Black Grouper, Eleuthera, The Bahamas. ‘Train The Trainers’ workshop, May 2018. (c) Ken Marks
Thank you to all our partners for your continued support and inspiration to help conserve Caribbean coral reef ecosystems.
With your collaboration and participation, our collective 2018 accomplishments included:[bluebox]
AGRRA Database Manager Kenneth Marks helped Benjamin Victor describe a new fish species, Striped Hamlet (Hypoplectus liberte) in Fort Liberte Bay on the northern coast of Haiti that had been initially discovered during an AGRRA survey in 2015.
The completion of 356 surveys in eleven countries including Jamaica, Grenada, Saint Vincent, Antigua, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Turks & Caicos, Mexico, Honduras, Belize and Guatemala.
An updated AGRRA database that now includes 2859 total surveys from 29 countries.
Twelve new AGRRA trainers, representing nine organizations across five countries, were certified at a “Train the Trainers” workshop at the Cape Eleuthera Institute in The Bahamas.
The development of new interactive ARC GIS StoryMaps and tools for Healthy Reefs Initiative and GCFI MPA Connect.
Training young scientists of SCUBAnauts International and conducting coral disease surveys in the Lower Florida Keys.[/bluebox]
Challenging this year was the increased incidence of coral disease. Thank you to everyone who has responded so far, and please continue to send us observations and photographs of diseased coral outbreaks.
The year ended on an encouraging note through our participation in the Reef Futures 2018 conference in December, where nearly 500 practitioners and scientists gathered to share innovative approaches to coral restoration.
We look forward to continuing our partnerships with you to expand stewardship and understanding of our coral reefs in the Caribbean in 2019.
Happy Holidays!
Philip Kramer, Patricia Kramer, Judith Lang, Kenneth Marks
Shirley Gun, Lynnette Roth