We have been reporting on our long-term artificial reef research in Haiti for a few years now. This year we were pleased to learn that not only did our reefs survive the massive hurricane Mathew, but they also had substantially more fish on them than they did last year. This is a really positive sign that the reefs are providing […]
We have been working with Loggerhead Productions for the past few years on creating films and documentaries about our work in Haiti. Recently Matt just finished a new education film on our local work in Haiti that we will be distributing around to schools and communities in the area where we are working around Ile A Vache, Haiti.
As an extension of our on-going research in Haiti, we recently kicked off a new artificial reef project. Working with local fishers, we have constructed two clusters of artificial reefs, one of which the locals will actively use for harvesting fishes and the other that they will collectively protect from fishing. Building on what we have learned from other projects, we have chosen to […]
We are gearing up for our fourth field season in Haiti, on the sleepy but beautiful little island of Ile A Vache (island of the cow). This year we are working with two different small fishing communities to build a series of artificial reefs, some of which the communities will fish, and some of which they will protect from fishing. We […]
After almost a year trying to get our local collaborators to report on our reefs on Ile a Vache in Haiti, we finally got pictures this week. As expected, with the extremely fishing pressure, just a few small fish are on this reef. But surprisingly, with all of the human activity in the area (and thus presumably higher nutrient loading), […]
A recent paper in Scientific Reports (LINK to .pdf) examines the timing and cause of a major extinction event in the Caribbean. From the looks of the evidence presented in this paper, humans might be the culprit, not rising seas. Some of the samples used in this study were collected right on Abaco!
This U. Florida brief does a […]
That would be “fish pee”! Loggerhead Productions with a video of our research in Haiti.
Remarkably efficient for a remote site like this, all 8 reefs are complete! Fish are colonizing rapidly. Some of the reefs have already been marked by local fishermen (see the bundle of floating bottles below) – they will surely be fished very intensely.
In fact, we have changed the entire deign of the project to take advantage of the great support we […]
Two hundred sixty blocks, a compressor, seven people, ten bags of rock, and a massive boat- all pushed by by a dilapidated 40hp. But enough to get three reefs done today! This pictures also confirms to loved ones Jake and Matt are still alive (and also shares the conundrum of what the heck Jake is actually doing in the boat).
Pictures tell the story of an amazing field day. A tad different from the barge deployment of reefs on Abaco. Sorry the the video is sideways, but worth flipping your laptop around.
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