On 12th and 13th February, 2018, the Department of Environment (DoE), in conjunction with the United Kingdom’s Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Studies (CEFAS), held a two-day workshop on the Darwin Plus Project titled “Mapping Anguilla’s ‘Blue Belt’ Ecosystem Services”. This workshop was held at the National Emergency Operations Center with the Departments of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Maritime Affairs Unit, Physical Planning, Disaster Management, Customs Department Marine Based Task Force and Anguilla National Trust.
The “Mapping Anguilla’s ‘Blue Belt’ Ecosystem Services” project was developed in response to the vulnerability of Anguilla’s marine biodiversity and sediment dynamics in light of increased incidence and severity of storms under climate chance scenarios. It addresses the ways in which shifting sediments can threaten critical ecosystem services such as beach extent, reef health and diversity and safe navigation. Initial mapping of Anguilla’s shallow marine habitats has started to address these growing concerns but large areas of deeper water remain unexplored. Mapping these has critical implications for protection and conservation of biodiversity in Anguilla. The “Mapping Anguilla’s ‘Blue Belt’ Ecosystem Services” project utilises acoustic methods of remote sensing to improve satellite derived bathymetry data, increase knowledge and understanding of deeper areas, support navigation to protect lives at sea and the marine environment and to form the basis for sustainable fisheries management.
The project was commissioned in April 2016 and is scheduled to be completed in March 2018. Project representatives from CEFAS (Simeon Archer-Rand), Environment Systems (Dr. Katie Medcalf) and Newcastle University (Dr. Clare Fitzsimmons) conducted the workshop over two days to present the results of the project, build local capacity in using and interpreting acoustic survey tools and improve understanding of marine dynamics.
One of the major outcomes of this project is an upgraded marine habitat map which has been constructed using a combination of acoustic techniques including multi-beam bathymetry, remote sensing and backscatter data. This map provides an essential basis for environmental management and monitoring of future changes by the natural resource agencies in Anguilla. The training undertaken by the workshop will enable the establishment of standard operating procedures and quality control for the seamless, interdepartmental collection and sharing of marine data.
The information shared during this two- day workshop helped to set the stage for a subsequent workshop held on 14th February 2018 by the Department of Environment and Environment Systems on the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) on a project entitled “A Data Strategy and Web Portal for Anguilla”. The participants of this workshop included the Department of Physical Planning, the Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, the Department of Disaster Management and the Department of Information, Technology and E-Commerce Services. This portal was developed to display the spatial data on Anguilla on the web to allow the greatest access by policy makers, technocrats and the general public; including those doing research on the island from local schools as well as visiting researchers. The project will build on the internal work of the Department of Physical Planning in terms of their GIS system, consolidate the Department of Environment’s GIS related works by providing an efficient resource for Anguilla. The data portal and data strategy are derivatives of a greater collaboration between the government of Anguilla and the Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) to assess the value of the natural environment in Anguilla. They will facilitate the streamlining of data collection, storage, use and sharing between the private and public sector and, upon successful deployment, create avenues for revenue generation and sustainable development.
The Department of Environment wishes to thank all participants and looks forward to continued collaboration with the agencies mentioned above.
For more information on these projects, please contact the Department of Environment at 497-2451 EXT 2237.
– Contributed
