Adopt a Conch! Read all about in Lac Bay

• Why this information about ?

• What seagrasses can we find in Lac • More seagrasses and...food • Worldwide seagrass information • How to reach involved organisations

These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! Why this information about seagrass?

In addition to the constant care of STINAPA and the Mangrove Center, two important conservation projects are happening in the Bonaire Lac Bay Area today: the Conch Restoration Project and the Seagrass Protection Project. For both projects the seagrass beds in Lac are vital for the health and existence of the animals they protect. Seagrass is often overlooked, both literally and figuratively. We walk through it without real- izing we are seriously damaging the grass, and we see it as “just grass” whereas actually it is a very important living environment for many spe- cies. The Conch Restoration Project would like to offer you these information sheets to read, with production made possible through donations to the Adopt-a-Conch! program.

The Conch Restoration Project consists of both an extensive awareness campaign for children and adults plus a scientific research program. A team of scientists is gathering information on the habitat and the queen conch stock. Last year an inventory was made of conch in Lac Bay. Almost all conch are tagged in order to identify and follow growth and migration or movements of the queen conch and its habitat during the project. The conch will be monitored regarding reproduction and health. This must lead to a strategy to restore the conch population to old levels, based on verified data of the population of conch in Lac Bay. To inform the Bonaire visitor of the conch restoration program the Bon Kousa Foundation started the awareness program ‘Adopt-a-Conch!’ Please participate in helping the conch: you can adopt your own individu- ally numbered conch and give it a pet-name!! For more info please visit www.conchbonaire.org

The Conch Restoration Program is one of IUCN ‘what if we change’ projects, funded by the Dutch Postcode Lottery. The project in Lac Bay Bonaire is managed by DCNA and Stinapa. The Seagrass Protection Project is a program of Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire. Stinapa provides important support to the project. The Conch Restoration Program also works on seagrass protection and restoration.

‘Ban trese Karkó bèk!’ Adopt a Conch ! ‘Let’s bring back the conch!’ You can help protect the Leave them alone so we will Queen Conch by adopting have more in the future one of our tagged conch Give the conch a chance to in Lac Bay Bonaire. grow up and reproduce. For more information If you see someone taking conch Adopt a Conch! please visit our website: please phone STINAPA Dear Visitor and Dive friend!! The Queen Conch is endangered on Bonaire.You can help protect the Queen Conch by adopting one of our at 7171-8444 or 786-9603 scientifi cally tagged conches in Lac Bay Sorobon Bonaire. For more info go to our website: www.conchbonaire.org www.conchbonaire.org www.conchbonaire.org Donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org

These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! What seagrasses can we find in Lac?

Thalassia testudinum - turtle grass Thalassia - with turtlegrass anemone Ruppia maritima -wigeon grass filiforme - manatee grass

Photo: Sabine Engel Photo: Sabine Engel Photo: Flickr Photo: Flickr

A broad leaved grass; with rhizomes and seasonally Without this seagrass Lac would look totally different Ruppia maritima is a thread-thin, grasslike annual or This seagrass can easily be recognized; it looks like small white green flowers. Its main way of expansion as it traps a lot of sediments and stabilize the sub- perennial herb which grows from a rhizome, a creep- strands of spaghetti underwater. The blades can be is through the growth of rhizomes or root-stalks. The strate. Juvenile fish can be found here: it is an impor- ing rootstalk. It produces a long, narrow, straight up to 30 cm long. Like other seagrasses this species leaves can be over 1 cm broad and over 30 cm long. It tant nursery area. Often overlooked but extremely or loosely coiled cluster of flowers tipped with two has flowers and is anchored in the bottom through a occurs in sheltered lagoons and in clear water can be important is its capacity to sequester carbon dioxide, tiny flowers. The often self-pollinates, but also network of rhizomes. found at up to 30m deep. one of the culprits of climate change. It can with- releases pollen that floats away on bubbles. stand exposure to air; the seagrassbeds don’t suffer Again, for propagation the growth of the rhizomes is This is the most common seagrass species on Bonaire, too much when the water is extremely low. The fruits are small in the form of a drop with a fleshy more important than the reproduction through the and very important in the diet of turtles. In Lac Bay outside and the seed inside (like cherries). They are flowers. are extensive beds of this species. In our research we However, they don’t do well dispersed in the water and inside the guts of fish and found in 199 out of 264 m2 of with trampling and destruc- waterbirds that eat them. The plant also reproduces In terms of cover, food source and nursery area this our survey. Turtle grass also provides nutrition to the tion of rhizomes by people vegetatively by sprouting from its rhizome. species is not as important as the turtle grass. Mana- conch. They don’t eat the leaves themselves, except walking through the grass, the tee’s don’t occur here, but turtles eat it, and conch sometimes decaying leaves, but feed on all the small keels of windsurf boards or the This plant is an important part of the diet of many use it as well. and animals that are attached to the leaves. propellers of outboards. For species of waterfowl. In many areas, wetlands restora- this reason part of the seagrass tion begins with the recovery and protection of this And there is lot growing on those leaves, tiny plants near the popular beaches at plant. On Bonaire the plant only occurs at the outer and tiny animals. The least pleasant of them maybe Thalassium flower Sorobon have been protected, edges of Lac Bay in the ponds in the back of the man- being the turtlegras anemone, Viatrix globulifera, and turnaround buoys have been deployed near the groves. In terms of cover it is not significant. whose sting will itch for a couple of days! mangroves where the area is shallow.

These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! More about seagrasses & food!

Halodule beaudettei - shoal grass Halophila stipulacea - halophila Food for Queen Conch Food for Turtles

Photo: Encyclopedia of life Photo: Sabine Engel Photo: Sabine Engel Photo: Flickr

Shoalgrass forms very fine plants, with small and thin This is a species that originates from the Western The queen conch uses the seagrass beds in different In the , sea turtles, especially green sea turtles, leaves, and only occurs at a couple of places in Lac, in Indian : Red Sea and East Africa, Persian Gulf, to ways. They hide in them from predators, the conch are one of the creatures (manatees, but also sea the very shallow areas. southwestern coast of India, but ‘invaded’ the Medi- shell blending in perfectly with the sandy substrate, urchins and herbivorous fish are others) that eat the terranean after the opening of the Suez Channel. and the grass hiding their size. seagrass that grows on the sea floor. Halodule beaudettei is capable of both sexual and vegetative reproduction. However, flowering in this And recently, after 2003, it has been found in the And of course it is an important food source. Not so Beds of healthy seagrass are essential breeding and species is thought to be extremely rare. Halodule Caribbean, where it is becoming a pest. On Bonaire it much the grass itself, though they will nibble on an development areas for many species of fish and other beaudettei does not grow well in established beds has firs been spotted in 2010, and we see it spreading old piece of grass. Queen conch scrape the algue of marine life. A decline or loss of seagrass beds would of Thalassia, but can quickly invade an area where rapidly. the grass, and that is their main source of nutrition. damage these populations, triggering a chain reac- Thalassia was removed. In areas where Ruppia was It is a symbiosis, the conch gets the food, the grass tion and negatively impacting marine and human dense, Halodule and Syringodium were sparse. Dense Another species in this genus, Halophila johnsonii gets cleaned up, and the chlorophyl can catch more life. beds of Halodule can be found in high salinity areas is a threatened species. This species however, is not sunlight. where Thalassia and Syringodium are not found. threatened but a threat in itself. In its native area it forms a food source for invertebrates and fish. We Turtles love it, but it forms only a small part of their don’t know yet what the impact will be here: will diet on Bonaire. it compete with turtlegrass? Will turtles and other fauna start to feed on it?

These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! Worldwide seagrass information

What are seagrasses? like fish and shellfish. Seri Indians Seagrasses and ecosystems Seagrass meadows are more pro- rates of 0.04 inch (1 mm) per year. Seagrasses are ancient plants that in Mexico collect seagrass seeds to Seagrass meadows are visible from ductive than fertilized corn fields. They dissipate wave energy and evolved from land plants when make flour and the month of har- space—astronauts can see sea- A productive will shelter the coast from storms. dinosaurs roamed the earth. They vest is named for the local seagrass. grasses. There is a vast, nearly con- fizz with oxygen bubbles, looking are not seaweeds (marine algae). tinuous seagrass meadow stretch- like champagne. Seagrasses are unique plants that They are the first line of defense ing 770 miles (1,239 km) along the flower underwater and have colo- along much of the world’s coast- west and south coasts of Australia Seagrasses provide a nursery for ju- nized all but the most polar seas. lines, intercepting pollution that (equivalent to New York City to venile fish and a habitat to conch, There are only 60 species of sea- would harm the ocean. Jacksonville, Florida). There is a vast lobsters, crabs, and food for turtles grass globally. seagrass meadow south of the Flor- and other fish. They are also home ida Everglades that is 5,380 square to many species of seahorses. There Seagrasses grow under sea ice as miles (13,934 square kilometers), are 10 to 100 times more animals in Seagrasses are associated with decreased light well as adjacent to coral reefs. They equivalent in size to the state of seagrass meadows compared with resulting from increased nutrients which increase live in shallow water along exposed Connecticut. adjacent sandy bottom. growth and phytoplankton and block light. coasts and in sheltered lagoons and estuaries. Seagrasses are key to healthy coral Seagrasses are the primary food Indicators of change reefs. In the Florida Keys National source for the world’s largest ma- Seagrass is sensitive to environ- Seagrasses and people Marine Sanctuary, the seafloor is rine herbivores (manatees and du- mental changes because of its high Over a billion people live within 30 95% seagrass and less than 5% cor- gong) and are a major food source light requirement, among the high- miles (~50 km) of a seagrass mead- als. In the Great Barrier Reef Marine for green sea turtles. Ducks, geese, est of any plant in the world. Like ow. Millions of people obtain their Park, the seafloor is 13% seagrass and swans eat seagrass. Seagrasses the canaries that were used to de- protein from animals that live in An acre of seagrass and 6% coral. enhance the productivity of coral tect deadly gases in the coal mines, seagrasses. • Absorbs 6.4 pounds (2.9 kg) of nu- reef fisheries. seagrasses, nicknamed “coastal trients per year, equivalent to the Although only a few feet high, canaries,” are a valuable tool in the Seagrasses have been used by hu- treated effluent from 490 people. dense seagrass meadows have as Seagrasses occupy only 0.1% of detection of harmful changes in mans for over 10,000 years. Sea- • Sequesters 7,401 pounds of car- much leaf area as towering rainfor- the seafloor, yet are responsible for the ocean. grasses have been used to insulate bon per year (83 g carbon per ests, which have the highest leaf 11% of the organic carbon buried houses, stuff furniture, thatch roofs, square meter per year), equivalent areas on the planet. The leaf area in the ocean, which helps reduce and even were used to stuff seats to the CO2 emissions from an auto- index of seagrasses, tropical rain- greenhouse gases. This information was produced by the National in early models of Volkswagens. In mobile traveling 3,860 miles (6,212 forests and temperate rainforests Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) Global Seagrass Trajectories Working Zanzibar, Africa, fishermen have km). can reach 20 square feet (1.8 m2) of Seagrasses protect the coast by Group and the Integration and Application Net- gone to war over access to sea- • Provides ecosystem services leaf area per one square foot (0.09 trapping and stabilizing marine work (IAN) at the University of Maryland Center grass meadows for gathering food worth us$18,000 per year. m2) of ground area. sediments, raising the seafloor at for Environmental Science (www.ian.umces.edu)

These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org Adopt a Conch! How to reach involved organisations

Adopt a Conch!: DCNA: Mangrove Center : Stinapa: What if we change: STCB: Bon Kousa: is a nature awareness and the Dutch Caribbean is a research and excursion is dedicated to the conser- is the story about how we Sea Turtle Conservation the Bon Kousa Foundation conservation project of Nature Alliance assists and center on Bonaire. Visitors vation of Bonaire’s natural can re-green the planet. Bonaire has been protect- helps other non-profit the Bon Kousa Foundation, supports nature conserva- learn about the mangroves, and historical heritage An interactive storytelling ing endangered sea turtles organisations to realize a registered non-profit tion activities on each of and guided kayak and solar through the sustainable project. on Bonaire since 1991, culture & nature awareness organisation on Bonaire. the Islands of the Dutch boat tours through the use of its resources. and has been protecting and conservation projects. Caribbean. beautiful mangrove forest seagrass beds at Lac since of Lac Bay are possible. 2008.

DCNA fundashon bon kousa Adopt a Conch! DUTCH CARIBBEAN NATURE ALLIANCE Bon Kousa Foundation #9 Sabadeco Shores www.conchbonaire.org www.dcnanature.org www.mangrovecenter.com www.stinapa.org www.whatifwechange.org www.bonaireturtles.org www.bonkousa.org

Adopt a conch now!! Please visit us at http://conchbonaire.org

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These infosheets are donated by the Bon Kousa Foundation Bonaire | www.bonkousa.org