Application forms for the next round of the Overseas Territories Environment Programme (OTEP) are available online from the UK Overseas Territories Conservation Forum (UKOTCF) website at: http://www.ukotcf.org/otep/applications.htm The deadline for submissions is Friday November 26th 2010.
Coral Spawning Event Underway
Many of the coral species on the reefs around Bermuda reproduce during one or two mass spawning events during the summer months. The timing of these events is strongly tied to the timing of the full moon and the resulting tides. In 2009 a massive spawning event around the mid-August full moon resulted in large amounts of coral spawn (the released eggs and sperm) washing ashore on Bermuda's beaches. Coral spawn can be easily distinguished from marine pollution as it is orange-pink in colour, may smell slightly fishy and often the individual eggs can be seen with the naked eye. Occasionally it may appear as an oily slick on the sea surface.
Coral Spawn washing ashore at Turtle Bay, August 2009
Coral spawn, August 15th 2009, Clearwater Beach Bermuda
For larger images click here.
For more information see:
- The Coral Life Cycle (Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences) http://www.bios.edu/research/CRRcycle.html
- The Bermuda Reef Ecosystem Assessment and Mapping Programme (BREAM)http://bermudabream.blogspot.com/2008/08/coral-spawning-slicks-take-over-south.html
2010/2011 Environmental Education Grant Awarded
The Department of Conservation Services and the Grant Selection Committee are pleased to congratulate Lashay Hollinsid the recipient of the Environmental Education Grant for the 2010/2011 academic year. Miss Hollinsid is pursuing a Masters degree in Biology at Alabama A&M University.
The Environmental Education Grant is open to Bermudian students studying in the United States. Application forms can be viewed in the Resources section of this site and are due on July 1st in the year of application.
Related BAP Actions and Activities:
- Action C6: Raise awareness and promote training for career opportunities in environmentally related fields
- Action C7: Support ongoing career development and vocational training for environmentalists
Officer's Beach Clean Up
On Saturday May 15th a group of students, staff and parents from Clearwater Middle School undertook a clean up of Officer's Beach on Cooper's Island along with several DCS staff as part of the Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) annual island-wide spring clean up. The students removed bags of trash as well as lots of large plastic marine debris, rope, tires, a car bumper and half a refrigerator. Congratulations to all the students for their hard work and enthusiasm!
Photos of the clean up can be found here: http://www.conservation.bm/kbb-spring-cleanup/
Fish Aggregation Area Closed to Fishing
The Ministry of the Environment wishes to advise that an area of North Shore will be closed to all fishing activities between May 1st, 2010 and June 30th, 2010 inclusive. The area is a known “fish aggregation area” and is being closed for the conservation and protection of the Blue-striped Grunt (Haemulon sciurus), in accordance with the Fisheries Act 1972.
The closed area being roughly rectangular in shape is enclosed by a line running in a north-easterly direction from St. Catherine’s Point, St. George’s to the Southern channel marker #12 (32 degrees 23.6 minutes North, 64 degrees 40.1 minutes West) thence by a line running along the southern boundary of the Southern channel to the Southern channel marker #16 (32 degrees 23.9 minutes North, 64 degrees 40.7 minutes West) thence by a line running in a south-westerly direction to a point 32 degrees 23.4 minutes North, 64 degrees 41.4 minutes West thence by a line running in a south-easterly direction to Fort George, St. George’s.
IUCN Red List Species of the Day for 2010 International Year of Biodiversity
The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) maintains a Red List of Species that are threatened with extinction. Bermudian species on the Red List include the Bermuda Skink, Bermuda Cedar, Bermuda Palmetto and Cahow. In honour of the International Year of Biodiversity, the IUCN is featuring a listed species each day throughout 2010. Keep and eye on this space and you may see one of our Bermuda species.
Environmental Youth Conference 2010
In honour of the International Year of Biodiversity the theme of this year’s Environmental Youth Conference was “The Power of One: Preserving Our Biodiversity”. The conference was organised by the Bermuda Zoological Society (BZS), sponsored by the Ernest E. Stemple Foundation, and supported by the Ministry of the Environment and the Department of Conservation Services.
The conference was held at the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo (BAMZ) on April 14th and 15th with the closing ceremony at the Fairmont Southampton on the evening of April 16th. Fifty six students aged 10 – 16 (P6 to S4) attended from schools across the island and home schools.
Fieldtrip to Walsingham
Students undertook two field trips; one with the theme ‘how we impact our environment’ and the second with the theme ‘what are we doing to help?’ After each trip the students presented the key points they had learned on the trip to students in other groups who had gone on different fieldtrips. Students also participated in a workshop of their choice and visited 5 interactive learning stations around the BAMZ facility taught by local experts.
Congratulations to the BZS Education team, lecturers, trip leaders and all of the students for making the conference enjoyable and informative. The next Environmental Youth Conference will be held in April 2012.
Group presentation
Related BAP activities:
- C 2.9: Continue to hold a biennial Environmental Youth Conference.
- E 7.3: Document and celebrate successful youth involvement in biodiversity conservation projects through the media, public events and the Environmental Youth Conference.
Earth Day 2010
April 22nd 2010 marked the 40th anniversary of the celebration of the first Earth Day in the US in 1970. Since that time Earth Day has become a global day for discussion of pressing environmental issues, education on these issues, and positive action for the environment.
In Bermuda this year, Earth Day was marked by the second annual BASEC Earth Day celebration at Victoria Park. This celebration was largely organised and driven by young people through the Bermuda Association of Eco-Clubs (BASEC). The event offered an afternoon of entertainment by many local musicians, student groups and poets, as well as children’s activities including making recycled artwork, and a giant climate change snakes and ladders game. There were also 25 exhibitors (including many BAP partners) displaying everything from solar panels and square foot gardens to environmentally themed children’s books, bluebird boxes and electric scooters.
The Department of Conservation Services was please to be able to take part in this event to showcase the work undertaken by the department to protect and enhance Bermuda’s biodiversity and to promote awareness of biodiversity in this, the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB 2010).
Congratulations to BASEC and the Earth Day Organising Committee on an educational and entertaining event.
DCS table at Earth Day
Related BAP actions & activities:
- Action E.8: Promote community participation in biodiversity conservation through local and international action days for the environment.
- Action D.9: Use public events to raise public awareness of biodiversity conservation and to encourage direct involvement.
- Activity D 9.2: Build on existing street festivals (including Harbour Nights and Heritage Day Parade), sporting events and exhibitions (including The Annual Exhibition and the Eden Project) to incorporate biodiversity messages – including biodiversity-themed costumes, floats and vendors.
Unidentified Harbour Wreck, Royal Navy Dockyard: Report of Fieldwork, December 2007
In mid-2007, Dr. Philippe Max Rouja, Custodian of Historic Wrecks, inspected the remains of anPhoto: J.Hoyt, Dec 15th 2007 unidentified vessel located off of the Royal Navy Dockyard, Ireland Island, Bermuda (see Figures 1 and 2). The iron-hulled site, of approximate dimensions 65 by 20 feet (19.81 by 6.1m) sits in approximately 45 feet (13.72m) of water. The site is currently under threat from the development of extended piers associated with cruise ships entering the Dockyard, as well as potential damage from prop wash.
On August 10, 2007, while guests of the Bermuda Maritime Museum (BMM), Dr. Nathan Richards and Dr. Bradley Rodgers of the Program in Maritime Studies at East Carolina University (ECU) carried out a reconnaissance dive on the site. The results of the survey culminated in a small not-to-scale site sketch, confirming all of the information outlined by Dr. Rouja. The wreck is very much intact, although it is missing decking, engines and machinery.
In September, 2007, the Bermuda Maritime Museum received funding to carry out site recording of the vessel with the intention to provide recommendations as to the vessel's future. The project was carried out with the financial assistance and with further in-kind contributions from East Carolina University, the Bermuda Maritime Museum, agencies of the Government of Bermuda, and local Bermuda divers.
Click here to read the full fieldwork report submitted to the Government of Bermuda and the Bermuda Maritime Museum, by Nathan Richards and Joseph Hoyt, from East Carolina University.
Also, watch video footage by Dr. Philippe Rouja, Custodian of Historic Wrecks, taken before the full survey.
19th C Tug at Dockyard Outside North Arm Bermuda from Dr Philippe Max Rouja on Vimeo.
This is the tug we discovered while surveying for the new cruise-ship dock "Heritage Wharf" now completed.
This is an early film made soon after discovery and before full survey.
Subsequent to this we had to remove the steering quadrant that stuck up above the wreck and we also removed and relocated a number of corals to the cruise-ship grounding site.