Project update - Project Bay Islands, Honduras - February 2004
Added to website: 01 February 2004
Project Brief
Aim
Project Bay Islands Honduras is a three-year collaborative project to survey the coral reefs of the Bay Islands. The programme provides training and conservation education opportunities for local Hondurans, as part of an integrated programme to develop local capacity and ensure the long-term protection and sustainable use of marine resources throughout the region.
Location
Santa Helene, Roatan, Honduras, Central America.
CCC Partners
CCC is working at the invitation of and in partnership with the Universidad nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH), Programa Manejo Ambiental Islas de la Bahia (PMAIB)
Marine Science Programme
Baseline Surveys
Number and location of Surveys
Again it’s been a good month for surveying. We managed to conduct 16 baseline surveys at the Anthony’s Key sector, which is now nearly finished. Additionally, we have redone 11 surveys at the Gibson Bight sector, in order to fill in missing data to our database.
Number of transects completed
We have started 4 transects of which we have completed 1. Additionally, we have completed 6 more transects that were started in the previous month.
Reef Check
None. All reef check surveys were completed in October 2003.
Interesting / Unusual Sightings
Last we were already very lucky to see Pilot whales, but this month we have been even luckier as we had the chance to see various whale sharks. Imagine swimming in the big blue with a 35-foot whale shark on your side (they can grow up to a max. of 55 feet). Unforgettable!!!
Environmental Awareness
Capacity Building/Training of Local Counterparts
Community Interaction: After months of preparation, CCC and our local counter part, PMAIB, have finally presented the 4-day Marine Ecology Education Workshop in the second week of February. The aim of this workshop was to provide teacher trainers of the Bay Islands with the scientific information they require in order to implement the new environmental education curriculum in their schools. As half of the teacher trainees spoke Spanish and the other half was bi-lingual we had decided to split the workshop into a two-day Spanish version and a two-day English version. Therefore we also had to provide our lectures both in Spanish and English. Nearly 40 local teacher trainers have participated in this workshop, which of course is a fantastic number! Now it is up to them to teach other teachers and schoolchildren how to manage the development of the coastal zone in a more sustainable way.
Additionally, we have held a reef awareness day for 8 children from the Bay Island Resort School, varying in age from 6 until 14 years. After a slideshow covering common reef creatures and an introduction to reef ecology, they were all taken out to the lagoon to have a closer look at the coral reef ecosystem and it’s inhabitants.
Scholarship Scheme: One student from the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Honduras (UNAH) in Tegucigalpa joined our expedition for three months through the CCC Scholarship Award Scheme. Apart from carrying out surveys to map the reef, she also helped CCC scientists develop community projects by making CCC education programmes more accessible to the Spanish speaking communities on Roatan. She also presented some of the Spanish versed lectures provided by CCC for the Marine Ecology Education Workshop.
Meetings attended: CCC science staff has attended several meetings with PMAIB, our main project partners, to continue discussions regarding the Marine Ecology Education Workshop for teacher trainers planned for the second week of February 2004. Additionally, the PS, Vicky and about 50 local teachers, have participated in a workshop given by the Honduran Institute of Tourism. The aim of this workshop was how to develop sustainable tourism on the Bay Islands.
