by Kevon Browne
St. Kitts and Nevis (WINN)—At Church Reef, in St. Kitts and Nevis, a Reef Check survey was conducted to assess the current health of the reef through standardized fish, substrate, and invertebrate surveys.
The assessment was carried out by the St. Kitts and Nevis Department of Marine Resources in partnership with C.A.R.E. SKN (Coral Reef Assistance, Restoration and Education St. Kitts and Nevis).
Valérie Grégoire, marine biologist, co-director and co-founded C.A.R.E. SKN spoke of the importance of having healthy reefs for the Federation.
“A healthy reef is a habitat for fish. This is like the really direct impact on people. Since it’s a food security, fish, reef fish are fish that have been eating. So therefore, you need a healthy reef to have more fish there. Also, what healthy reef will do directly on people on St. Kitts and Nevis is that they are different coastal protection for hurricane storm. As they are breaking down waves energy when waves come in.”
By collecting objective data on fish density, substrate (benthic) health, and key invertebrate indicators, local authorities use these seasonal parameters to measure the recovery, resilience, and overall biodiversity of the federation’s marine protected areas
“So what we did at Church Reef today was a reef check survey. And then what we are hoping to learn from this survey is to have a status of the health of the reef.”
Grégoire explained the types of surveys done and the reason for them.
“So the fish survey give us how many fish is there in an actual volume of water. So by having those surveyed on, it’s more accurate and objective to quantify that we could really always using the same standardised method. So we always contain the number of fish in a determined volume. So we could know, we could compare between different reefs that we have in St. Kitts and Nevis.
“We could compare with different reefs that we have in the Caribbean, for example. So a healthy reef, for example, should have a lot of hard coral, should have 10% of macroalgae. So by knowing what is at the bottom, it also helps us to know how healthy is our reef. For example, if our reef got, for example, our data showing that our reef in St. Kitts and Nevis have percentage cover in macroalgae between 40 to 70%.
“However, a healthy reef should have about 10%. So we are off balance. So it’s a way of monitoring and doing things to bring it back. So all those survey are being compiled together, giving us an indication of what’s going on under. So if you only do one survey, it just give you like a screenshot of that one on that moment. When you do repetitively and at different time in the year, because we do have summer, we do have winter where the water temperature change. Therefore, it give us a better idea how is the health of the reef, how is the real status over time.
“Also, when you do it repetitively, if, for example, you have change regulation or you have ad zoning. So when we do the survey, for example, then we have information on how is the reef. And then when we are out planting and restoring, then we could also see was it successful or not. Did they make a change?
So for us, it’s also important in that perspective.” – Valérie Grégoire, marine biologist, co-director and co-founded C.A.R.E. SKN.
