Five Years in Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve: an Evaluation of Reef Health and Reserve Effectiveness Between 2011-2015
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REGISTERED CHARITY 1098893 Blue Ventures Conservation Report Five Years in Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve: an evaluation of reef health and reserve effectiveness between 2011-2015. Tyrell Reyes, Hannah Gilchrist, Olivia Lacasse, Friederike Peiffer, Henry Duffy & Alison Druskat December 2019 Blue Ventures, Level 2 Annex, Omnibus Business Centre, 39-41 North Road, London, N7 9DP, United Kingdom Tel: +44 (0)207 697 8598 Web: www.blueventures.org Email: [email protected] Blue Ventures Conservation Report © Blue Ventures 2019. Copyright in this publication and in all text, data and images contained herein, except as otherwise indicated, rests with Blue Ventures. Keywords: Belize, Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve, coral reef Authors: Tyrell Reyes, Hannah Gilchrist, Olivia Lacasse, Friederike Peiffer, Henry Duffy & Alison Druskat Contributors: Daniela Escontrela, Anna Simmons, Lucy Anderson, Andreina Acosta & Clara Sabal. Fieldwork supervised by: Jennifer Chapman (2011-2012), Nikkita Lawton (2011), Sarah Beach (2011-2013), Klavdija Jenko (2012-2013), Philippa Swannell (2013), Winnie Courtene-Jones (2013-2014), Me’ira Mizrahi (2014), Tom Nuttall-Smith (2014), Anouk Neuhaus (2015) & Daniela Escontrela (2015). Fieldwork conducted by: Volunteers and staff of Blue Ventures Expeditions, 2011-2015. Editors: Hannah Gilchrist, Jennifer Chapman, Charlotte Gough, Alison Druskat & Fabian Kyne Recommended citation: Reyes, T., Gilchrist, H., Lacasse, O., Peiffer, F., Duffy, H., and Druskat, A. 2019. Five years at Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve, an evaluation of reef health and reserve effectiveness. Blue Ventures Conservation Report, Blue Ventures, London. Acknowledgements: Blue Ventures would like to thank the Belize Fisheries Department for their on-going collaboration, in particular Henry Brown, the Fisheries Biologist for Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve throughout the period covered by this report. We would also like to thank all our staff and volunteers – without their hard work and positive attitudes, this work would not have been possible. Finally, we would like to thank all members of the National Coral Reef Monitoring Network for advice and partnership throughout the years. This report is dedicated to Mr. Isaias Majil. Cover image: A Blue Ventures volunteer diving in the backreef of Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve. Credit: Emma Muench. ii Blue Ventures Conservation Report Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 6 Executive summary .................................................................................................................................. 7 1 Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 12 1.1 Blue Ventures’ Coral Reef Monitoring Programme ......................................................................... 12 1.2 The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef System and the Belize Barrier Reef .............................................. 13 1.3 Marine protected areas and the Bacalar Chico Marine Reserve ..................................................... 15 1.4 Coral reef ecology ............................................................................................................................ 16 1.4.1 Reef habitat .................................................................................................................................. 16 1.4.2 Coral community health ............................................................................................................... 17 1.4.3 Mobile invertebrates .................................................................................................................... 19 1.4.4 Fish community ............................................................................................................................ 22 1.4.5 Megafauna ................................................................................................................................... 23 1.5 Objectives ......................................................................................................................................... 24 1.5.1 Reef ecology ................................................................................................................................. 24 1.5.2 Coral community .......................................................................................................................... 24 1.5.3 Mobile invertebrates .................................................................................................................... 24 1.5.4 Fish community ............................................................................................................................ 25 1.5.5 Megafauna ................................................................................................................................... 25 2 Methodology ................................................................................................................................. 25 2.1 Site description ................................................................................................................................ 25 2.2 Reef monitoring programme ........................................................................................................... 26 2.3 Reef benthic communities ............................................................................................................... 32 2.4 Coral bleaching and disease ............................................................................................................. 33 2.4.1 Degree Heating Week .................................................................................................................. 33 2.5 Mobile invertebrates ....................................................................................................................... 34 2.6 Fish ................................................................................................................................................... 35 2.6.1 Fish abundance and biomass ....................................................................................................... 35 2.6.2 Fish recruitment ........................................................................................................................... 36 2.6.3 Fish species richness ..................................................................................................................... 37 2.7 Megafauna ....................................................................................................................................... 38 2.8 Data validation ................................................................................................................................. 39 3 Results ........................................................................................................................................... 40 3.1 Overall Reef health........................................................................................................................... 40 3.2 Fleshy macroalgae cover .................................................................................................................. 42 3.2.1 Coral cover.................................................................................................................................... 44 iii Blue Ventures Conservation Report 3.2.2 Coral Disease ................................................................................................................................ 46 3.2.3 Coral Bleaching ............................................................................................................................. 47 3.2.4 Current status of EDGE and IUCN coral species ........................................................................... 48 3.2.5 Hurricane Ernesto’s impact on habitat ........................................................................................ 49 3.3 Invertebrates .................................................................................................................................... 49 3.3.1 Long-spined sea urchin population .............................................................................................. 49 3.3.2 Caribbean spiny lobster ................................................................................................................ 51 3.3.3 Queen Conch ................................................................................................................................ 53 3.4 Fish ................................................................................................................................................... 55 3.4.1 Richness ........................................................................................................................................ 55 3.4.2 Sighting frequency ........................................................................................................................ 56 3.4.3 Abundance and biomass .............................................................................................................. 61 3.4.4 Fish Recruitment .......................................................................................................................... 65 3.5 Megafauna ......................................................................................................................................