Elly Perez of BECQ points at photos of healthy and bleached corals in the CNMI.
THE Mariana Islands Nature Alliance Rangers and the Division of Coastal Resources Management partnered on Nov. 6 for the first CNMI Eyes of the Reef training session at the Bureau of Environmental and Coastal Quality.
Elly Perez, a national coral reef management fellow at BECQ, conducted the training, which she described as a “test run” before bringing the program out to the wider community.
The CNMI Eyes of the Reef program aims to train residents to become “citizen scientists,” who voluntarily conduct reef monitoring activities while they’re snorkeling, diving, or otherwise using the ocean, Perez said.
The citizen scientists who train under the program receive a crash course in the hazards that coral reefs in the Marianas face, including predation, environmental stressors, the crown of thorns starfish and coral bleaching.
Coral bleaching occurs when a coral polyp, which is a living animal, undergoes stress from changes in its environment such as temperature or added nutrients. The polyp expels the colorful algae that lives inside its body and as a result the coral turns white.
As part of the training session, Perez guided participants through activities that can help them recognize stressed, damaged, bleached, or dead coral.
Perez is also the author of the DCRM’s Current Coral Reef Conditions Report.
During her presentation, she said the “past 10 years have been pretty rough” on the corals of the Marianas.
In 2013, she added, coral bleaching was documented in 85% of coral reefs on Guam, Saipan, and Rota.
But “2017 was actually the worst bleaching events the CNMI has ever seen,” Perez said. “Almost all corals down to 20 meters were affected by this event and it was arguably the most significant event to happen to our reef here.”
Through the Eyes of the Reef program, residents can recognize and monitor the status of the reefs around the Marianas and then make an informed decision on whether or not BECQ should be made aware of it, Perez said.
