Improving Communications
Project Summary Communicating the results of research to key audiences is a critical step to changing behaviors and building stewardship. These audiences may be diverse - ranging from resource users like fishers, to marine resource managers and politicians who make policy, to the general public who are consumers of seafood. Therefore, effective communications require adapting messages [...]
Valuing Marine Ecosystems
Project Summary The ecological value of tropical marine habitats like coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass is clear, but what is their economic value? These habitats support important commercial and subsistence fisheries, provide opportunities for tourism and recreation, protect from storms and flooding, and can be important carbon sinks. Furthermore, degradation of these habitats can decrease or lead to loss of these [...]
Assessing and Monitoring Coral Reef Health
Project Summary As part of the Blue Project and reversing the Decline of Bahamian Coral Reefs program, we have been assessing aspects of coral reef health throughout The Bahamas. These assessments have been used to guide reef rehabilitation efforts, develop management plans for protected areas, and select sites for new protected areas. Repeated surveys at some [...]
Protecting parrotfish
Project Summary Parrotfish are among the most important herbivores on Caribbean coral reefs. This is particularly true in areas, like The Bahamas, where the long-spines sea urchin Diadema antillarum has not recovered from a regional die-off over 35 years ago. They consume seaweed and give corals a chance to grow and reefs a chance to [...]
Bringing Diadema Back
Project Summary They may not be "sexy", but the long-spines sea urchin, Diadema antillarum, is one of the most important species on coral reefs. As grazers, they keep seaweed growth in check and allow coral larvae to settle and grow. This increases reef resilience and allows reefs to recover after corals die off from natural or [...]
Bahamas Reef Restoration Network – BRRN
Project Summary Reversing the decline of coral reefs throughout The Bahamas is a group effort, requiring multiple restoration sites throughout the country. To this end, The Perry Institute has partnered with local conservation organizations, research labs, dive operators and other stakeholders to create the Bahamas Coral Reef Restoration Network. The goal of this network is to empower [...]
Controlling Coral Predators
Project Summary For some endangered coral species like staghorn and elkhorn coral, restoring populations with colonies grown in nurseries may be the best hope for their recovery. Several threats may still limit recovery of these species, however. On many reefs in The Bahamas, elkhorn and staghorn coral populations may not recover due to a species of snail, [...]
Corals and Climate Change
Project Summary Corals live within a limited temperature range. As such, they are extremely vulnerable to changes in temperature. During the heat of late summer, sea temperatures that warm even a fraction of a degree above normal temperatures can cause corals to lose the symbiotic single cell algae that live within their tissues providing them with [...]
