Research Objectives

 
Cuba is located in the Northern Caribbean, towards the edge of the Gulf of Mexico. The island extends for more than 750 miles and is a mixture of mountain ranges and plains. The southern part of the Isle of Youth (Isla de la Juventud), the largest island off the coast of Cuba, is an area of significant biodiversity importance. This forested area has been mainly undamaged because it is effectively separated from the rest of the island by mangrove and channels. In order to protect the biodiversity the whole southern part of the island is now being proposed as a Sustainable Use and Protected Area (APRM) whilst the western end has been designated as the Punta Frances National Park. The Punta Frances National Park contains mangroves, lagoons, semi-deciduous forests and coral reefs, and forms an excellent example of relatively undisturbed and linked Caribbean habitats. Operation Wallacea, the Coral Reef Research Unit at Essex University and the Centre for Marine Research at the University of Havana (CIM-UH) have signed a long-term research collaboration agreement to develop and implement a biodiversity monitoring programme that will provide the data needed to inform conservation management practices across the whole of the southern island APRM.

 

 In 2010, CIM-UH established a Research Centre in the Colony Marina that will act as the base for the surveys, and also as a training centre for Cuban marine biology students. The survey work will be based on research ships operating from the Research Centre and, during 2011, the centre will be equipped with computers and software to complete the analysis of the video and photo quadrat data being collected. In 2011, the research objective is to complete fish and benthic surveys of all the reefs of the southern Isla de la Juventud APRM and assess the manatee populations and importance of the beaches for turtle nesting. The stereo video system being used by Op Wall teams in Mozambique and Honduras, and which was developed by the University of Western Australia, is being introduced to Cuba for this first survey. This technique eliminates observer bias, provides a digital record of the status of the reefs and also allows size estimation of fish to within 4% of the true length. Photoquadrats will be used to assess benthic cover and analysis of the video and photoquadrat data will be completed by the survey teams at the research centre.
In addition, night time surveys of beaches adjacent to the reef sites being surveyed will be completed to assess their usage as turtle nesting sites. Note: the beach at Punta Frances is continually monitored throughout the breeding season but many of the other beaches in the APRM are too remote for regular monitoring so this survey will help identify their relative importance as turtle breeding sites. In addition the mangrove channels will be surveyed by direct observation and side scan sonar to assess the manatee populations.