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From the Field:
The
Earthwatch Manatees in Belize Research Project
Camp Preparation: February 1,
2003
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The camp on
Spanish Lookout
Caye. |
Caryn, Brian and I arrived at our camp on Spanish
Lookout Caye on Tuesday January 28th. The boat ride from Belize City
was approximately 1 hour long. Upon arrival we brought all our gear
and supplies into the house and moved all the stored stuff from
Spanish bay Resort on the other side of the island. We have now
spent 2 entire days cleaning, unpacking, setting up camp, preparing
the research, and sorting out the logistics for the first field
team.
Our living accommodations are basic but comfortable
and are built on stilts. There is one building (dubbed the Pink
House) for a kitchen/laboratory and one dormitory building. Both
have bathrooms with a shower and flush toilet, but there is no hot
water. The toilets use seawater, and all the fresh water is
rainwater so it must be used sparingly. The rainwater is filtered
for drinking. We have solar and wind generated electricity for
lights in the evening and for computers for data entry. A generator
must power the fridge but it is very loud so we only run it for a
couple of hours a day. We burn almost all our garbage (except tin
cans) and compost vegetable and fruits. Any leftover food gets fed
to the islands resident dogs Nina and Sultan. We also share our home
with a number of hermit crabs. Friday we caught a ride into Belize
City with Gilroy. There we picked up the week's supplies of food and
met our four volunteers for the next two weeks.
Manatees! February 7,
2003
In the last week a group of four volunteers joined
Caryn (the Principal investigator), Brian (the other intern), Gilroy
(the boat captain/field guide) and I on Spanish Lookout Caye. Three
are "Millenium Award," winners, a scholarship for British citizens
over 50, and one is a 26 year old American journalist from a
children's science magazine. We get up by 6:30, prepare breakfast
and get the gear ready, spend from 8:30 till 5ish in the field,
spend a couple of hours preparing dinner and sorting out data, and
are usually in bed by 10:00. It has been a bit of a shift in
schedule for me! About half of the time we survey manatee behaviour,
and the other half of the time we survey their seagrass habitat.
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A female
manatee swam right up to our boat and hung suspended in the
water for a moment looking up at us looking down at
her. |
On the first morning in the field we went to Swallow
Caye, a recently instigated manatee reserve. Within the first hour
Caryn spotted a manatee, which we surveyed from a distance for a
while. We moved on to a slightly different location and literally
nearly ran over a manatee calf. It was tiny, only around 4 feet
long, and on its own. Caryn figured it was far too young to be
without its mom. It was extremely curious and swam within feet of
the boat before retreating to around 20 m away. Later that afternoon
an older female manatee swam right up to our boat and hung suspended
in the water for a moment looking up at us looking down at her.
Caryn was able to video tape her underwater, which will contribute
to a video-ID catalogue.
The next day we visited the Belize barrier reef,
which is the second longest in the world. The manatees are spotted
there in the summer months, but not usually in the winter. We took
advantage of the site to practice our seagrass sampling techniques,
and to do a bit
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Seagrass
sampling: holding your breath and counting plants
underwater. |
of extracurricular snorkeling. During the seagrass
sampling, which involves a lot of holding your breath and counting
plants underwater, we spotted a tiny octopus crawling along the
sand. The reef was of course beautiful and I hope to spend a lot
more time there.
We visited another site, which I actually thought
was cooler than the reef. At the edge of the mangroves the bottom
had dropped by at least 30 feet in places forming dark spooky
crevasses. The sediment was compact mud riddled with plant roots,
and interspersed with corals and other invertebrates. Apparently
there are large grouper (ie 200+ lbs) lurking in the depths, but I
didn't see any.
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Frigate
bird. |
The last couple of days have involved surveying and
sampling. We have had at least 8 manatee sightings so far. We spend
a couple of hours in the water seagrass sampling each day, which I
am quite happy about. The water is 26-28 degrees and a surreal
turquoise colour. The air is a couple of degrees warmer with an
almost constant breeze, which is extremely helpful in keeping the
sandflies (no-see-ums) at bay. Some of the local wildlife we
have
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Bottlenose
dolphins. |
spotted include spotted eagle rays, southern
stingrays, barracuda, reef fish, bat fish (very weird looking - seen
in the bottom of the trenches described previously), conch, frigate
birds, herons, and pelicans. In our "front yard" under the seawall I
have seen an octopus, 50 or so lobster (which I have adopted as pets
in an attempt to save them from the dinner table), and bottlenose
dolphins swimming some distance off shore. In our "backyard" in the
lagoon there is at least one toothy 6-foot crocodile.
Snorkeling in the Mangroves:
February 17, 2003
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A bogue: a
narrow channel cutting between mangroves
islands. |
I think the highlight of last week was our last day.
In the morning we headed to one of the bogues, a narrow channel
cutting between mangroves islands. We didn't see any manatees, but
we did go snorkeling in one of the narrow creeks. The water was
completely still and fairly clear. The bottom of the creek was muddy
and scattered with thousands of upside down jellies. Along the sides
of the creek the prop roots from the mangroves extended down 1-4
feet. They were covered in living organisms, such as pink, lavender,
orange, red, and mint green coloured sponges, bivalves, many types
of green, red and brown algae, see slugs, crabs, tunicates, and
anemones. There were thousands of small anchovy-like fish schooling
around, puffer fish milling around in the prop roots, and
needle-like houndfish hanging our near the surface.
After that we headed to Goff's Caye, a postcard
version of a Caribbean island. It is a tiny white sand island built
up on the barrier reef, the land held together by the roots of the
swaying palm trees. After 2 weeks of swampy mangroves the sand was
welcomed! When we arrived the island was crawling with tourists from
a cruise ship, but after an hour or so they all left, leaving the
island to us and a handful of others. We had a picnic lunch and then
boated half a km down the reef to snorkel in calmer area. I must
admit that the reef amazes me more and more every time I visit. One
of the most outstanding features are the gorgonian fans, which sway
back and forth in the swell. There are also elkhorn, brain, pillar,
and staghorn corals, sea whips, and of course thousands of reef
fish.
I am glorifying the experience - trust me, not every
day is like this! We work basically from dawn until we go to bed at
night, and being with the same half a dozen people all day every day
has its challenges. Additionally, the logistics of camp life take up
a considerable amount of our time. All our bread has to be cooked
from scratch, beans soaked and stewed (not from a can!), the
drinking water filtered, and the water pumped for the showers and
toilets. One night last week the wind died and our mosquito coil
burnt out, two unfortunate incidences, which when combined resulted
in the entire population of Spanish Lookout Caye's sand flies
feasting upon my exposed skin. The next morning I looked like I had
contracted a worrying case of measles.
On my day off I went to the Belize Zoo. It was
created in 1983, when Sharon Matola, an American animal trainer, was
charged with finding homes for 17 animals left over from the filming
of a natural history documentary. All of the animals at the zoo are
indigenous to Belize, and all of them have been pets, injured, or
ill and are unfit to be returned to the wild. All of the enclosures
were very natural with lots of vegetation and hiding areas. There
are now over 100 animals at the zoo including endangered species
like ocelots, jaguars, tapirs, margays, jabiru storks, and spider
monkeys.
The second week of our first volunteer team is
finished and we are in Belize City waiting to meet the second team
this afternoon. We have three volunteers arriving. One is a 63 year
old and her 19 year old niece. The Aunt has been on 12 previous
Earthwatch trips! Last week's team had a total of 18 manatee
sightings, saw 20 manatees, did 10 focal follows, completed three
seagrass plots, did 20 scans, spent 9 days on water and covered each
of the nine study area zones.
Manatee Research, the Real Story: February 24, 2003
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| Megan
cooking inside the camp. |
This
week was interesting. It started off with out a hitch, our three
team members Pat, Meghan and Jenny meeting Brian, Caryn and I in
Belize city on Saturday. Training on Sunday went smoothly. A small
downpour on Monday morning prevented us from going out in the field
until the afternoon, but spirits remained high and we completed some
data collection and saw 2 manatees. Further rain on Tuesday was
unexpected and delayed our field work until the late morning, but we
managed to complete a number of surveys despite the weather. Tuesday
night as the winds picked up to over 40 miles per hour, the rain
came down in sheets, and lighting streaked the sky we remained
positive thinking of the rain barrels filling for the taps and
showers. We collected 500 gallons that day! Unfortunately we failed
to consider other receptacles which may also be filling. That night
the clean sheets hanging on the line were blown into a mud puddle,
but luckily once back on the line there was enough ambient fresh
water to render them clean again. Something to do with the
low-pressure system (at least that is my explanation) caused a
dinner plate to become lodged inside a somewhat expensive stewpot.
No amount of banging, boiling, or bashing could remove the plate. I
think that evening the team started feeling a bit down. Where was
the tropical paradise we hoped for?
The following morning
our resident fitness buff Jenny was doing predawn yoga. The calm
after the storm had set in and she began her dockside sun
salutations eagerly. As the sun rose above the mangroves she turned
her torso in a twisting triangle and made a grave realization.
Osprey our trusty boat was now a submarine.
Caryn emerged
from the Pink House in time to see a bucket, viewfinder and water
bottle drifting away on the ebbing tide. Just in case you are
unaware, a submerged engine is not a good thing. Luckily we happen
to have a resident miracle worker named Gilroy. I won't go into
details, but using ropes, poles, a second boat, the theories of
displaced mass and the weight of five would-be manatee researchers,
Gilroy returned Osprey to the surface where she belonged. Following
this he proceeded to fix the flooded engine in time for lunch and an
afternoon snorkeling trip to the reef. He is my hero.
It
seems as though (touch wood) the stars have realigned in a more
favorable array. My sheets - three days post washing - dried. The
plate was removed from the pot, albeit in shatters. The boat floats.
We managed to get one full day of field research in, observing a
pair of manatees in Barge Bogue for over an hour. This week's events
have led me to wonder about the trials and tribulations that all
field researchers must encounter. The behind the scenes stories of
nature documentaries are surely as interesting as the films
themselves?
Things
are Looking Up: March 3, 2003
Our week started off on a rough note but thankfully
improved. Jenny, one of the volunteers, received word of a family
emergency at home. She rescheduled her flight and sadly left us on
Monday. We definitely miss her and wish her and her family all the
best. Later that day more bad news. On data entry day Caryn's laptop
computer crashed. The type of computer crash that will cost a lot of
money to fix, and potentially more money to rescue the mountains of
data that are currently lost. The computer has been sent to the US
to be fixed. Luckily she has a second laptop.
 On the brighter side the weather is excellent now and we
have been able to do our field work. Tuesday we observed a mother
and calf for over an hour. The calf was most likely born this year,
as it was only around 1/3rd the length of the mother. We watched
them feeding on seagrass and milling around in one of the bogues. In
30 minutes we saw four boats tearing through the same area.
Boat traffic is a major
problem for manatees. In Florida 50% of manatee deaths are caused by
humans, and of those, half are caused by boating accidents.
Sometimes the propeller cuts the animal and leads to bleeding and
infection. Other times the hull of the boat crashes down on the
animal and breaks its ribs. Here in Belize there is not as much data
to indicate what the boat induced mortality for manatees is.
However, I am aware of two manatees who were killed last weekend,
one of whom was hit by a propeller. As tourism increases in Belize
there will surely be an enormous increase in boat traffic. Unless
preventative measures are taken a concurrent increase in the number
of manatee deaths may be expected. Manatee tour operators here
are very conscientious about the well being of the manatees. They
have been instrumental in creating a manatee reserve and I think
will play a huge role in their future protection.
I saw two
new fish species on Wednesday. In the seagrass bed in front of our
camp I observed a scrawled cowfish. They are a bizarre looking fish
with a triangularly shaped body when viewed head on, and two horns
above their iridescent eyes. When the cowfish sensed my presence
it�s skin flashed in brilliant blue patches. When this didn't deter
the "predator" it swam away with a burst of its tiny fins. Later on
in the afternoon I had another pleasant surprise. Suspended in the
water surrounding some mangrove prop roots was a bright yellow and
black longsnout seahorse! It didn't appear to react to the presence
of snorkelers at all. I suspect it may have been a pregnant male
seahorse because of its large belly. Thursday we were fortunate to
see a loggerhead sea turtle as we were motoring to Goff�s Caye for
our day off.
On the Caye we conducted surveys for Belize�s
Coastal Zone Management. We interviewed tourists and tour
operators. The responses will affect the future management of the
island. I was personally dismayed at the number of people I saw
wrecking the coral by kicking, touching or standing on it. Perhaps
the tour operators do not give enough instruction or education
regarding snorkeling or coral reef ecology to the visitors. Or,
perhaps many of the visitors just don�t care. We to feel like the
�Coral Cops� swimming around helping people with their masks and
snorkels and asking them not to stand on the coral. Later on in the
day our group did a beach clean up. I was actually surprised that
given the number of people who visit this tiny little island
(sometimes hundreds in a day) there was not too much rubbish. Still
we collected a couple of bags of garbage so that it wouldn�t end up
in the ocean. Our work was rewarded, on a spiritual level of course.
A few glasses of rum punch from a Aleto a friendly tour operator
didn�t hurt either.
A Well Needed
Rest: March 8, 2003
 The first week of March yielded a much-deserved
week off for the Manatees in Belize Earthwatch crew. Caryn headed to
her home-away-from-home-away-from- home, the Trek Stop, an
eco-friendly lodge co owned by a group of Americans and Belizeans in
the Cayo district of Belize. Brian and I made a one-night pit stop
there before continuing on to neighboring Guatemala. Our first
destination was Tikal National Park in the departmento of El Pet�n.
El Pet�n is the largest departmento in Guatemala, and
comprises the northern third of the country. Much of the region has
been left in remarkably sound condition from an environmental
perspective. The reasons for this are two fold. First, the area was
considered relatively poor for farming and logging and was thus
spared from invasive roadways, exploitation and inhabitation.
Second, the 36 years of civil war, which raged in Guatemala until
1996, left remote forested areas as favorite hideouts for
anti-government guerrilla forces. Along with peace have come
improvements in infrastructure, including roadways into previously
pristine environments. My journey in the region revealed magnificent
ancient forests contrasted with evidence of slash and burn
deforestation. Most of El Pet�n is lowland habitat, including
rainforest, tropical savannah, and wetlands. Amazingly, 40% of El
Pet�n is protected (on paper) by the Maya Biosphere Reserve.
Tikal was a major centre of Maya power for a thousand years,
until roughly AD 900 and the corresponding collapse of the Maya
empire. The archaeologists suspect that approximately 100,000 people
lived in this sprawling ancient city. The political and religious
leaders of the time commissioned massive stone temples, and in time
the people of Tikal defeated and ruled neighboring populations in
Mexico and Belize. In the thousand years since the collapse of the
Maya Empire, Tikal has been all but reclaimed by the jungle.
Exploration in the 1950's yielded ruins almost 100 m tall completely
encased by the trees, plants, and forest animals. Excavation and
restoration of parts of the ruins have ensued, but the forest still
largely dominates the site.
We spent two days in the
National Park, and for $10CAN each we rented a closet- sized hut in
the campground to stay overnight. The cost was ludicrous for
Guatemala, but it was worth it to see the explosion of wildlife
activity in the twilight hours of dawn and dusk. From the tops of
the temples we observed keel-billed toucans and a multitude of
parrot species flying over the forest canopy. Hummingbirds,
woodpeckers, jays, flycatchers, and a numerous other bird species
also darted amongst the trees. Roaming around the grounds were
hundreds of coatis', a raccoon like animal, and ocellated turkeys, a
large peacock-like ground dwelling bird. High-up in the forest
canopy were spider and howler monkeys, although the later evaded my
attention until dusk, when their lion-like calls echoed through the
jungle. We watched the sunset from the top of Temple IV, in the
company of a handful of other travelers and three park guards. At
this point two large snakes slithered past us along the cobbles.
Their name was lost in translation, but judging from the looks of
excitement on the guard's faces we were wise to stay a respectful
distance away. I could not even begin to name the plants that I saw,
but further reading has revealed that there are thousands of species
present with an almost unimaginable number of indigenous medicinal
uses. Cultural preservation is obviously equally important to
environmental protection for our understanding of the secrets of the
forest.
From Tikal Brian and I boarded a mini bus south to
the departmental capital of Flores. This island bound colonial city
on Lago de Pet�n Itza was charming, but extremely touristy. After a
night out drinking happy-hour priced cuba libres Brian returned to
Belize and I was on a southbound minibus to Poptun and the
backpackers mecca of Finca Ixobel. The Finca was created by
Americans Carole and Mike DeVine. Mike's brutal murder by members of
the Guatemalan army left Carol in a bureaucratic battle for justice.
It was not until the US threatened trade sanctions that the
Guatemalan government prosecuted those responsible. Incidentally,
that was the first time this ravaged country had incarcerated
members of the army for murder. Finca Ixobel appears to be doing a
thriving business these days. The 400-acre farm has accommodation
ranging from camping to treehouses to guesthouses. Due to the
occupied dormitory I made the fortunate decision to stay in the
"hammock district." A large thatched-roof bamboo-walled palapa had
space for about a dozen hammocks to be strung from a central pillar.
I shared this rustic home with half a dozen other like-minded
travelers from New Zealand, Israel, Norway and Canada. We spent our
days relaxing pondside, doing yoga, hiking, and swinging in the
breezy hammocks. The evenings were spent cooking over a campfire,
playing cards and ping-pong, and drinking pina daquiris in the open
air bar. On my birthday I went on a six hour caving trip. The cave
system housed a running river, and the majority of the trip was
spent swimming though the clear cool water. The stalactites and
stalagmites lining the cavernous chambers were illuminated by the
candles our guide lit along the way.
The trip north to El
Remate became "scenic" (read: long, hot, and dusty) due to road
closures caused by a nation wide teachers strike. Once in El Remate
I initially was not sure why I had made the long trek to this small
lakeside village. The situation turned around though. I stayed in a
small thatched roof pueblo with a stone bed and large spiders.
Traveling in developing nations has given me a newfound appreciation
for the amenities we take for granted at home. Conversely I have
come to reevaluate some of our values in the "developed" world. A
heated debate with two Australians and an American birdwatcher
regarding the state of the environment, world politics, fish farms,
the relative intelligence of animals, and the assignment of sponge
species to the astrological horoscopes resulted in a late and
interesting evening.
The next day I boarded one of
Guatemala's notorious chicken buses to make the trek back to Belize.
I was somewhat disappointed that none of the locals enhanced my
experience by bringing any squawking wildlife aboard the bus, but
was non-the-less happy to acquire a seat upon crowded bus after only
a few kilometers. Upon arriving at Melchor de Mencos, the Guatemalan
border town, I was excited to see a raucous street party in the
midst. Ambling hassle free through the border I wondered what all
the commotion was about. It was not until I reached the Trek Stop
did I realize the border had been closed due to the teacher's
strike, and that I had walked right through without getting my
passport stamped!
References:
Beletsky,
Les. The Ecotravellers' Wildlife Guide: Belize and Northern
Guatemala. San Diego, Academic Press, 1999.
Zingarelli et
al. Central America on a Shoestring. Melbourne, Lonely Planet
Publications, 2001.
Back to
Work: March 13, 2003
 Week one of team 3 has gone off without a hitch
(touch wood!). So far our boat has not sunk, we haven't lost any
field days due to bad weather, and we have not lost any team members
to crocodiles. Our four volunteers range in age from 24 to 63 and
are from the UK and the US.
Our first day on the water at the Swallow Caye
manatee reserve was extremely successful. First a mother and calf
pair swam in a circle around our boat, and at one point were just
meters away. Later on we almost ran over a manatee (luckily we
didn't! We had the engine shut off and Gilroy was poling the boat
through the shallows). The manatee was a tiny calf on its own, far
too young to be without its mother. We suspect it is the same
orphaned calf we observed at the beginning of team one in the same
location. It was heartening to see that it was still alive five
weeks later, but worrying to see it having to fend for itself at
such a young age. On the way to our lunch stop
we heard loud splashing on the other side of a mangrove island. The
culprit was a solitary bottlenose dolphin tail-slapping under the
mangrove prop roots to stun fish.
Today was Kalyn, one of our volunteers, birthday.
Apparently as a birthday present the manatees arranged to perform
for her! There was a group of five manatees engaging in social
behaviour such as paddle dives, rolls, and climbing on one another.
Very exciting. Tomorrow is Linda's birthday - who knows what her
birthday present will be!
We have not visited the
reef yet this week, but we have done a number of mangrove creek
reconnaissance snorkels. Linda and Kalyn found a seahorse in
the same location as I did during team two. Just as we got out
of the water, we saw a "manatee footprint" near the boat.
Amazingly, with a team of 7 observers in the water, NONE of us saw
the manatee. It must have come over to check us out while we
were searching the mangrove roots for smaller creatures. I
have always had the sneaking suspicion that the animals we study are
secretly studying us�
An Exciting Encounter: Friday March 21, 2003
This week was hot, humid, and
hazy. Temperatures reached 34 degrees C in the shade, and over 37
degrees in the sun. Humidity nearing 100% in combination with bush
fires created hazy skies. The rising and setting sun and appear to
be on fire. I woke up at 5 am one morning and saw a bright orange
full moon setting over the mainland to the west, and a scarlet sun
rising over the lagoon to the east. The full moon this month has
caused a set of extremely high spring tides and each night we wade
back and forth between the Pink House, the dorms, the palapa, the
(floating) compost pile etc. in 10 cm of water. Now I understand why
the buildings are built on stilts.
During lunch on Monday in
Mapp Caye Lagoon, Bernard, Caryn and I were debating the issue of
corruption in capitalist vs. communist countries. The debate was
escalating to an uneasy level when Gilroy, with impeccable timing,
spotted a manatee. None of the rest of us saw it, but we took his
word for it, and Caryn decided she wanted try and locate it
elsewhere in the lagoon. The idea was to see if it had gone up any
previously unexplored creeks. We discovered a creek in the direction
the manatee likely had traveled. The creek was narrow, less
than
6 feet wide in most places, and about 6-7 feet deep. We decided to
do a reconnaissance snorkel to look for a manatee highway, feeding
scars, or possibly even a manatee.
Single file Caryn, myself,
Kalyn, Linda, Katie and lastly Gilroy swam up the creek. It was
beautiful, with many fish darting amongst the encrusted mangrove
roots. We saw a number of stingrays feeding in the muddy sediment,
leaving a plume of suspended mud in their wake. Around 300 m up the
creek I was busy watching a stingray swimming through the prop roots
when Caryn disappeared through a large mud plume ahead. I looked to
see if there was a ray causing the disturbance but didn't see one,
and I continued through the mud cloud. Maybe we had disturbed a
manatee? At which point I heard "CROC!" Caryn, Kalyn and I had swum
directly over top of a 5-foot long American crocodile. Disturbed, it
took off in a flash swimming straight under Linda, Katie and Gilroy.
Thinking ourselves keen adventurers we congratulated each other for
this exciting encounter but I noticed we all swam a just a bit
faster on the way out.
Tuesday afternoon we did a scan at
the end of Bogue F1, a site where manatees are found roughly 90% of
the time. Moments into the cove we saw the same manatee we observed
there three weeks previous. Soon afterwards another animal appeared
and Caryn was able to capture them both on video. The water was a
burgundy colour from all the tannins produced by the red mangroves,
and Caryn had to rely on the team on the boat to direct her when she
lost sight of a manatee. At one point we called out to her that
there was a third animal, a baby, less than 10 m from the boat. She
misheard us and turned in the opposite direction to come face to
face with a fourth manatee.
Wednesday was still hot and
hazy. We had a long day on the water and by late afternoon we hadn't
seen any manatees. We had done one mangrove swim through a murky
creek into Stimpy's Lagoon. At 4 pm Caryn extended an invitation to
us all to swim one more creek. All of us except Linda were feeling
tired and lazy and we opted to stay on the boat. The two of them
swam away from the boat. 10 minutes later we heard Caryn yell out
"mother and calf pair!" Moments later we saw the two manatees swim
quickly past the boat. Caryn and Linda had swum directly up to the
pair of resting manatees. The calf was around 4 feet long, and the
mother probably 10-12 feet long. Linda apparently did an incredible
dead-man's-float as Caryn video taped the encounter. The calf
sensed the visitors first and began milling around. When the
mother awoke she led the calf quickly out of the creek. Linda was
understandably stoked about the encounter, and the rest of us
wistfully regretted our laziness.
Sometime between 4:47 and
5:05 pm on Wednesday our GPS unit lost all satellite tracking. This
had never happened to any of us before. We were puzzled for a moment
and then we remembered the impending war. We have heard only patchy
and sporadic news of the upcoming war, as Belizean radio doesn't
give extensive
coverage of world news. We are not sure if the
satellite signals were scrambled by the US military, or that the
whole situation was a strange coincidence. Sitting in a small boat
in the Caribbean this was the first time
I felt any direct
impact of the war, and it left me feeling chilled despite the
scorching heat.
I Wanna Be
a Marine Biologist: March 31 2003
Our last week of field work! This team consists of
Suzanna and Ralph, two Millennium Award winners from the UK, Kyoko,
a traveler from Japan, and Keren, a Belizean intern. All are keen to
learn about the local environment and the manatees. I have
definitely appreciated the multicultural aspect of this team. Kyoko
treated us to a sushi feast on Thursday, and Keren has given me tips
on Belizean cuisine and provided insights into local culture. The
two Brits are both extremely well traveled and have entertained us
with their tales from around the world.
Last week we thought
we discovered a corpse! It turned out to simply be a tarp wrapped up
and filled with sediment, but it did look a lot like a dead body.
Later on in the week we got a good look at a nurse shark, which our
neighbour John caught on a hand line. In the first four days of
field work we had 12 sightings for a total of up to 26 manatees. The
team thought this was normal; little did they know� they had more or
less met their "quota" for manatees in the first week.
The
heat wave had lessened little from the previous week, with
temperatures hovering in the low to mid 30's until Saturday night. I
woke in the middle of that night to howling winds rattling the
windows and lightning streaking the
sky. The next morning the
skies and seas were angry. The temperature had dropped to 20 degrees
C and the wind was blowing a gale. The radio reported 70km/hour
winds, 3m seas, and a cold front stretching from Cuba to Honduras.
That morning we spent
improving our scrabble skills. Mine could use bit more improvement,
judging from the score. We were able to head out in the afternoon by
skirting around to the lea side of the island into Gilroy's creek
and
lagoon. We didn�t see any manatees but I did go for an
unanticipated swim thanks to Brian. I did NOTHING to deserve it, I
swear.
Monday morning the
weather was more of the same. Gilroy braved the elements in the
morning on a special mission for the owner of the island, while we
sat around reading and then exploring the mangroves. The wind foiled
my efforts to jump-rope (my island workout) but I did do a dozen or
so laps of the causeway through the mangrove swamp. It was probably
the first day this year that the area hasn't been infested with
sandflies. In the afternoon the wind lessened and we cruised up the
coast to Bannister and Bogue A. We had only one very brief sighting
before returning home. I braved the "chilly" 25 degree C water to
take some environmental data. The tropics are corrupting me for
"real life" back home in Canada, that�s for sure.
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Tuesday
the weather kept us at camp in the morning, but we were able to go
in the field in the afternoon. While cruising north in the study
area we were joined by a pod of four bottlenose dolphins. The
statement "I want to be a marine biologist so that I can swim with
dolphins" is a big joke amongst marine biologists. With that in mind
I stated sarcastically to Caryn that my goal in life was to swim
with dolphins. She responded with "So jump in!" I was in the water
in a flash. The dolphins, 3 adults and a baby, frolicked around
Kyoko, Keren and I for around 10 minutes, before Brian, Ralph and
Suzanna jumped in. We could hear the dolphins before we could see
them; they approached within feet. I knew the animals could have
gone in an instant if they didn�t want to be near us, yet they stuck
around for about half an hour. When we got out of the water Caryn
said "You know that bottlenose dolphins are one of the most
aggressive animals in the ocean, right?"
I am now accepting
donations for the "save the shoe" foundation. Wednesday morning
during breakfast Sultan (the island dog) decided to play hide and
seek with my left running shoe. We have searched the two-acre camp
high and low for it, to no avail. Unfortunately there is roughly 131
acres of mangrove swamp on the island still left to search. I will
be jogging in my sandals from now on I guess. Grrrrr.
Thursday the weather report called for rain, rain, and more
rain. Fortunately the rain held off and we were able to go to Goff's
Caye for the team's last day. There were fewer cruise ships in than
usual, but the island still had it's
fair share of visitors. We
continued our volunteer work for Belize Tourism Board, Coastal Zone
Management and Fisheries by handing out questionnaires to the
visitors and tour operators. The responses to the questions are
varied. Some think there should be more tourists, others fewer. Some
think the reef is in great shape, others see damage. Some who have
been visiting the island for years have noticed it deteriorating.
Hopefully the surveys we have helped conduct will enable responsible
management of the caye in the future.
Last Words: April 7 2003
The 2003 winter field season for the Earthwatch
Manatees in Belize research project has come to an end. Caryn, Brian
and I have spent the last 3 days breaking up camp. Cleaning and
packing everything up is quite a chore. Even the fridge and stove
have to be packed away. We had a bit of spare time and decided to do
one last half day on the water.
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We had 3 sightings in Bogue
B and Heraclitus. We saw one manatee from a distance. We saw a
mother and calf pair who swam directly under the boat on their way
out of a creek. Then Brian and I saw a mother and calf pair while
snorkeling in a grass flat. They had stirred up the sediment a fair
bit so we could just barely see them, but we could hear their
squeaky vocalizations under the water. After 2 � months he and I
finally saw a manatee from under the surface of the water! It was a
wonderful end to the season, made even better by crystal clear water
for our last snorkel amongst the mangroves.
Brian, Keren and
I are heading down to Gales Point Manatee, Belize, to help Dr. James
Powell with his manatee capture and tagging project. We will be
assisting with the capture net, taking measurements, deploying
critter cams and radio transmitters etc. I am looking forward to
seeing the animals up close. Hopefully our participation in this
research will help ensure that the future of manatees in Belize
remain bright.
Thank you to everyone who has participated in
the project during the last few months. The experience has been
wonderful. You have made my time here unforgettable.
Acknowledgements
Volunteers:
Team One:
Chris, Sally, Kirstin, Simon
Team Two: Jenny, Pat, Meghan
Team Three: Kalyn, Linda, Bernard, Katie
Team Four: Kyoko,
Suzanna, Ralph
Researchers, Staff and Interns
Caryn, Gilroy, Brian and Keren
Logistical Support in Belize City
Mario
and Ceasar at Guerrero Charters
Yergen at Ventura
Sarah and
Samuel at the Market
John and Melony at the North Front Street
Guest House
Ray's Internet
Neighbours and
Residents of Spanish Lookout Caye
John, Landy, Cricket
and his sons, Sydney
Internet Support
Sabrina at the AquaNews
Organisations
Earthwatch
Vancouver Aquarium Marine Science Centre
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