DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS

CENTRE FOR MARINE SCIENCES

An International Cooperative Biodiversity Groups grant has been awarded by the US National Institutes of Health to researchers at the

University of Mississippi's National Center for Natural Products Research for a study on "New Drugs from Marine Natural Resources from Jamaican Reefs," in collaboration with the Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory. Dr Norman Quinn negotiated DBML's involvement. The Centre's share of the grant would be J$8.5 million over two years, with the possibility of increasing the funding and extending the funding period. The grant would support additional personnel at DBML, including students, workshops with local stakeholders, biodiversity assessments at sites around Jamaica, and the necessary international travel.

Award to Chemical Analytical Facility at DBML

Dr Anthony Greenaway (Department of Chemistry) received an award at the UWI
Awards Ceremony for the most successfully commercialized research project in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences. The award was given for his work on coastal water quality carried out from DBML. Commercial work has included analysis of water samples for USAID/GOJ funded projects and for hotel chains (determining levels of land-based pollutants such as nitrates, phosphates and ammonia). The income supports a technician, chemicals, equipment, some overheads, and the analysis of samples for research by UWI staff and students. Dr Greenaway's laboratory has set standards in coastal water quality analysis by which other laboratories in Jamaica are measured.

JCRMN News

Reef check training for volunteers in the Jamaica Coral Reef Monitoring Network (JCRMN) was carried out at Drunkenman's Cay on November 1 and 2, 2003. This was organized by the CCDC, with assistance from the Port Royal Marine Laboratory, and led by Dulcie Linton and Peter Edwards.

Volunteers also took part in a training session in the CARICOMP methodology at DBML on November 22, 2003, led by Peter Gayle. This was in preparation for a survey of coral reefs in Portland Bight planned for the beginning of December.
A report entitled "Preliminary Report of Coral Reef Monitoring of the Portland Bight Protected Area (PBPA), authored by Dulcie Linton, Loureen Jones and Peter Edwards, was produced for Reef Check International and donors UNEP (Caribbean Environment Program), the International Coral Reef Action Network and the British High Commission on the results of the coral reef surveys carried out by JCRMN in Portland Bight.

CMS, through the Caribbean Coastal Data Centre (CCDC), has received a grant of US$25,000 from the ICRI for continued surveys of the coral reefs in the Portland Bight area, in collaboration with JCRMN.

Coral Bleaching in the Port Royal Cays

Diving on Rackman's Cay on November 27, 2003, confirmed observations made earlier in the month of coral bleaching at Lime Cay and Drunkenman's Cay. Bleaching was caused by higher than normal seawater temperatures; it seriously weakened corals, and might cause mortality. Subsequent surveys collected data on the bleaching, and reports of coral bleaching received from elsewhere in the Caribbean confirm that this was a region-wide event.

JCRMN partnered with Reef Check and Sandals International to conduct a training workshop at Beaches Boscobel, February 7-9, 2004. Dr George Warner and Peter Edwards of CMS were the team scientists. Fifteen water sports managers representing hotels from the Sandals chain were trained in the reef check method. The trainees also carried out a survey of a nearby coral reef, finding very good coral cover (>40%) and high Diadema population density.

A JCRMN team led by CMS carried out a complete reef check survey on the eastern side of Drunkenman's Cay between February 28 and 29, 2004. They found good coral cover (>40%), but still some evidence of coral bleaching, probably caused by the warm-water event in October 2003. Visible bleaching has now lasted four months.

Meetings/Workshops

Dr Norman Quinn presented a paper on "Assessing pelagic fish stocks off Jamaica using game fishing tournament results" at the 56th Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute meeting in Tortola, British Virgin Islands, November 11-14, 2003.

Dr George Warner represented CMS at the January 13, 2004 meeting of the Institute of Jamaica Natural History Division Advisory Board, and at the January 16, 2004 NEPA meeting on coral reef rehabilitation.

CMS Scientific Officer Peter Edwards was the guest speaker at a World Wetlands Day celebration hosted by the Ridge to Reef Watershed Project (USAID/GOJ) at the Port Antonio Marina on February 2, 2004. The title of his presentation was "The Importance of Wetlands."

Dr George Warner attended the planning meeting of the Mainstreaming Adaptation to Climate Change (MACC) Project (CARICOM/World Bank/GEF) in Belize, February 3-4, 2004. He discussed the coral reef monitoring aspects of the project in which CMS is the lead agency.

Dr George Warner represented CMS at the SIDS meeting held at the Ministry of Land and Environment on February 17, 2004.

CMS was represented at the UWICED National Training Workshop on Information Management Methodologies on February 26, 2004, by Peter Edwards and Loureene Jones.

Consultancy

Dr George Warner completed a consultancy report for the Japan International Cooperation Agency entitled "To Inform a Strategy in Relation to Marine Research and Management in Jamaica."

Seminars

Dr Barbara Kojis, Fulbright Scholar based at DBML, presented a seminar on "Fisheries Management in the US Virgin Islands."

At a CMS seminar on February 12, 2004, Dr Karl Aiken (Department of Life Sciences) spoke on "Using otoliths to age snappers."

Visitors to DBML

Our regular long-stay group from Northeastern University arrived with 12 students, who stayed at DBML from January 5 to March 15, 2004.

A group of 12 UWI Archaeology students led by Dr Philip Allsworth-Jones (Department of History and Archaeology) stayed at DBML from January 6 to 18, 2004.

Dr John Gilbert returned with 15 Dartmouth University students for a three-week course in coral reef ecology.

The Discovery Bay Marine Lab International Cooperative Biodiversity Group (ICBG) hosted a visit from the University of Mississippi ICBG team. Introductory meetings were held with the UWI Natural Products Institute, CMS, the Port Royal Marine Laboratory, NEPA, the Tourism Protection Committee of St Ann, and some local medical professionals.