Steps Beach Reef Cleanup

September 14^th, 2008

(en español)

Nearshore Work Day 2

Today a group of 8 volunteers helped clean the reef from Steps to the southern end of the Marine Reserve. A total of 10 colonies were cleaned, and documented. Of these 5 were marked with waypoints to monitor their improvements of the next several months.

The group of volunteers that helped out in this effort are as follows: Suhey Ortiz-Rosa, Luciano Huriberto, Diana Beltran, Oliver Bencosme, Katie Flynn, Kat Tzadik, and Pauco Font.

Escaleras (Steps), Limpieza de playa y de los arrecifes

13 de septiembre, 2008

(in english)

Día de Trabajo # 1

Más de 20 voluntarios ayudaron a limpiar la playa y el arrecife de la playa Escaleras, desde la Casa China hasta la marina. A lo largo de la costa encontramos botellas, latas, papeles, neumáticos, y más, los cuales fueron y depositados en bolsas junto con las prendas de vestir, neumáticos, cuerdas, y líneas de pesca que fueron retirados del arrecife. Más de 35 colonias de coral fueron cuidadosamente limpiadas, marcadas con puntos de referencia, y documentadas. Después de 3 horas de trabajo, un gran montón de desperdicios fue acumulado los cuales fueron más tarde recogidos por la municipalidad local.

Estos son los que pasaron su sábado por la mañana ayudandonos en este esfuerzo:
Dawn Gibson, Katie Flynn, Ann y Kathirin Kotte, Kevin Brady, Michael Nemeth, John Foldan, Dave y Susan Wrubel junto con su hijo Zach Wrubel, Orian y Katharine Tzadik, David Anderson , Ruby Pruthers, Kirby Lantz, Ciara Lantz, Michelle Scharer, James Smith, Annette Blasini, Rob Watts, Dulces Duran, Daniel Matos, Oliver Bencosme, Steve y Judith Ann Tamar, y Pauco Font.

Photos by: O.Bencosme

Si alguien está interesado en ayudarnos en este esfuerzo, no dude en ponerse en contacto conmigo (Wess) en (401) 258 4627 o (787) 831 3929 o por correo electrónico a siestasyolas6@aol.com. Necesitamos voluntarios en el bote y cerca del bote.

Steps Beach, Beach and Reef Cleanup

September 13^th, 2008

(en español)

Nearshore Work Day 1

Today over 20 volunteers helped clean the beach and the reef from Steps to Casa China and to the marina. Along the shore bottles, cans, paper, tires, and more were bagged up and put in the pile along with clothing, other tires, ropes, and fishing line that were removed from the reef. Over 35 coral colonies were carefully cleaned, marked with waypoints, and documented. After 3 hours of working, a large pile of debris had accumulated and was picked up by the local municipality.

Here is who spent their Saturday morning helping with the effort: Dawn Gibson, Katie Flynn, Ann and Kathirin Kotte, Kevin Brady, Michael Nemeth, John Foldan, Dave and Susan Wrubel along with their son Zach Wrubel, Orian and Katharine Tzadik, David Anderson, Ruby Pruthers, Kirby Lantz, Ciara Lantz, Michelle Scharer, James Smith, Annette Blasini, Rob Watts, Candy Duran, Daniel Matos, Oliver Bencosme, Steve and Judith Ann Tamar, and Pauco Font.

Photos by: O.Bencosme

Protección de los arrecifes de coral a través de eliminación de los desechos marinos en la Reserva Marina Tres Palmas

El Nuevo Proyecto

(in english)

En un esfuerzo por proteger los hermosos y frágiles arrecifes de Rincón, Puerto Rico, la Fundación Surfrider y miembros de la comunidad se han embarcado en una segunda actividad de restauración de los arrecifes de coral, en proyecto titulado Protección de los Arrecifes de Coral a través de Eliminación de Desechos Marinos en la Reserva Marina Tres Palmas. El Cuerno de Alce (Acropora palmata), es un coral que se encuentra en peligro de extinción. Este coral habita en aguas someras en todo el Mar Caribe y desempeña un rol crucial como hábitat y refugio para una rica diversidad de vida marina y a la vez también proporciona protección contra la erosión de las playas.

Estos corales enfrentan numerosas amenazas, tales como la sedimentación costera y la contaminación del agua, la pérdida de hábitat, y la destrucción. Una de las causas de la destrucción de los arrecifes son los desechos marinos. Los desechos marinos, tales como los neumáticos, bloques de cemento, cuerdas, cadenas y prendas de vestir, afectan negativamente a los arrecifes de coral, los rompen y los asfixian.

Este proyecto tiene por objetivo restaurar los arrecifes a través de la eliminación de desechos para permitir que estos hábitats puedan recuperarse y volver a estar sanos.

Durante este proyecto se limpiará la reserva marina, áreas adyacentes al norte y al sur, y algunos arroyos.

Este proyecto consta de tres componentes principales; trabajo de campo, divulgación a través de la participación de voluntarios y un programa de educación escolar. El trabajo de campo consiste en el monitoreo de la zona de desechos y la eliminación de los desechos a través de snorkeling, tow-boarding, y buceo. Ambos, tow-boarding y buceo se llevarán a cabo desde un barco.

Se ha fijado un calendario para salir tres veces por semana: miércoles, sábado y domingo, pero este calendario es flexible y se puede acomodar a otros días de ser necesario. Se enviarán invitaciones a los posibles voluntarios que la Fundación Surfrider está alentando a participar en el proyecto: pescadores locales, empleados del municipio de Rincón, Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Litoral (CIEL), DRNA, voluntarios locales, organismos del Estado Asociado, Sea Grant, y otros.

El segundo componente del proyecto es promover la participación de voluntarios y de la comunidad.

El tercer componente consiste en dar presentaciones a los estudiantes en las escuelas locales para promover la conservación de los arrecifes de coral y educar acerca de las amenazas que enfrentan los arrecifes. Con la ayuda de estudiantes locales, este proyecto culminará con la publicación de un libro artístico e informativo o algún proyecto similar que resalte la belleza y la importancia de los arrecifes de coral.

La razón por la que este proyecto se está llevando a cabo, es para restaurar y proteger la estructura, la salud y la belleza de los arrecifes de coral en Rincón. El proyecto ha sido financiado gracias a una subvención concedida por la NOAA. Este aporte económico nos ayuda a financiar el bote 'Mi Familia', el cual es capitaneado por el pescador comercial Edwin “Pauco” Font, también apoya mi pasantía como coordinador del proyecto, e incluye la participación de voluntarios, recolección de datos y la redacción de informes sobre los avances del proyecto.

En los meses siguientes Pauco y yo llevaremos a cabo el trabajo de campo, orientaremos a los voluntarios sobre la conservación de los arrecifes de coral y su restauración, y haremos presentaciones educativas para la comunidad.

(Traducción: María José Calderón)

Llamar (Wess Merten) a 401-258-4627 o siestasyolas6@aol.com para mas informacion.

Coral Reef Protection through Marine Debris Removal at Reserva Marina Tres Palmas

The New Project

(en español)

In an effort to protect the beautiful and fragile reefs of Rincón, Puerto Rico, the Surfrider Foundation has embarked on a second community outreach and coral reef restoration project entitled Coral Reef Protection through Marine Debris Removal in Reserva Marina Tres Palmas. Elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) is an endangered shallow water coral found throughout the Caribbean Sea that plays a crucial role in providing essential habitat and shelter for a rich diversity of marine life and also provides protection from beach erosion.

These corals face numerous threats such as coastal sedimentation and water pollution, habitat loss, and destruction. One of the causes for reef destruction is marine debris. Marine debris, including tires, blocks, ropes, chain, and clothing negatively affect corals by breaking them, suffocating them, and smothering them.

This project seeks to restore the reef through debris removal to allow these habitats to become healthier. The marine reserve, adjacent areas to the north and south, and a number of creeks will be cleaned during this project.

There are three main components to this project; fieldwork, outreach through volunteer participation, and an in-school education program. Fieldwork consists of monitoring the area for debris and removing the debris while snorkeling, tow-boarding, and scuba diving. Both tow-boarding and scuba diving will be done from a boat.

A schedule has been set to go out three times weekly; Wednesday, Saturday, and Sunday. This schedule is flexible and can accommodate other days if needed. An invitation with the schedule will be sent to prospective volunteers including local fishers, the municipality of Rincón employees, Centro Interdisciplinario de Estudios de Litoral (CIEL), DRNA, local volunteers, commonwealth agencies, Sea Grant, and other nontraditional partners. These are groups that the Surfrider Foundation is encouraging to get involved in this project.

The second component of this project is to promote volunteer participation and increase community outreach.

The third component is to give presentations to students in local schools to promote coral reef conservation and educate them about the threats that the reefs face. With the help of local students, this project will culminate in an artistically informative book or similar project about coral reefs that will serve as a symbol of their importance and beauty.

The reason that this project is being conducted is to restore and protect the structure, health, and beauty of coral reefs in Rincon. Funding for this project was made possible through a grant provided by NOAA. This funding is being used to charter the ‘Mi Familia’, which is captained by local commercial fisherman Edwin ‘Pauco’ Font. It also supports my internship to coordinate the project, include volunteer participation, collect data and report on the progress of the project.

Throughout the following months Pauco and I will be conducting the field work with volunteers, teaching them about coral reef conservation and restoration, and reaching out to the community through educational presentations.

Completion of Last Years Project

Finalizing the Monitoring

Last years project comes to an end after 9 days in the field monitoring. Captain Pauco Font and I, along with volunteers, monitored both the near and offshore areas of Tres Palmas Marine Reserve for the presence of new marine debris. Below is an image of the tracks we took while looking for new sites of debris.

Monitoring was divided into two methods; Nearshore and Offshore. Nearshore methods involved free-diving and removing clothing from affected coral colonies. After two days in early June, we removed debris off of 60 Elkhorn coral colinies from the southern to the northern edge of the marine reserve. Below is the recovery of one coral colony after 48 days of monitoring.

The top image, taken on June 13^th 2008, shows the rope tethered around the Elkhorn coral branch. To get a grasp on scale, a ruler was layed down on the corals affected area. The middle photo reveals the damage done by the debris suppressing branch growth and causing the white patchiness on the colony. The bottom photo, taken on July 31^st 2008, displays new growth and a healthier colony. Growth can be seen occurring on the branches and the white patchiness has dramatically receded.

Procedures like above were taken for each coral colony discovered with debris. Waypoints were set for each of the 60 colonies enabling us to see the colonies changes through time.

Offshore methods involved tow-boarding and scuba diving. Tow-boarding was performed when depth and visibility were optimal. Thus, given the shallow nature of the marine reserve tow-boarding was the dominate method used. Scuba diving was restricted to the deeper northwest corner of the reserve.

Above is an image from early August of volunteers Quenton Dokken, the executive director of the Gulf of Mexico Foundation, and Daphne McFarlan from the National Oceanic Atomospheric Administration (NOAA) restoration center, monitoring the marine reserve for debris while tow-boarding. Using this method enabled us to find new areas of marine debris. Below is a tire garden discovered while tow-boarding.

Each item found was marked with a waypoint for future removal with volunteers.

The image above contains all items discovered during the 9 days of monitoring. Each symbol represents a particular type of marine debris, as seen in the legend. Within the boundaries of the reserve 77 tires, 60 debris affected colonies, 7 cable areas, 5 trash patches, 3 extensive spots of wood, and 1 location with numerous blocks were found.

With exception to a few items, the majority were found within 200 meters of the shoreline. No items were found in water deeper than 35 feet. Most of the tires were found along the southern nearshore shelf of the marine reserve. This is interesting because last years project left the reserve ‘visually’ clean. After everything they found was removed they ended the fieldwork portion of the project. So, after 11 months of waves, wind, shifting sediments, and flooded quebradas new debris has been found in the reserve. Where did this debris come from? Was it buried all along and revealed after sediments had shifted? Did large winter swells push the debris back into the reserve? Did it come from the quebradas? Did it come from the south? Last years project comes to end with these unanswered questions.

Finalization of the Primary Survey and What lies ahead

The Primary Survey

Since hitting the water on June 30^th, the initial survey and clean up has amassed 31 days on the water. During that time, the project has surveyed over 210 acres of the reserve and marked and removed 291 debris locations, including the removal of a staggering 250 tires, and over 20 pieces of clothing and other articles wrapped around Elkhorn corals. These statistics do not include a significant amount of clothing pulled off the coral by DRNA's Robert Matos during a site visit at the beginning of the project, and several other pieces removed during reconnaissance after the passage of Hurricane Dean.

Click to enlarge images

Tire located but not removed due to delicate nature of its positioning during a portion of the swim survey.

The final map detailing locations of all encountered debris. Notice the proximity to the shore and public access points as Steps Beach and Calle Surf.

The culminated tire collection at Rincon's Public Works and students from la Escuela Superior Manuel García Pérez de Rincón participating in an education and outreach project.

Coverage

For accessibility reasons the reserve was worked in three methods; swim surveys near shore, tow surveys in mid-water areas, and SCUBA transects in deeper water. The coverage for these methods:

• Swimming (red): 17 acres
• SCUBA(blue): 27 acres
• Tow (green): 165 acres

Survey work done as part of the project. The red flags represent the four corners of the RM3P.

Volunteers

18 volunteers contributed 28 volunteer days totaling 156 hours of total work. Volunteers were involved in all aspects of the project with activities including:

• Snorkel transects of shallow water reefs
• Free-dive towboard surveys
• Deep water SCUBA transects
• Boat side photography
• Debris removal and retrieval

Education and Outreach

Surfrider Field Manager Leon Richter discusses PSA design with Sra. Cardona's Environmental Studies Class.

As part of educational activities, members of the project teamed with a local high school, la Escuela Superior Manuel García Pérez de Rincón. The project challenged Sra. Brenda Cardona’s Environmental Science class to do a Public Service Announcement (PSA) Project dealing with the accumulation of debris and the state of the Rincon shorefront. The students were told of the project and shown a slideshow of the work that was done in the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve. Pauco Font also delivered a spirited address of how their everyday actions affect the health and future of the coastal communities for everyone. The students then were given cameras and took pictures of the accumulated tire piles at the Public Works yard. They voted on the best photos and worked on a message which was turned into posters and distributed throughout the Rincon community. One student prepared a small video highlighting the issue that was immediately posted on the Surfrider website:

www.surfrider.org/blogger/2007/09/que-nos-paso-puerto-rico.asp

The final PSAs are displayed below.

Letters of invitation to participate were also mailed to different offices of the municipality in hopes of fostering a greater investment in coastal well being by the political structure of Rincon. As of this the completion of the primary survey, the invitations had not been accepted, but there is hope of a greater inclusion of municipal volunteers for the spring monitoring aspect of the project. However, plans with the Rincon Sports and Recreation Department were in line to do a presentation of the project and a snorkel tour and beach clean up of the RM3P.

What Lies ahead…

The finalization of initial survey and clean up does not signal the end of project, or the end of debris based threats to the coral resources of the RM3P. Currents and beachgoers will introduce more debris, winter’s waves will uncover more tires, land development with unmitigated grading will introduce sediments and natural processes like hurricanes will continue to threaten the Elkhorn corals found in and around Tres Palmas.

As a continuation of the original project, there will be a monitoring effort in the spring of 2008. This effort will resurvey heavily impacted areas and areas of great debris accumulation to discern the patterns of debris introduction to the reserve and to document the recovery of areas where debris was removed. Hopefully this knowledge will be used to design a future continuation of this year’s project as funding allows.

The continuing health of the Elkhorn and Staghorn reefs of the Tres Palmas Marine Reserve ultimately depends on the residents and visitors of Rincon. If the residents can come together to realize the natural treasure that they have in their backyard, and take pride and ownership of this resource, the future will look a lot brighter. This could be as simple as beachgoers just grabbing a few pieces of trash on their way back to their car, regular scheduled pickups of beachside trashcans, and just having the nerve to tell other beachgoers not to litter. The mindfulness of the community can lead to the continued health of the coastal resources. And this isn’t limited to just what happens directly at the beach or in the water, but extends throughout the entire watershed, from the mountains to the ocean. Our actions and future choices can impact the future health of the coastal ecosystem, both positively and negatively.

For more photos from the project and information please visit:

- www.flickr.com/photos/14468665@N07

- www.surfrider.org/rincon

Public Service Announcements designed as part of an outreach project with Sra. Brenda Cardona’s environmental science class at la Escuela Superior Manuel García Pérez de Rincón.