch & Research Center

• Blue Ocean Society for Marine Conservation

What are the types of reefs?

Natural

• biogenic

• abiogenic

Artifical

Biogenic Reefs are

Built around a foundational species that provides a physical structure

Foundational species are

• Calcified

• Gregarious

• Permanently attached

• Allow the attachment and growth of other organisms

Coral reefs- the limiting factors

Temperature (~21-29 degrees C)

Salinity (34-36 ppt)

Nutrients

Substrate

Sunlight

What are the different coral reef types

Fringing reefs

• Grow very close to the short and are generally attached to the shore

• Its presence reduces wave energy and providing relatively quiet water conditions in the lee of the reefs

• The reef crest is the shallowest part of the reef and visible from above

Barrier reefs

• Run parallel to the shore but are separated from it by a channel (lagoon) of deep water

• Also protects the coastline from wave energy

Patch reefs

• Small, isolated reefs that grow up from the ocean bottom of the island platform or continental shelf

• They usually occur between fringing reefs and barrier reefs and vary greatly in size

Atolls

• Ring-shaped reefs around where a large (usually volcanic) island used to be

Coral Reefs of the TCI

Fringing example: The Wall (not attached to shore, but no deep-water lagoon)

Barrier example: None in TCI. Famous one in Belize.

Patch reef example: Admiral’s Aquarium

No atolls because there is no volcanic activity. There are only 4 in the Caribbean

Coral Reefs as Habitats

Reef Rugosity: the amount of nooks and crannies created by reef structure

Nooks and crannies = habitat (protection and food)

Describe the trophic groups around coral communities

Herbivores - eat plants and algae

• Examples: Atlantic Blue Tang, Sergeant Major, Conch, Red Parrotfish

• Provide a link between primary production (autotrophic plankton, algae) and secondary consumers

• Have a profound impact on algae distributions and assemblages on the reef

• Most herbivorous fishes have high consumption rates and rapid gut throughput times

Omnivores - eat animals, plants, and algae

• Bearded Fireworm, eats soft and hard coral, anemones and crustaceans, and supplements diet with plant material

• White spotted filefish, Eats sponges, soft coral, algae, and hydroids

Scavengers - eat large dead stuff

• Caribbean hermit crab (terrestrial), eats dead plants, fruit, and feces

• Spiny Lobster, eats molluscs, but also dead animal and plant material

Deposit feeders - eat small pieces of dead stuff and waste on seafloor

• Beaded Sea Cucumber, sifts through sediment

• Donkey Dung Sea Cucumber, sifts through sediment

Predators - eat animals

• Corallivores

  • Foureye Butterflyfish

• Spongivores

  • Queen Angelfish, Hawksbill Turtle

• Invertivores

  • Eagle ray (crushes shells in jaws), Slippery Dick (smashes shells)

• Piscivores

  • Sharks, schoolmaster snapper, great barracuda, blue striped grunt, lionfish

• Planktivores

  • Most reef fish families contain planktivorous species

  • Most use visual recognition and strike at individual prey

  • Many are adapted to specific light conditions

  • Diurnal, nocturnal

describe the coral microbiome

Corals are host to a wide array of microorganisms (in addition to zooxanthellae) that cycle nutrients and perform other important functions, including bacteria, archaea, fungi, and virus

• Are highly efficient at cycling

Name some threats to coral reefs

Bleaching, Pollution, Overfishing, Acidification, Disease, Sea Level Rise, Storms

Describe coral reef phase shifts

A phase shift is a sudden and fundamental change of an ecosystem from one state to another that persists for an extended period of time and that is usually difficult to reverse

Often, the new state supports a less complex ecosystem than the prior state

A phase shift occurs on a coral reef when the cover of a substrate by stony corals is reduced in favor of macroalgal dominance which becomes the new stable state instead of a coral reef