Climate Action Jamaica Project #45478

Empower Jamaican Fishermen to Restore Marine-Life

by White River Marine Association

Empower Jamaican Fishermen to Restore Marine-Life

Project Report | Jan 27, 2025
White River Fish Sanctuary - Plans for 2025 - #15

By Jonathan Hernould | White River Fish Sanctuary Manager

Healthy coral growing in nursery.

WHITE RIVER FISH SANCTUARY SITUATION REPORT

The White River Fish Sanctuary continues its mission to safeguard marine resources through strategic protection, restoration initiatives, and community engagement. This report outlines the Sanctuary’s recent achievements, current challenges, and future objectives.

1. PROTECT- Strengthened Patrol Efforts and Law Enforcement

Collaborative Patrols: Over the last six months, the Sanctuary’s fisher-warden patrol team has partnered with the Marine Police Ocho Rios division. This has significantly bolstered patrol operations and enhanced enforcement within the no-take zone.
Legal Proceedings: There are currently two court cases underway against repeat offenders. These legal actions serve as a deterrent and underscore the seriousness of enforcement efforts in preserving marine life.

Resumption of Patrols

Expanded Coverage: Thanks to renewed support, the warden program has resumed patrols with a team of six wardens, providing up to 16 hours of coverage daily.
Reduced Violations: This strong on-the-water presence helps deter illegal activities, ensuring that the progress made toward rebuilding fish stocks is maintained.
Ongoing Maintenance: Along with active patrolling, fisher-wardens continue to repair boundary markers and support coral restoration teams, reinforcing the Sanctuary’s conservation goals.

2. RESTORE - Coral Nurseries and Adaptation-Based Gene Banking

Coral Survey: A comprehensive coral survey is planned for completion in 2025, aiming to cover most of Jamaica’s north coast. This effort will identify surviving corals from last year’s mass die-off and guide targeted restoration work in the Ocho Rios Marine Park.
Growing Repositories: Two new repositories currently house nearly 1,000 ramets (fragments) of critically endangered coral species, representing over 10 genetic lineages. By the end of 2025, the Sanctuary aims to build up these nurseries to 20,000 coral micro-fragments, significantly enhancing the scope and impact of its gene banking initiative.
Climate Change Resilience: This diverse coral collection represents Jamaica’s first adaptation-based gene banking effort—an essential step toward establishing more resilient coral populations against climate threats.

3. ENGAGE - Educational Outreach

School Programs: Three local schools—MarJam Prep, Pimento International Academy, and Newstead Primary—have participated in this year’s environmental education program. Topics include Jamaica’s major coastal ecosystems, marine wildlife, and the impacts of pollution.
Local Fishing Community Training: In preparation for the upcoming coral survey along the north coast, the Sanctuary has introduced coral identification training programs for local fishing communities. This initiative educates fishers on identifying coral species and best practices for conservation, fostering a deeper understanding of marine ecosystems and responsible fishing practices.
Community Stewardship: Future initiatives will focus on reducing pollution through community-led stewardship programs, targeting the upper watershed of the White River. Engaging residents in underwater activities fosters a direct connection to downstream effects, promoting responsible environmental practices.

4. LOOKING AHEAD - Funding and Support

Immediate Needs: Continuous financial backing is crucial to sustain the renewed patrol efforts, maintain boundary markers, and secure staff resources needed to protect the Sanctuary effectively.
Collaboration Opportunities: The Sanctuary remains open to partnerships with government agencies, large donors, and environmental groups to ensure ongoing stewardship and restoration efforts.

Call to Action

Community and Donor Engagement: Every contribution, no matter how small, directly aids in strengthening patrols, protecting coral nurseries, and expanding educational outreach.

By resuming patrol coverage and advancing restoration and education initiatives, the White River Fish Sanctuary is bolstering its long-term commitment to marine conservation. Continued collaboration and funding will remain essential in preserving these vital ecosystems for future generations.

Links:

https://jamaica-gleaner.com/article/news/20241218/uk-govt-announces-j27m-jas-marine-conservation-efforts

Permalink

Sep 30, 2024
Help needed to continue our protection efforts

By Felix Charnley | Project Consultant

PROTECT

Over the last six months, our fisher-cum-warden patrol team has joined forces with the Marine Police Ocho Rios division. This collaboration has majorly helped to structure our patrols and seen improved enforcement results. Currently, there are six court proceedings against repeat offenders, which serves as a deterrent for others.

In recent months, although our patrols are taken more seriously, funds to support our warden program have dried up completely, save for the occasional donations our generous and loyal supporters make here on GlobalGiving. As a result, we have had no choice but to temporarily suspend our patrols. This will result in increased violation of the no-take zone and counteract our progress.

While we wait for some form of cooperation from government or large donors, our fisher/warden work force continues to make repairs to boundary markers and support our coral reef restoration team, making use of every one of these opportunities to maintain a presence in our MPA's waters.

---

RESTORE

Having mapped more than one tenth of Jamaica's coastline in search of corals to have survived last year's mass die off, we have recommenced nursery work in the Ocho Rios Marine Park. Between our 2 new repositories, we are now housing close to one thousand ramets of our critically endangered target species from across 50 different lineages. This is groundbreaking for the region and the start of the first adaptation based gene banking effort for climate change resilient corals in Jamaica.

—

ENGAGE

This year, we have so far engaged three local schools in our environmental education program – MarJam Prep, Pimento International Academy and Newstead Primary. The program has covered topics ranging from Jamaica’s major coastal ecosystems and their importance, marine wildlife and pollution.

This quarter we are gearing up to combat pollution through eliciting environmental stewardship over the upper watershed of the White River on behalf of its adjacent communities. We look forward to providing the opportunity to as many residents as possible to take part in our underwater activities and develop a relationship with what happens downstream.

---

Every donation, big or small, is a step towards helping us back on our feet so once again, we couldn't do it without you.

The team at WRFS

Permalink

Jun 1, 2024
WRFS mid year report 2024

By Felix Charnley | Project consultant

Mapping our coastline for new corals

Greetings from the Sanctuary!

Since the new year, our team of conservationists, local spearfishers and volunteers has now finished mapping the parishes of St. Ann and Trelawney in their entirety in search of surviving corals to serve as parent stock to see the reproduction of this species through the next decade or century. Last weekend we found 20 unique strains over a 12 km stretch and got samples of each to safety. We are now extending our mapping east to see who else we can find. See the results here! We started restocking nurseries in March with material sourced from the Ocho Rios Marine Park and set 201 fragments to culture out of circa 6 lineages but around April 20 things started to pale island wide. This is a bit alarming because these are corals which didn't even stress during 18 weeks above bleaching threshold and it's only May so we're keeping an eye on them and shading them while hoping for another window to resume propagating before severe bleaching sets in which is anticipated for late August.

We have continued our outreach program with the schools in the community, to educate them on the importance of the environment and encourage them to become future ocean leaders in their homes and communities. As the school year is coming to a close, so is the program. They are doing their final presentations and also taking part in a diorama activity, where they will showcase what they learned and have an opportunity to win a book scholarship for the next school year. The students will also be taken on a trip to another marine protected area so they are able to see how diverse the environment is and what other work is being done.

We have engaged the fishermen and community members right beside us at White River, as we have noticed several plastic bottles along the side of the road and in the area. At the sanctuary we have a recycling bin and as a little bit of encouragement we have offered a total of $15 JMD per plastic bottle that each person takes in. Hopeful that we will get funding, we are looking to start our Hills To Ocean project in which we aim to show community members from the upper watershed how to dispose of their garbage properly and let them know what happens when garbage is dumped in the river and how it can affect them, even though they are so far from the ocean.

Thank you friends and ocean enthusiasts for your support and don't forget to look out for our newsletter and updates on social media.

The team at WRFS

Setting new corals to culture

Monitoring and maintaining next gen corals

Permalink

1 2 3 4 5 ›

About Project Reports

Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.

If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.