Times of the Islands Summer 2015

green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & maritime affairs
The School for Field Studies
Center for Marine Resource Studies
On South Caicos, a unique opportunity to study and
monitor long-term environmental changes was seized
upon by The School for Field Studies’ Center for Marine
Resource Studies (SFS CMRS). The School for Field
Studies (SFS) is a US-based academic institution that
provides multidisciplinary, field-based environmental
study abroad opportunities to undergraduate university
students. Each SFS program (nine in total) highlights a
different region of the world, with its own distinct
cultural and ecological characteristics and unique environmental
challenges.
Faculty and students at the SFS CMRS on South
Caicos work in close cooperation with local partners
including the TCI’s Department of Environment and
Maritime Affairs (DEMA), TCReef Inc. (www.tcreef.org),
and local fishermen and processing plants to protect
and enhance the management of the island’s coral reefs
and other marine resources.
SFS CMRS recognizes the importance of studying climate
change impacts on local ecosystems by including
related projects in program and research components.
Likely, and already observed, impacts of climate change
to marine and coastal ecosystems include those linked
to temperature change on organism metabolism, water
chemistry including carbonate cycle, precipitation
change on water balance, and wind and water circulation
pattern changes. Long term data collection is a
crucial element of observing and understanding such
impacts, beneficial to stakeholders and essential to policy
makers. a
We are continuing to investigate other variables that
will impact turtle nesting success now and in the future.
Once all the data have been collected, covering at least
two full years, the results of this research will be aggregated
with those of sister projects around the world, thus
allowing for comparison of the situation in the Turks &
Caicos to that in other, far away areas where marine turtles
nest and even in different oceans.
In addition to our beach profiling, Dr. Aaron Henderson
leads SFS CMRS staff and students on surveys of the
marine turtle population around South Caicos. Turtles are
captured, measured, and, if not already, tagged with flipper
and Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags. Turtle
movement is also tracked using Lotek Lat1400 tags from
which we can determine in what environments they roam,
i.e. banks, shallow reefs, or deep reefs. DNA samples also
help to understand better the local population.
Maintaining healthy habitats for marine turtles in a
changing climate can have ecological, social, and economic
benefits. Healthy ecosystems provide protection for
additional species and continue to supply resources to
coastal communities. Understanding the impacts on the
natural resources of the TCI make us better equipped to
help sustain marine populations dependent on them. a
The healthy and colorful reefs that line Turks & Caicos shores are one of the country’s most precious commodities.
SEAN BRADY–KAIERI PHOTOGRAPHY
To learn more about the SFS program, go to http://
www.fieldstudies.org/tci.
Going Strong
The Turks & Caicos Reef Fund celebrates five years of positive impact.
Turtle tracks are commonly documented during sampling events.
CHARLOTTE DE FONTAUBERT
Story & Photos By Don Stark, Chairman, Turks & Caicos Reef Fund
Environmental protection in the Turks & Caicos Islands has been a hit or miss affair for many years.
The Department of Environment and Maritime Affairs (DEMA), the governmental agency responsible for
environmental protection, has been chronically underfunded and understaffed for more than a decade.
The so-called Conservation Fund, which no longer exists, served virtually no conservation purpose and
mostly funded non-conservation projects in the TCI.
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