Climate Action British Virgin Islands Project #46731

Artificial Coral Reefs to fund kids swim lessons!

by Beyond The Reef

Project Report | May 20, 2021
Beyond The Reef- Quarterly update

By Kendyl Berna | Founder

Locations of cleanups- map available on website

Beyond The reef has continued carrying out all of the projects and efforts from our last report, but have since begun doing large-scale coastal cleanups!

These have focused on all types of marine debris, both in the water and on land. We have been mainly going to areas that are difficult to reach such as outer islands that often get the most debris piled up and are also the most neglected.

Since we have an amazing team of divers, we have been able to remove ropes and nets from incredibly hard to reach places. Our divers typically go by smaller dingy to collect the debris that is then brought back in loads to a larger vessel to maximize the amounts we are able to get.

Ropes, nets and abandoned fish pots are incredibly detrimental to marine life from smothering coral reefs to entangling larger animals such as whales and sea turtles (both of which Beyond The Reef helped to free from nets just this month)!

In addition to ropes and nets, we have cleaned a plethora of other debris such as general trash, galvanize building structures, boat materials, ovens and other debris that is likely a result of Hurricanes Irma and Maria.

We are continuing to do 1-2 of these large clean ups every week, often filling up to 4 truck-loads.

In addition to this, our other main focus at the moment is battling Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease alongside the BVI Government and we are currently awaiting a larger shipment of antibiotic paste to continue trying to halt its spread. If you would like to read more about SCTLD, you can check out our website.

We are still continuing to raise and donate funds to support local kids swim lessons in the BVI which will happen in the summer months.

If you have any questions or comments we would love to hear from you, so please dont hesitate to reach out!

-Kendyl

1beyondthereef@gmail.com

Nets from one days collection

Entangled turtle we were able to free from rope

Cooper island debris being trucked off

Links:

Projects map

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Jan 25, 2021
Beyond The Reef- project reports Jan 2021

By Kendyl Berna | Founder- Beyond The Reef

KATS Dock Rebuild

While 2020 threw us some curve balls, we made the most of it with smaller but still very necessary projects within the British Virgin Islands marine sector.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease (SCTLD)

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease affects up to 20 of the Stony Corals that are found within BVI waters. These hard corals are the main makeup of the BVI reef systems. Unlike many other coral diseases, SCTLD, is known to be fast spreading and can lead to widespread coral death at some sites in just a few months.

An antibiotic paste has been proven to be up to 95% effective at stopping the disease which is spread on the infected corals and then the corals monitored over the following couple of weeks.

Beyond The Reef has played a crucial role over the past 10 months in assisting the government in the monitoring and implemantation of this paste in hopes to halt the spread of the disease before it gets even worese.

Kids And The Sea (KATS) dock re-build

During the hurricanes of September 2017, the KATS dock which was part of the HLSCC College in Paraquita Bay, Tortola was badly damaged and unable to be used. The KATS program encourages local kids to get involved with the sea including sailing, snorkeling and kayaking during summer months so plays a vital part in the community.

Beyond the Reef funded the cleanup of damaged vessels and debris in the surrounding area, plus re- built the dock structure in July so that the KATS programs could once again run.

Shark Tagging and Tracking

Beyond The Reef, in partnership with the US nonprofit "Fins Attached" has purchased the tags and recievers to begin a first ever shark tagging program within BVI waters. The ‘ping’ from the tagged sharks is picked up if the shark comes withing a certain distance of three underwater receivers which have been placed in strategic positions around the BVI. This research will greatly help our understanding of shark migration within BVI waters as well as how far the sharks originating from the BVI travel internationally.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease- antibiotic paste

Shark tag

Shark tagging underwater

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Oct 1, 2020
Beyond The Reef- project reports

By Kendyl Berna | Founder- Beyond The Reef

Nurse Shark

Thank you again to every donor who contributed to our campaign. We succesfully got into the GlobalGiving program which now gives us easy access for online donations.

We are required by GlobalGiving to send out quarterly progress reports, so if you are seeing this it means you clicked subscribe!

Beyond The Reef has just completed their 1-year survey of the "Willy T Wreck" and were blown away by the growth that has taken place in 1 year. Not only is the ship loaded with benthic growth such as sponges, algaes and corals forming, it has becomes the home to quite literally thousands of fish. The bottom floor of the ship has become home to thousands of small blue spats, while above the ship we documented barracuda, sharks and an array of Caribbean reef fish. It seems there are a few "resident" sharks living aboard the ship who have now been documented and reported from others multiple times. A reef shark that likes to sit underneath the captains table and a nurse shark that nestles itself in the sand at the bottom of the ship.

Beyond The Reef has also just purchased additional shark tags and recievers to continue shark research and monitoring in the BVI on a larger scale for the first time ever. The BVI is a shark sanctuary yet there is very limited research to go along with the policies put in place for sharks. Our goal is to place the receivers around Anegada where we suspect a breeding ground to be taking place. Our question is whether those sharks remain local to the BVI or if this breeding ground feeds out to the greater Caribbeans shark population.

Lastly, Beyond The Reef is hoping to begin fascilitating beach clean ups with local children in the outer islands. Not only will this help to clean up the outer islands, but the boat ride, the exploration of lesser known islands, the marine education and the community impact taught on their weekend outings will hopefully spark a lifelong interest in environmental stewardship within the children.

Thank you again for your support of Beyond The Reef and we will keep everyone updated on our progress!

Nurse Shark

Gypsy lady coral

Growth

Captain

Sprats

Anegada sharks

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