nutrient monitoring

Start of nutrient monitoring project

On March 6, 2006, the nutrient monitoring project for Bonaire and Curacao, intended to establish baseline nutrient data for the two islands for comparison, and in preparation for the sewage treatment plant project to be constructed on Bonaire, is off to a start with the arrival of Dr. Brian Lapointe in Bonaire. Together with Ramon de Leon, manager of the Bonaire National Marine Park, Frank van Slobbe of the environmental dept. of Bonaire, Paul Hoetjes, and volunteers of the Bonaire monitoring group, ten sites on Bonaire will be sampled. Water samples will be analyzed for dissolved Nitrogen and Phosphorus content (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, and phosphates), the main nutrients for algae growth. Algae samples will also be collected for analysis of the Nitrogen isotope ratio, a measure of how much of the nitrogen in the algae leaves originates from land based sources, e.g. sewage, septic tank overflow, and cesspit leaching. Video transects and fish counts at the sampling sites will provide data on the state of the reef, and salinity, temperature and pH (acidity) data will also be collected.

In Curacao too, ten sites will be sampled in cooperation with Reef Care Curacao and the Agricultural and fisheries Service of Curacao

All this will be repeated quarterly for one year so a good baseline database will be established. The funding for this one-year start-up is coming from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation (NFWF), with matching funding from UNEP and sponsors on island, listed below.

Hopefully after this first year the monitoring can continue with other funding sources.

Dr. Brian Lapointe of the Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute is one of the world's experts on nutrient loading and macro algae growth on coral reefs, doing research in Florida, Jamaica (Negril marine protected area), and elsewhere in the Caribbean, most recently in Tobago. He will be working in Bonaire and Curacao for a period of ten days each (starting March 16 in Curacao), selecting sites, and training volunteers to continue the sampling quarterly after this initial round of sampling.
The samples will be analyzed in sophisticated laboratories in the US capable of detecting the almost undetectably low nutrient concentrations that characterize healthy reef environments, and Brian will then prepare a report with his interpretation of the collected data.

The main local sponsors of this project are:

In Bonaire:
Stinapa Bonaire
Captain Don's Habitat
DROB Bonaire

In Curacao:
Reef Care Curacao
Habitat Curacao
LVV Curacao (Agricultural and Fisheries Service)

his nutrient monitoring project is part of the activities of the Netherlands Antilles Coral Reef Monitoring Node, which includes volunteer reef monitoring groups on each of the islands of the Netherlands Antilles, which in turn is an activity of the Netherlands Antilles Coral Reef Initiative (NACRI)