4 take home messages from the International Congress for Conservation Biology
Belize Country Coordinator Jennifer Chapman distills her thoughts on why interdisciplinary skills are a must for effective conservation.
How many lionfish? Special training to count the cryptic invader
Since its accidental introduction to the Atlantic in the 1980s, the Indo-Pacific lionfish (Pterois volitans) has become one of the greatest threats to the resilience of Caribbean reef systems.
The insatiable appetite: Lionfish target the world’s most threatened coral reef fish
The red lionfish (Pterois volitans) is a beautiful fish. In its native range – which extends from the Pacific Islands through the Coral Triangle and into the Indian Ocean to the eastern coast of Africa – to see a lionfish on...
Innovative Tools and Inspired Leaders: My Experience as a Kinship Fellow
By Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize [quote_left]If all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail. – John Shores, Kinship Faculty, 2014[/quote_left] It was a busy morning, and I was mildly irritated to hear my phone ring… again!...
From salsa to merengue: Cross-border collaboration for a cross-border problem
by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize One of the main focuses of Blue Ventures’ work in Belize is the monitoring and management of invasive lionfish, Pterois volitans. This Indo-Pacific fish was first spotted off the coast of Florida in the...
A meeting of minds at GCFI’s lionfish sessions
After attending the recent launch of the Regional Lionfish Strategy at the International Coral Reef Initiative general meeting one month earlier, I was excited about taking the next step in collaborative efforts to control invasive lionfish. This time, it involved...
From imperilled parrotfish to invasive lionfish – the ICRI GM28 was (almost) all about the Caribbean
The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI), formed of 60 members comprising governments, international, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations, held its 28th General Meeting (GM28) in Belize City, October this year. A year ago, Blue Ventures joined this global partnership, which strives...
Lobsterfest 2013: a photo diary
by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize Placencia’s 2013 Lobsterfest was more about lionfish than the traditional fishery! SEA‘s third annual lionfish tournament was implemented with the support of Blue Ventures and TIDE, seeing three dive teams remove almost 600 lionfish...
Climate change a hot topic at Belize’s Annual Conservation Symposium
by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize Every April, conservationists and students from around Belize congregate in the aptly named Jaguar Auditorium at the University of Belize. At the annual Natural Resource Management Symposium, organisations and individuals are given the rare...
We all agree that the Mesoamerican Barrier Reef is in poor health… but it could be worse!
by Jennifer Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize All too often research efforts undertaken by organisations and individuals are not shared. Beautiful reports are produced, describing problems, threats, changes, declines, recommendations, opportunities, constraints… but no one reads them. Nothing happens. The Healthy...
Success in Mexico at the 2012 HRI Regional Partner Meeting
by Jen Chapman, Country Coordinator, Belize In August this year, I made my way up to Mexico to represent Blue Ventures at the Healthy Reefs Initiative (HRI) first annual regional partner meeting. With representatives from Honduras, Guatemala, Belize and Mexico,...
Marine mammal heaven
By Jennifer Chapman, Field Scientist, Belize Here in Belize we are lucky enough to see dolphins fairly frequently from our boat and the jetty at dive camp. Last year, sightings consisted of mostly bottlenose dolphins throughout the seasons, with occasional...