Spotlight on Mr. Kent Leslie

Mr. Kent Leslie has been the Station Manager of the Oceanic Society Blackbird Field Station for the past 8 years. Mr. Kent, a native Belizean, overseas the day-to-day operation at the field station and brings over 50 years of work experience and local knowledge to this position. He has been on outer reefs of Belize ever since he was a boy visiting his uncle who was the lighthouse keeper at Half Moon Caye. Mr. Kent’s father was a merchant mariner and the young man would jump at any opportunity to accompany his father with his first open ocean experience being a voyage from Savannah, Georgia to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. These collective experiences had a strong influence on Mr. Kent’s formative years.

When watching Mr. Kent at the helm of the R/V Oceanica, one sees a strong sense of focus and connection to the ocean as he continually studies both water and sky. He has an uncanny sense of navigation without the use of modern instruments such as GPS. In fact, it was Mr. Kent who led the crew of Jacques Yves Cousteau’s Calypso to the Blue Hole to film a documentary which transformed recreational diving in Belize. At that time, Mr. Kent was running charters to the Blue Hole from Belize City when he was approached by the Calypso crew who were seeking safe passage for their famed research vessel. Mr. Kent provided maps and led them to the Blue Hole but never got any credit nor has he ever seen that episode of JYC’s Underwater World. When I asked about him about a much circulated rumor regarding the Calypso crew’s use of explosives to open up the entrance to the Blue Hole, he said this simply was not true although there may have been some contact with the reef by their mooring lines.

It is interesting to listen to Mr. Kent reminisce about how things used to be on the Belizean reefs. He says that the Blue Hole used to be filled with larger grouper and aggregations of lemon sharks. Additionally, there were many large fish such as jewfish (goliath grouper) throughout the cayes which simply are not seen anymore, and that there has been a lot of fishing pressure from both Belizeans and fisherman from neighboring countries. He said there was also a time when the oil companies were mapping potential petroleum deposits which included detonating high explosives in the water. This apparently caused massive fish kills and eventually the people had to put a stop to this. In retrospect, it is important to realize that people do have the power to put a stop to such activities that they know are wrong.

Field Station Update

This blog entry comes from Half Moon Caye at Lighthouse Reef where the beach is so scenic one easily feels as if they are living within a postcard. Our snorkeling group is taking a lunch break after exploring the world famous Blue Hole where we all enjoyed viewing a great variety of very large fish. There were so many French, queen and gray angelfish what one guest said they felt as if they were in heaven. On Half Moon, many of our guests enjoyed viewing the Majestic Frigatebird and Red-Footed Booby rookery from an observation platform above the ziricote canopy. Even the snorkel off Half Moon’s beach offered intrigue with an abundance of nurse sharks and rays.

This glorious day offered me the first reflective moment over the past several weeks. Back at the Blackbird Field Station, we have been working with many groups which included coral reef monitoring and dolphin research as well as other Blackbird Caye and Lighthouse Reef snorkeling trips, the latter of which offers a wonderful snorkeling experience with an educational component. Somehow we also managed to monitor permanent seagrass transects for SeagrassNet.

A cornerstone of this season’s program was a visit to Turneffe Atoll by the energetic and visionary scientist Dr. Sylvia Earle. Dr. Earle views Turneffe Atoll and the greater Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (MABR) as a "Hope Site" since she considers it to be a critical habitat within a threatened ecosystem. Her dream of spearheading the establishment of new marine protected areas was honored with a 2009 Technology, Entertainment and Development Award, more commonly known as the TED. TED recipients garner considerable support and resources to help fulfill their dreams and the dream of Her Deepness is simply ocean conservation.

During Dr. Earle’s presentations, she laid out a strong case for why a fish is worth more alive on the reef than dead on a dinner plate when considering the ecological services they provide and the economics of ecotourism. Her motivation was infectious as she clearly stated that if human societies have the power to alter and degrade the environment, then we also have this same power to protect and restore ecosystems on a global scale. She also presented some interesting work by the Deep Search Foundation regarding their whale shark conservation efforts in Holbox, Mexico.

There have also been some interesting scientific observations at the field station. We have localized a long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum) spawning aggregation and observed 2 afternoon spawning events. As one would expect, there is very little macroalgae at this site which prevents settlement of coral larvae and can out compete established coral colonies. Further, there was an abundance of crustose coralline algae with provides settlement cues for coral larvae as well as cements together reef structure. This indeed offers hope that this spawning aggregation will help reseed the MABR with this critical reef herbivores.

We have also seen black blotches on many reef fishes around Turneffe Atoll. These blotches appear to eventually form blisters which then rupture and form lesions. The cause of this condition is unknown as are their effects on fish survival. Thus far, we have seen these blotches on snappers, jacks, grunts, and surgeonfish.

With your continued support, the Ocean Society can continue its conservation efforts in Turneffe Atoll which also include upcoming crocodile and manatee studies.


Video clip of reef fish at the Aquarium snorkel site in Bogue Bay:


Video clip of long-spined sea urchins acting a fish nursery:


Video clip of hogfish, a reef fish surveyed in reef monitoring:

Mayan connections to the sea

This blog entry comes from the Maya Mountains of Belize which is filled with breathtaking beauty where I have been perusing exploratory studies in what I like to call comparative ethno-ecology. For many years I have worked cooperatively with traditional indigenous peoples around the world from the Tiwi of Australia to the Valley of Mexico to the Pacific NW. Human Ecology has been at the heart of this work in terms of practices of sustainability, decision making processes regarding future generations balanced with commercial development objectives, and the relationship of people to their immediate environment and the cosmos. Through this work, it has become apparent to me that no one culture holds the answers to my questions yet all hold pieces of a larger puzzle. However, through these studies, I have gained valuable insight into ecological cycles and ecosystem connectivity.

While on travels to Tikal, Caracol and Cehal Pech (relatively easy access from Belize City), we met many people who clearly demonstrated that the Mayan peoples are still alive and some we spoke with still hold tradition knowledge of traditional medicine and cultural intricacies. At the archeological sites we saw evidence of the connections of these inland sites to the sea, the most readily apparent of which was amongst the burial regalia of a so-called Mayan king at Tikal. The regalia was adorned with ~16 lbs. of jade beads (reportedly their most precious stone) and large scallop shells, many of which still contained rows of the fragile external processes rarely seen by beachcombing shell collectors. Further, a wide variety of sea shell and coral fragment beadwork were noted amongst these sites, some of which dated to 700 B.C.

Pictographs at the Tikal museum also documented the existence of a Mayan Fishery although no navigable waters were noted in close proximity to the center of this site. It was also interesting to note a much replicated pictograph of another Mayan king on his journey to the spirit world where a fish is one of the animal effigies rowing the long canoe. None of this information came as a great surprise since I’ve seen tropical conch shell horns and macaw feathers at an archeological site in Ohio or Mayan style ball courts in Puerto Rico; however, finding validation for suspected connections is always a pleasant outcome.

Visiting Team of Mangrove Killifish Reseachers

When I first arrived at Blackbird, I had an opportunity to work briefly with a team of Canadian, American and British researchers lead by friend and colleague Prof. Pat Wright of the University of Guelph. They were hosted to a visit of the Blackbird Field Station and the Blackbird Resort. Team Killifish carried out field and lab studies on Kryptolebias marmoratus (the mangrove rivulus) at the Calabash Caye Field Station, University of Belize, November 30 – December 21, 2009. They conducted a series of experiment involving field observations, behavioural lab experiments and genetic analysis. The team also included Prof. Suzie Currie of Mt. Allison University (Canada), Prof. Sonia Consuegra and Amy Ellison (Ph.D. student) of Aberystwyth University (Wales) and Dr. D. Scott Taylor of the Brevard County Environmentally Endangered Lands Program (USA). They also plan to return in 2 years at which time I hope to be more actively involved in this project. In the mean time, I will be conducted complementary observations of K. marmoratus during the dry season. Team Killifish was also very kind in that they left me with a wealth of supplies to help me start setting up a lab at the station.

The mangrove rivulus is distributed between southern Florida and northern South America where it survives in mangrove swamps under highly variable conditions of temperature, oxygen, salinity and ammonia. This fish can grow up to 7.5 cm TL and will seek refuge in crab burrows at low tide. The environmental conditions where K. marmoratus lives are particularly severe and the species has developed unique adaptations to cope with the environmental uncertainty including the ability to respire through the skin and live out of water for prolonged periods of time, in very unusual habitats for fish (e.g. packed in logs; and was featured in National Geographic News, 6 November 2007). It also represents the only vertebrate with a mixed mating reproductive strategy that until recently was thought to be present only in plants and invertebrates, making this species a unique model in evolutionary biology.

23 December 2009

We are now up and running with our first groups of the season at the Blackbird Station. We had a couple of very pleasant snorkels on patch reefs south of the station. There was a focus on fish identification training with a good variety of species noted. Some coral bleaching was noted which included many Montastrea colonies off Calabash Caye as well as on large patches of Agaricia or lettuce coral. Hopefully these colonies will recover with cooler winter water temperatures approaching.

Something that was truly amazing on these snorkels where the abundance of the long spined sea urchin Diadema antillarum. I counted over 700 individuals at these 2 sites which I found mind boggling for there was a pan-Caribbean disease outbreak which wiped out these urchins in the early 1980’s. Further, their loss to the ecosystem has been associated with the regional decline of Caribbean coral reefs since they are considered a very important herbivore which helped prevent macroalgae from overgrowing corals. Seeing these urchins is very encouraging and may signal the local reestablishment of an important herbivore. Further, and perhaps more importantly, it could indicate the huge importance of Turneffe Atoll as a potential natural source of Diadema larvae to replenish other coral reefs in the region.

I am currently writing from Half Moon Caye at the Lighthouse Reef Atoll which is an enchantingly beautiful destination with white sand beaches and nice little upland forest with gumbo limbos and ziricote trees, the latter of which serve as booby nesting sites. We had a great morning snorkel at the famed Blue Hole. Conditions were ideal and we saw a good variety of marine life which included a variety of large parrot fishes, snappers, angel fishes and damselfishes. We also watched cleaner shrimp diligently working on an endangered Nassau grouper (~30 cm TL). An abundance of soft corals was noted as well as small pockets of elkhorn and staghorn corals (Acropora spp.); however, no long spined urchins were seen.

On Half Moon, we had a look at the Red Footed Booby and Magnificent Frigatebird colonies where there was a great vantage point from an observation platform. The male Frigates were displaying their courtship rituals which included inflating their red-colored throat pouches called "gular pouches" and at times sword fighting with their long beaks. We snorkeled of the eastern tip of the caye and saw lots of marine life as well as a few nurse sharks and another Nassau grouper

Back on Blackbird Caye, we have also been exploring the terrestrial environments in the form of guided nature walks. We have had two sightings of the Common Black Hawk which is a majestic raptor with white banding on its tail feathers. We are trying to determine if this bird is transient or a local resident. This species is known to occur on Caye Caulker and the mainland but as far as I’m aware, there are no previous reports of this raptor on Blackbird Caye. We have also been keeping an eye on the resident American crocodiles in a pond on Oceanic Society property.

Gearing up for a new season

Greetings All,

Welcome to the lauching of a blog for the Oceanic Society Field Station at Blackbird Caye, Belize. We are located in Turneffe Atoll with is about 15 miles offshore from Belize City. The Oceanic Society is a non-profit organization and a wealth of information can be found on this group and its activities at: http://www.oceanicsociety.org/home

My family and I just arrived here on December 10th, were warmly greeted by the staff and instantly made to feel right at home. I will be acting as the new field coordinator and coral reef biologist for the field station. This is an exciting opportunity for me to lead groups in such a setting and involve them in meaningful research and conservation efforts.

There is a great deal of construction activity ongoing with repair work to the kitchen, palapa and docks. We are settling in and preparing for our first group of visitors on December 19th. Part of this group will be lead by Dr. Michelle Paddack, a colleague who is faculty at Santa Barbara City College.

We had our first snorkel off the stations dock to the nearby reef where we noted some paling or light bleaching on several colonies of Porities, Siderastrea and Diploria. The water was a bit rough with a storm system moving through over the past couple of days. The late afternoon air temperature is 83F and the surf temp is 81F, which is just a tad warmer than the Olympic Peninsula of Washington where we just moved from. We've also spotted crocodiles and dolphins albeit not while snorkeling.

I also had an opportunity to work with fellow colleagues from Canada, Wales, England and the US over the past couple of days at the nearby Calabash Caye Field Station of the University of Belize which I will detail in an upcoming entry.

We wish you all the best and hope that you can soon come for a visit to experience the natural beauty of Belize. It's time now to take a gander at the sunset.

Cheers,
John