Site Recommendations for Observational Ecology Sites - BONAIRE

[LexxD]

I'm a PhD student that is going to Bonaire this August to scope out some sites.

Quick disclaimer: All our science is observational in nature and we only record and do not manipulate anything.

Long story short - my lab has have built an autonomous surface drone (its all homemade materials just simple PVC, etc.) that mimics a method of paired fish counts/benthic photos that we usually perform via snorkel. The Tito (our robot) basically just follows coordinates with give it and it takes downward facing GoPro photos that we then send through our trained algorithm that identifies the benthos for us. One of the limitations is that it can only take really reliable photos in about 15ft depth.

This has worked fine for us in the lagoons of Moorea, but we have wanted to expand our work to the Caribbean, since it’s much closer to home (and I love it a little bit more ) A colleague that travelled there in May was not really about to find any sites that would meet our requirements for depth, but she only checked a few areas.

I've been to Bonaire before and from what I remember Bonaire is super sloped, and offhand I couldn’t think of any sites that might fit this 15ft criteria that also has large enough areas of interesting benthos (coral/algae) that would be worth sampling with our robot.

I figured I would reach out to the recreational diving community at large and see if anyone can think of any sites in Bonaire that would have large areas that we could survey with the Tito that are within that 15 ft range. Any ideas would be much appreciated. This is mainly a scoping trip to see if Bonaire will work at all or if we may have to move islands in the Caribbean.

I've attached a photo of the Tito.

And here’s a YouTube link to a time-lapse of the benthos in Moorea to see kind of what works for our algorithm and what our photos turn into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mIlKwK-p8

I know this was kind of a quick overview of the project and if I wasn't clear about anything and you are curious please let me know!

Thanks so much for any help!!!


TLDR: Any sites in Bonaire that are around 15ft deep and have coral/algae (i.e. aren't just fire coral haha)

 

[Brett Hatch]

When I went to Bonaire early last year, I dived at maybe 10 sites or so. Seems like most of them had a very gradual slope until 20 feet depth or so, when it turned into a steep cliff down to 100-110', with healthy coral growing all along the vertical wall. However, the ~15' benthic region that your robot is made for, were unfortunately pretty barren of life. I saw mainly sand, rocks, and loose chunks of dead coral.

It is my understanding that these shallow, sandy areas used to be covered with staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (A. palmata), but in the last several decades / century, they have nearly gone extinct. Both species are listed as critically endangered.

I would recommend reaching out to Reef Renewal Bonaire. They have a program going where they are trying to bring these 2 species of coral back to a healthy population. First they harvest a fallen bit of wild coral, and take it back to their propagation site, where they facilitate the coral to create little cloned pieces. When the clones reach a certain size (like a few inches), they move them to a second location and tie them onto a rigid grid. Over time, the cloned pieces grow into each other and form a new colony. This project has been going on for 5 or 10 years now, and at this point there are some small-ish artificial reefs in approximately 15 feet of water. Last I heard, the oldest artificial reefs were looking pretty healthy, and had become the home of a good variety of benthic wildlife.

The good folks at Reef Renewal Bonaire might be able to collaborate with your group in some way or another. Maybe they would allow your robot to take photos of new artificial reefs. Or if that is not possible, I think they would be a good resource on where to find the surviving shallow reefs in this depth range, since they are also monitoring the health of those reefs over time. And if nothing else, I can at least recommend spending a day with them to take a little class and volunteer to work on their restoration project. It was a personal highlight of my trip there, and I would happily do it again next time.

Best of luck, it sounds like you have a very interesting project going! I'd be happy to hear what you learn down the road.

 

[LexxD]

When I went to Bonaire early last year, I dived at maybe 10 sites or so. Seems like most of them had a very gradual slope until 20 feet depth or so, when it turned into a steep cliff down to 100-110', with healthy coral growing all along the vertical wall. However, the ~15' benthic region that your robot is made for, were unfortunately pretty barren of life. I saw mainly sand, rocks, and loose chunks of dead coral.

It is my understanding that these shallow, sandy areas used to be covered with staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (A. palmata), but in the last several decades / century, they have nearly gone extinct. Both species are listed as critically endangered.

I would recommend reaching out to Reef Renewal Bonaire. They have a program going where they are trying to bring these 2 species of coral back to a healthy population. First they harvest a fallen bit of wild coral, and take it back to their propagation site, where they facilitate the coral to create little cloned pieces. When the clones reach a certain size (like a few inches), they move them to a second location and tie them onto a rigid grid. Over time, the cloned pieces grow into each other and form a new colony. This project has been going on for 5 or 10 years now, and at this point there are some small-ish artificial reefs in approximately 15 feet of water. Last I heard, the oldest artificial reefs were looking pretty healthy, and had become the home of a good variety of benthic wildlife.

The good folks at Reef Renewal Bonaire might be able to collaborate with your group in some way or another. Maybe they would allow your robot to take photos of new artificial reefs. Or if that is not possible, I think they would be a good resource on where to find the surviving shallow reefs in this depth range, since they are also monitoring the health of those reefs over time. And if nothing else, I can at least recommend spending a day with them to take a little class and volunteer to work on their restoration project. It was a personal highlight of my trip there, and I would happily do it again next time.

Best of luck, it sounds like you have a very interesting project going! I'd be happy to hear what you learn down the road.

T
Thanks so much for this reply! Ya that was my impression too that the ~15 ft benthos is pretty barren aside from fie coral. Thanks for the recommendation for Reef Renewal Bonaire!

Funny enough, my lab mate, another student, has actually reached out to them and we will be doing some work with them regarding their project. It will pretty much entail using our robot or doing photomosiacs in areas they plan propagate in and areas they already have to get a sense of what works well for restoring the coral (i.e. what drivers of the system lead to successful restoration).

Very cool to hear good things about them from others as well that have gone out with them So far they seem like a great organization. I will definitely ask them as well if there is any other sites in my depth range that might be good to survey even if they won't be working in that area - that's a great idea. Maybe I also just need to start looking into how to expand that depth range! It would be amazing to be able to map the corals a little deeper.

Thanks again!

 

[rmorgan]

"Scoping trip"--is that Science for "pretty much just for fun?" There are decently-gentle grades from north of Cliff down to Front Porch (8-10? sites), 29 Palms has a good reputation for shallow stuff, Oil Slick has good snorkeling, and some of the boat-dive sites further north have lots of life right up to the surf line. Lots of people snorkel shoreward of the wall at Cliff, in front of Hamlet Oasis, and the last time we did, there was plenty of good stuff to ogle. Plus, there are also a number of sites off of Klein with decent to good coral cover close to shore. Seems like a pretty target-rich environment to me . . .

 

[MarlinMark]

I'm a PhD student that is going to Bonaire this August to scope out some sites.

Quick disclaimer: All our science is observational in nature and we only record and do not manipulate anything.

Long story short - my lab has have built an autonomous surface drone (its all homemade materials just simple PVC, etc.) that mimics a method of paired fish counts/benthic photos that we usually perform via snorkel. The Tito (our robot) basically just follows coordinates with give it and it takes downward facing GoPro photos that we then send through our trained algorithm that identifies the benthos for us. One of the limitations is that it can only take really reliable photos in about 15ft depth.

This has worked fine for us in the lagoons of Moorea, but we have wanted to expand our work to the Caribbean, since it’s much closer to home (and I love it a little bit more ) A colleague that travelled there in May was not really about to find any sites that would meet our requirements for depth, but she only checked a few areas.

I've been to Bonaire before and from what I remember Bonaire is super sloped, and offhand I couldn’t think of any sites that might fit this 15ft criteria that also has large enough areas of interesting benthos (coral/algae) that would be worth sampling with our robot.

I figured I would reach out to the recreational diving community at large and see if anyone can think of any sites in Bonaire that would have large areas that we could survey with the Tito that are within that 15 ft range. Any ideas would be much appreciated. This is mainly a scoping trip to see if Bonaire will work at all or if we may have to move islands in the Caribbean.

I've attached a photo of the Tito.
View attachment 667910
And here’s a YouTube link to a time-lapse of the benthos in Moorea to see kind of what works for our algorithm and what our photos turn into: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2mIlKwK-p8

I know this was kind of a quick overview of the project and if I wasn't clear about anything and you are curious please let me know!

Thanks so much for any help!!!


TLDR: Any sites in Bonaire that are around 15ft deep and have coral/algae (i.e. aren't just fire coral haha)

You need to get certified to scuba. If you want accurate observations of a reef, you can’t do it from the surface.

 

[tursiops]

The 15 ft limitation is really restrictive.

It is my understanding that these shallow, sandy areas used to be covered with staghorn coral (Acropora cervicornis) and elkhorn coral (A. palmata), but in the last several decades / century, they have nearly gone extinct.

Hurricane Lenny in 1999 destroyed most of the shallow coral.

lus, there are also a number of sites off of Klein with decent to good coral cover close to shore. Seems like a pretty target-rich environment to me . . .

Concur. More chances at Klein.

Comment: it not clear what you hope to test/learn/accomplish, but Bonaire might not be as good a place to do it as a place like CoCoView.

 

[boat sju]

Lexx, Try Nukove and adjacent sites.

 

[CT Sean]

op posted this a year ago and hasn't been on scubaboard since

 

[boat sju]

arrgh