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November/December 2006
CEA Electronic Communications are in English and Spanish. Para leer este boletín en español, favor de haga clic aquí. |
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CEA's Second Annual Festival – Save the Sea
Silent Auction and Photo Contest
February 21 and 22
Want to help CEA with our festival this year but don't know how? Here are two easy ways: 1) Donate an item, service or vacation rental for our second annual Silent Auction; 2) Participate in our first annual Save the Sea Photo Contest. This year we are adding a photo contest to our activities. You may submit your images electronically or in person starting today. The photos will be judged and the winning photos will be entered into our silent auction. All photos that are submitted for the contest may be used in future newsletters or on our Web site, and become the property of CEA. The requirements for the contest are that the photos need to be taken within 100 kilometers of Akumal, of anything that represents nature or the coastal ecosystem (marine life, seascapes, water, beach). Thank you in advance for your participation in both our Silent Auction and our Photo Contest. For more information, or to submit your photos, please stop by the CEA Center or contact us.
Sea Turtle Research and Management Conference
CEA participated on the organizers’ committee of the 14th workshop of Sea Turtle Management and Research in the Yucatán Peninsula, and of the 2nd of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean, held at Xcaret Park, November 8–10. The conferences dealt with current sea turtle management problems along the different coasts in México. Informative posters were presented on the research of the different species of sea turtles. Some of the subjects included the impact of coastal erosion on sea turtle nesting, and immunological systems as indicators of the state of the population and health of sea turtles. Working groups covered subjects such as problems on beaches and their impacts on nesting sea turtles, and tourism and sea turtles, to mention a few. Possible solutions to the various situations on the nation’s beaches were also discussed. The forum was an example of why the participation of everyone is very important in making sure that development allows for the conservation of species, while causing the least amount of damage possible to our environment.
Click here for an updated chart of the end of the 2006 nesting season.
Bay Management Plan for Akumal
With our new Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Protection Program Coordinator, Miguel Ángel Maldonado, we are working on the development of a solid management plan for Akumal Bay. This work is conducted in collaboration with our local partners: dive shops, hotels and fishermen.
The aim is to have a better understanding of the activities in the bay, and of the impact on the health status of its species by an increasing number of tourists in the water, and to define each stakeholder’s role in the management plan. Better management of our bay will help stop the destruction of the fragile habitat and, with good management practices in place, recovery should be possible.
The first step is to gather data—such as the number of boats and snorkelers, the location of different environments (reef, sand, seagrass), and the bay’s species' populations—to define a zoning plan and the main operative rules. Please stay tuned for advances in the coming months.
Reef Monitoring Program
The volunteers of the Reef Monitoring Program, which is a component of the Marine and Coastal Ecosystem Protection Program, are going to conduct a “rapid bay assessment” in December to evaluate the health of the turtles, fish, corals and seagrass populations present in Akumal Bay.
The Reef Monitoring Program will continue its essential work of collecting comprehensive data on the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef in the region of Akumal, using different methodologies such as MBRS, Reef Check and REEF, to reinforce the baseline characterization of the reef ecosystem in this zone.
Scientific Collaboration
As part of a larger perspective on the Akumal marine ecosystem, we will continue our partnerships with: -
Dr. Mark Butler from CRTR (Coral Reef Target Research & Capacity for Management), collecting data applying his Recruitment of Postlarval Caribbean Spiny Lobster methodology
- Dr. Richard Dodge from NCRI (National Coral Reef Institute), on coral reef restoration
- Dr. Drew Harvell from Cornell University, on coral diseases
Thank You, Condominiums and Hotels!
With the help of most of the hotels and condos from Half Moon Bay, Akumal Bay, Jade Bay and South Akumal, we have placed informative brochures in the rooms. This information will help raise awareness about ecological issues, and protection of our sea turtles and reef, among all Akumal's visitors. Thanks to everyone involved in the accomplishment of this goal, especially the LocoGringo folks who funded it, and to local hotel and condo owners and managers, and a few other locals for receiving and promoting this valuable information.
Life Jackets Donation: Thank You, Mayan Adventures!
As part of our Environmental Education Program, in one of our weekly “Environmental Saturdays” events, the children of the primary school, Francisco Sarabia, of Akumal visited us. Mayan Adventures donated 25 life jackets to CEA, making trips possible to the coral reef in the bay, guaranteeing the safety of those who visit CEA and want to snorkel. Also, we thank the Akumal Dive Shop for its support in this event.
Property and Beach
We are continuing to work with the community to offer a beach area worthy of recognition, locally and regionally, through integrated efforts towards sustainability. Our goal is to set an example of quality beach management for others in our municipality.
We have just finished the first and second zoning of the dune areas. This will help us to promote the delicate preservation of these ecosystems, essential to our beaches in Akumal, and to study the dynamic of dune growth through improved management.
Also, we have installed educational and information boards at the entrance to the beach, and a small palapa with information for visitors and the community. The boards will allow everyone to understand a bit more about our natural resources and how they can help to protect them.
As mentioned in the last newsletter, we have installed two new business signs along the road to help visitors find the local businesses more easily which participate in our integrated coastal management project.
We are also restarting our recycling project for Akumal and will tell you more about it in our next newsletter. The project is a bit more ambitious because we want to include all of Akumal and, thanks to a contribution from the Hotel Akumal Caribe, CEA now has the chance to have a trailer for taking recyclables to Playa del Carmen.
Sustainability and the Environment Workshop
CEA hosted a course on “Sustainability and the Environment: Alternative Technologies for the Production of Energy, Treatment of Wastewater, and Solid Waste Disposal” from November 6 to 12.
We reached our goal because we were able to have 21 people participate—engineers, architects, technicians, educators, and NGO staff—from México (Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatán and Quintana Roo), Honduras (Colon) and Guatemala. The course helped build regional capacity on the use of alternative technologies to support sustainable development, principally along the Caribbean coast, as one effort to reduce waste water reaching and damaging the Mesoamerican Reef.
The main subjects included: the environment and sustainability; renewable energy; sustainably built environments; alternative technologies for the treatment of wastewater and solid waste; legal frameworks; and economic considerations. The courses were given by experts in the diverse topics.
Thanks to all the people involved in the accomplishment of this workshop, especially to Dr. Laura Hernández of CICY and Ed Blume, who contributed their time and knowledge, helping everything turn out well.
Welcome, Verónica!
Verónica Monroy Velázquez got her Masters in Marine Biology in December 2000, and has worked at the Crustacean Laboratory of the Instituto de Ciencias del Mar y Limnologia in Puerto Morelos. She has been involved with reef monitoring, mostly in Puerto Morelos. She is currently helping with our lobster monitoring project and our reef monitoring program. Verónica is a recipient of one of CEA's Marine and Coastal Protection Program scholarships, provided by the PADI Foundation.
Species of the Month: Seagrass
Seagrasses (Thalassia testudinum) are plants that produce flowers that develop into extensive prairies in shallow waters of reef and coastal lagoons and bays along the Mexican Caribbean. Much of Akumal Bay’s sandy bottom is covered by a vegetation community, in which seagrass is the dominant species, coexisting with calcareas and fleshy seaweed. The grasses develop root systems and rhizomes below the sediment that help to stabilize the sand, enhancing the transparency of the water. The areas of seagrass are particularly important as refuge for small fish and other marine species, serving as feeding and nursery sites for a diversity of fish species, crustaceans, mollusks, manatees and turtles—like the green turtle (Chelonia mydas) that regularly inhabits Akumal Bay and provides us with our local emblem. Many of you have seen juvenile sea turtles feeding in the bay, demonstrating one of the main reasons to protect the bay.
Although the details of the processes occurring in the seagrass and their effects are not fully understood, we know that Thalassia is a very important component in tropical and subtropical coastal ecosystems, and thus is highlighted as our species of the month.
Evening Presentations
We are beginning our presentations for high season, at the CEA Information Center, Tuesday through Friday, at 6:30 p.m. We hope that you will join us to learn more about our work, the important conservation issues of this wonderful place, and your role in helping to protect paradise. Please always stop by to confirm, but the current schedule is:
Staff Birthdays
November 23 – Miguel Ángel Maldonado, Marine and Coastal Protection Program Coordinator
December 4 – Juan Antonio Huerta, Property Manager
Calendar of Events
Beach Clean-Up – Every Monday Morning, 7:30 (weather permitting)
Over the next few months, CEA volunteers will be doing early Monday morning beach clean-ups. If you'd like to join in our work, contact us at the CEA Information Center.
CEA Meditation – Every Full Moon
Please feel free to join us in our meditation focusing on the importance of healthy water. For further information, contact us at the CEA Center, or e-mail us.
World Volunteers’ Day – December 5
We thank all our volunteers for their work. Thanks to all of them, we are able to accomplish our goals and mission. You are the ones that help keep CEA going. Thank you!!
Art Expo Assistance – December 20
Because of the cold temperatures that are hitting the center of the country, CEA and Casa de la Cultura de Tulúm invite you to an art exposition by Socorro Izquierdo Pita of her work, “The Pleasure of Coffee.” This event will take place in the CEA Information Center. She will donate all the money to the communities of Nevado de Toluca, about an hour west of Mexico City. For further information, contact us.
Please continue to tell your friends about CEA! Many CEA Members join after being referred to CEA by people like you. If you have questions about how you can become more involved, please contact us. The Yucatan Environmental Foundation is the U.S. 501(c)(3) fiscal sponsor for CEA. All donations made through YEF for CEA are tax-deductible in the U.S.
If you would like to subscribe or unsubscribe to this newsletter, or simply need to contact CEA, please click here.
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