Wider Caribbean
Monitor News
First Monitoring in St. Maarten Shows Healthy Reefs (April '99)
St. Maarten Nature Foundation Next ReefMonitor Affiliate Group (June '98)
ReefKeeper Mission Yields Survey Data for Klein Bonaire
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First Monitoring in St. Maarten Shows Healthy Reefs
As of December 1998, the coral reefs off St. Maarten are in good health and hard coral bottom cover is reasonable with an overall average of 34%, right in line with the range of hard coral bottom cover reported for St. Maarten (22-42%). The overall average for algae is 25%, lower than the overall average for hard coral but right in the range for algae bottom cover reported for St. Maarten (18-33%).
The absence of Palithoa sp. (the false coral) for all three reef sites is indicative of healthy reef conditions. Species diversity was high with 13 hard coral species identified overall.
Coral species data (see chart) for the three surveyed reef sites off St. Maarten reflect the typical coral zonation pattern for the wider Caribbean. The health data that was taken reported all of the hard coral as healthy.
The level of hard coral bottom cover found at all three reefs along with the two sets of health data recorded indicate that the reefs of St. Maarten are in good condition. However, continued monitoring and assessment of St. Maarten's deep and shallow reefs is recommended. In addition to reef monitoring, coastal monitoring must also be conducted to determine if coastal development is having an affect on water quality offshore.
Monitoring
St. Maarten Reef Health
Most of the area off the coast of St. Maarten is a Marine park where reef monitoring is conducted by ReefKeeper International and their ReefMonitor Affiliate, The Nature Conservancy of St. Maarten. Reef monitoring began in December 1998 for 1 shallow reef site (Hens & Chicks) off Point Blanche Bay, 1 deep reef site (Mike's Maze) off Great Bay Harbor and 1 deep reef site (Molly Beday) off Geneve Bay in order to watchdog the conditions of St. Maarten's coral reefs.
St. Maarten is located in the wider Caribbean part of one of the northern islands of the Netherlands Antilles. The Netherlands Antilles consists of five major islands: Curacao and Bonaire are known as the Leeward Islands and Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maarten are the Windward Islands. The island of St. Maarten is approximately 125 miles east of the U.S. Virgin Islands and is divided politically. The Dutch part of St. Maarten (18·05'N, 63·03'W) consists of 34 km2 of land. The other half of the island, St. Martin, is French.
The island has developed in recent years into a thriving tourist destination. The beaches on the southern coast are among the most commercially developed in the Eastern Caribbean. Offshore, the substrate is sandy with turtle sea grass (Thalassia testudinum). In certain places there are well-developed coral patches.
Survey Locations:
Reefs Off Southern St. Maarten
Hens & Chicks (18·00.638 N / 63·00.475 W), lies off the southeastern coast of St. Maarten, off Point Blanche Bay. Hens & Chicks is the shallowest reef surveyed. Its depth range is 15-21 feet.
The reef site south of Great Bay Harbor, Mike's Maze Reef (17·59.35 N / 63·03.20 W), lies adjacent to charted shallows, approximately 0.4 miles east of the Proselyte Reef light. Mike's Maze has a depth of 36 feet at the survey location and is characterized by the classical spur and groove system typical of windward reefs.
Molly Beday Reef (18·01.361 N / 62·00.040 W), lies off the eastern coast of St. Maarten, off Geneve Bay. Molly Beday Reef has a depth range of 45-50 feet, greater than the depth at Mike's Maze.
What Was Found
Hens & Chicks Reef was the shallowest (15-21 feet) reef site studied off St. Maarten. Underwater horizontal visibility ranged from 39 feet to 51 feet. Hard coral bottom cover was high (41%) while algae bottom cover was slightly lower (32%). Soft coral bottom cover (16%) was lower than hard coral and algae bottom cover. Other biotics bottom cover was low (9.2%). Abiotic bottom cover was negligible at this site. No Palithoa sp. (a white encrusting zoanthid which competes with hard coral) was detected at Hens & Chicks. Eight species of hard coral were encountered along the transects. Millepora alcicornis (Branching Fire Coral) and Millepora squarrosa (Box Fire Coral) were the most abundant. Coral health was excellent, with no diseased hard coral encountered on the transect's intercept points.
Mike's Maze Reef is a moderately deep (36 feet) offshore reef. Horizontal underwater visibility was 48 feet. It contained an approximately even bottom cover distribution of hard coral (22%), soft coral (28%), and algae (26%). Other biotics such as sponges, hydroids, and polychaete worms occupied 17% of the substrate. Abiotic cover was low (10%). Palithoa sp. was not observed at Mike's Maze. Seven different species of coral were identified on the transect points. Of those, Porites astreoides (Mustard Hill Coral), Agaricia humilis (Lowrelief Lettuce Coral) and Diploria strigosa (Symmetrical Brain Coral) were the most abundant. All of the hard coral bottom cover encountered on the survey was reported healthy.
Molly Beday Reef, another offshore reef, is slightly deeper (45-50 feet) than Mike's Maze Reef. Horizontal underwater visibility was 30 feet. Bottom coverage by hard coral (38%) and soft coral (25%) was higher than algae cover (18%). Other biotics (anemones, hydroids, etc.) occupied a negligible percent of the bottom. Abiotic cover was moderate (19%) . Palithoa was not observed at Molly Beday Reef. Eight species of hard coral were encountered, of which Diploria strigosa (Symmetrical Brain Coral), Montastrea cavernosa (Great Mound Coral) and Dichocoenia stokesii (Elliptical Star Coral) were the most abundant. Coral health data was not recorded for Molly Beday Reef.
The bar chart shows the bottom cover and the table shows all the species identified for all three reef sites.
Significance:
What Do The Results Mean?
Coral species data (see chart) for the three surveyed reef sites off St. Maarten reflect the typical coral zonation pattern for the wider Caribbean. Two distinct reef zones are present, shallow reef crest and deeper fore reef, each characterized by zone-specific coral species. Overall, 13 hard coral species were identified at the three reef sites off St. Maarten.
The shallower reef crest zone, represented by Hens & Chicks Reef (15-21 feet), is dominated by fire coral (Millepora sp.). Of the 41 hard coral points along the transects for Hens & Chicks Reef, 3 species of fire coral made up 32 points (78% of the total hard coral bottom cover points reported): Millepora alcicornis (Branching Fire Coral), Millepora complanata (Blade Fire Coral), and Millepora squarrosa (Box Fire Coral). On the other hand, the deeper fore reef zone represented by Mike's Maze (36 feet) and Molly Beday Reefs (45-50 feet), was dominated by mounding coral species such as Porites astreoides (Mustard Hill Coral) and Diploria strigosa (Symmetrical Brain Coral). Millepora alcicornis (Branching Fire Coral) was also present on these reefs, but in small quantities; 13% of the coral at Mike's Maze and 11% of the coral at Molly Beday Reef.
The abundance of fire coral in the shallow reef zone (Hens & Chicks) and the absence of fire coral in the deep reef zones (Mike's Maze and Molly Beday), except for M. alcicornis (Branching Fire Coral) which is the only species of fire coral that commonly grows deeper than 30 feet, conforms to the typical zonation pattern for coral distribution and abundance of Caribbean corals.
The absence of Palithoa sp. (the false coral) for all three reef sites is indicative of healthy reef conditions. Caribaeorum, a type of Palithoa sp., is known to exist in St. Maarten reefs but was not encountered on any of the three surveys conducted. All of the reefs in St. Maarten have the same or greater hard coral cover than algae cover. The overall average for hard coral bottom cover is 34% and the overall average for algae is 25%. The level of hard coral bottom cover found at all three reefs along with the two sets of health data recorded indicate that the reefs of St. Maarten are in good condition.
Recommendations: Things To Do
Continued monitoring and assessment of St. Maarten's deep and shallow reefs is recommended. It is only through continual observation that negative trends can be discovered and their specific causes pinpointed. Aside from reef monitoring, coastal monitoring must also be conducted to determine if coastal development is having an affect on water quality offshore.
In general, some ways to preserve and possibly facilitate hard coral success on these reefs are to: (1) minimize human disasters such as ship groundings by establishing mooring buoys far offshore, (2) monitor coastal development along the coast so projects that could be highly detrimental to the reefs be prevented or modified so negative impacts could be lessened and (3) continue monitoring these sites to track changes in reef conditions among deep and shallow reefs.
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Netherland Antilles
St. Maarten Nature
Foundation Next ReefMonitor Affiliate Group
The St. Maarten Nature Foundation, which is responsible for managing the new St. Maarten Marine Park, has asked to join ReefKeeper's ReefMonitor Affiliates Program, so that the condition and health of the Parks's coral reefs can be watchdogged.
St. Maarten is located about 20 miles north of Saba, in the arc of the Lesser Antilles. Its new marine park is being managed by Andy Caballero, a "graduate" of ReefKeeper's reef monitoring program.
"I think it would be agreat advantage for us to be able to work with ReefKeeper International," said Andy Caballero. "We are very interested in joining the ReefMonitor Affiliates Program as part of the research projects that we have planned for the years to come," he concluded.
The St. Maarten Nature Foundation becomes Reef-Keeper's 11th ReefMonitor Affiliate, joining a growing network that already monitors 30 reef sites in Belize, Curacao, Florida, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
Under the ReefMonitor Affiliates Program, Reef-Keeper provides local partner groups with training, supplies, equipment and scientific support to enable quarterly monitoring of up to 4 reef sites.
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Netherlands Antilles
ReefKeeper Mission
Yields Survey Data for Klein Bonaire
With the help of the Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire and the support of numerous Bonaire dive centers and other businesses, a 4-person ReefKeeper team has returned from its May survey trip to the Netherlands Antilles island with over 7000 points of reef bottom cover data, hundreds of supporting photos and hours of video footage.
After it's analyzed, the data will be
crafted along with photos into a Klein Bonaire Rapid Ecological
Assessment Report. Multiple copies of the report will be provided
to the Foundation for the Preservation of Klein Bonaire, to be
used in support of the Foundation's efforts to prevent reef-threatening
resort development on the up-to-now uninhabited island of Klein
Bonaire.
Klein Bonaire's coral reefs are among the best in the Caribbean,
and extend practically from shore to a 35-foot-deep drop-off just
a hundred yards from shore. It is this shallowness and proximity
to shore that would make the reefs so vulnerable to serious damage
if resort construction did occur on the tiny island.
More than 20 local divers learned reef survey methods from ReefKeeper Director Alexander Stone at a two-session training workshop hosted by Captain Don's Habitat. The volunteers, along with the 4-person ReefKeeper team, participated in 5 days of data gathering that covered 9 reef sites off Klein Bonaire and 9 other comparison sites off Bonaire itself. A total of seventy-two 50-meter survey transects were completed, resulting in 7200 bottom cover data points.
Donated boat use for the survey was provided by the Carib Inn, Dee Scarr's Touch the Sea, Peter Hughes Dive Bonaire, Great Adventures Bonaire, Buddy Dive Center, and Toucan Diving. Accomodations for the Reef-Keeper team were donated by the Sunset Beach Hotel, and complimentary meals for the team were provided by the Beefeater Restaurant, Green Parrot, Richards, Buddy's Resort, Leeward Inn, Sandwich Factory, and the Bonaire KFC.
This initial reef assessment will be followed up with quarterly monitoring of selected sites off Klein Bonaire and Bonaire under cooperative reef monitoring agreements between ReefKeeper International and local volunteers.
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