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EXPEDITION DISCOVERS MARINE TREASURES ON SUNKEN MOUNTAIN IN NETHERLANDS
ANTILLES - 13/02/2006
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full report of the expedition
New Species of Fish, Seaweeds Found On Caribbean’s Saba Bank
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Among the more than a dozen new species of seaweeds found
by algae experts Marc and Dian Littler and Barrett Brooks was
this unique new species of Sargassum. |
An underwater mountain that forms the world’s third-largest atoll
has some of the richest diversity of marine life ever found in the
Caribbean, according to a Dutch-US team of scientists who recently
explored the area.
The two-week expedition in January encountered new species of fish,
seaweeds and other ocean life at Saba Bank Atoll, a coral-crowned
seamount 6 kilometers southwest of Saba in the Dutch Windward Islands.
In a series of dives buffeted by high winds and strong currents, scientists
found many more fish species than previously known in the region,
vast expanses of actively growing coral, and meadows of seaweeds whose
diversity is unrivaled elsewhere in the Caribbean.
“We discovered a new species literally every day we were there,” said
Michael Smith, director of Conservation International’s Caribbean
Biodiversity Initiative and one of the expedition leaders. Most significant
is the unexpected diversity of seaweeds. Mark Littler, marine botanist
at the Smithsonian Institution, said Saba Bank is the richest area
for seaweeds in the Caribbean basin, far outranking the previously
known centers of richness in Martinique and Belize.
"We
knew the Bank had the largest tract of corals under Dutch responsibility,
but we needed specific information about all the other species in
order to manage the resource,” said Don Martina, former Prime Minister
of the Netherlands Antilles who helped bring the scientific team together.
"That information is critical because the community on nearby Saba
Island derives a large part of its economy from the atoll, and the
atoll is being damaged," he said.
Concern over damage caused by oil supertankers that anchor over the
atoll, one of the Caribbean’s largest and least-studied seamounts,
prompted the expedition of scientists from the Netherlands Antilles
government, Conservation International (CI), Smithsonian Institution,
and the Dutch Caribbean Nature Alliance (DCNA).
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| A species of goby (Lythrypnus sp.) completely new to science,
collected from the seafloor at one of the research sites of
the Conservation International Marine RAP (Rapid Assessment
Program) expedition to Saba Bank Atoll, Netherlands Antilles,
Caribbean Sea, January 2006. |
“Large ships travel over the Bank without regard for small fishing
vessels or their gear. They also chew up the bottom with huge anchors
and hundreds of meters of heavy chain,” said Paul Hoetjes, marine
biologist with the Department of Environment and Nature for the Netherlands
Antilles (MINA).
The scientists recommend controlling this traffic by setting up no-anchor
zones and areas to be avoided using international regulations to create
a Particularly Sensitive Sea Area or PSSA. The effectiveness of such
measures has been demonstrated in the Waddenzee where one of the first
PSSAs was created in 2002. Saba Bank, which has an area about half
that of the Dutch portion of the Waddenzee, is now known to be much
more fragile, and to contain far greater biodiversity.
Leroy Peterson, a Saba fisherman, called the expedition crucial for
protecting Saba Bank’s unique marine life.
“Some of the scientists
actually found new species not located anywhere else,” Peterson said.
“There should be no-anchor zones. For things to survive there must
be stricter controls.”
“Here in the Dutch Caribbean we
are keenly interested in keeping the seamount in its most natural
and productive condition,” said Kalli de Meyer of the Dutch Caribbean
Nature Alliance (DCNA). DCNA members Saba Conservation Foundation
and St. Maarten Nature Foundation provided indispensable logistical
support for the expedition. The expedition is providing the first
data for development of a management and zoning plan. Participating
organizations will carry out a series of scientific surveys of the
seamount and other Caribbean sites under Dutch jurisdiction.
“One of the ways that we can contribute to the Caribbean as
a whole is to take good care of the parts that fall under responsibility
of the Netherlands,” says Pieter Borkent of Conservation International-Netherlands.
Saba Bank occupies a key geographic position in the Antilles Archipelago,
so scientists are delighted to find that it is both rich in marine
species and exceptionally healthy.
Funding for the expedition came from the Netherlands Ministry of Transport,
Public Works and Water Management, Royal Caribbean's Ocean Fund, Conservation
International and the department of Environment of the Netherlands
Antilles. The Saba Island community including the Saba Conservation
Foundation’s staff and a group of fishermen provided logistical support.
Dive tanks for the expedition were sponsored by diveshops ‘Dive Safaris’
and ‘The Scuba Shop’ in St. Maarten, and ‘Saba Divers’ on Saba
Next month, the Hydrographic Service of the Royal Netherlands Navy
will launch a six-week survey of Saba Bank by the HNLMS Snellius,
an 82-meter research vessel capable of conducting comprehensive bottom
coverage using sonar and other technology. Information from the diving
expedition and hydrographical survey will help prepare the campaign
to get Saba Bank designated as a PSSA.
The seamount rises from the dark, abyssal depths. Its crest in
the shallow water reached by light bears vast expanses of rich marine
life. Seafloor at one of the research sites of the Conservation International
Marine RAP (Rapid Assessment Program) expedition to Saba Bank Atoll,
Netherlands Antilles, Caribbean Sea, January 2006.
On the Marine RAP (Rapid Assessment Program) expedition to Saba
Bank Atoll, Netherlands Antilles, in January 2006, the scientists
discovered more than a dozen new species of seaweeds including this
new Dictyota species.
One of the rarest fishes of the Caribbean, Roosevelt's Goby (Pycnomma
roosevelti), had only been encountered in three places prior to the
expedition which found it at four dive sites on Saba Bank Atoll during
the Conservation International Marine RAP (Rapid Assessment Program)
expedition, Netherlands Antilles, Caribbean Sea, January 2006.
Another extremely rare species found at one of the research sites
on the Marine RAP (Rapid Assessment Program) expedition to Saba Bank
Atoll is this seven-spined goby, tentatively identified as Psilotris
boehlkei, which was only once before collected in the Caribbean.
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