Project Timeline Review
Greetings from Montserrat,
I'm excited to bring you all up to date with some details of where we are at with the project.
The project launched in November 2022.
Link to full Project Presentation attached. Stakeholder engagement There have been several local interviews ranging from local meetings and diasporan discussions to international blogs mentioning the project. On World Ocean Day, my recent interview with Kate Wing and The Better World podcast was released on Youtube and all podcast platforms, including Spotify. Stakeholder engagement and training on equipment remain continuous. ( attached video of ' BRUVS assembly training day.' with Jason Willett).
The following local community groups and stakeholders have been engaged : Government of Montserrat - Ministry of Housing, Agriculture, Lands, and the Environment. Government of Montserrat - Tourism Division Fish ‘N Fins Inc. Montserrat Rotary Club Local community via social media platforms and local radio. Special thanks to Fisheries Officer, Mr. @mc_chazlee Chase Buffonge on IG and Data Collector, Ms. Lyandra Lee for assisting with the loan of the Government of Montserrat's Blue Abacus (@countingfishes ) BRUVS to our project. Together, we aim to find out more about the shark and ray populations in the sea around us. All data will be collated and shared with the Government of Montserrat during this project, and we look forward to having Lyandra, Chase, and their colleagues onboard this mission.
The promotion campaign is planned with the following setup/testing:
⁃ Project logo designed ⁃ Instagram page created ⁃ Project email created - montserratmarinemegafauna@gmail.com ⁃ YouTube channel created ⁃ A Vlog for engaging backers in the behind-the-scenes progress ( full content exclusively available to backers only.) Follow us on Instagram as we highlight more photos, stories, updates, and people behind our project #mmmf Deployment Training BRUVS - We have assembled and will test them in the water shortly. eDNA - We have received the eDNA sampling probe ‘ eDNA meta probe 2.0’. The training was done on prepping the meta probe with the cotton and gauze for sampling. Maka Nius - We expect upgraded Maka Niu devices to be cleared through customs in a week. Then, we will engage the team in training and familiarization with the devices. Ocean Discovery League will facilitate this training. Delays have been experienced in sourcing and shipping tools and accessories. Typically delivery may take 2-3 weeks to arrive on the island. We anticipate in-water fieldwork to begin in July. We are excited to get going as our final bits of gear arrive. A survey design meeting was held on Friday, 23 June 2023, with Dr. Sam Weber and Dr. Nicola Weber, of the Centre for Ecology and Conservation, University of Exeter. We have been patiently awaiting the release of multi-beam bathymetry data of Montserrat’s Exclusive Economic Zone ( EEZ) from the UK Hydrographic Office ( UKHO). Scope of request: ⁃ Most recent, merged grids ⁃ The highest resolution available, ideally in WGS84 ( EPSG:4326) datum. Sadly, we have been informed by UKHO that the data collected in Montserratian waters last year isn’t available yet. :( We are unable to wait any longer and must now proceed with the survey design using what we have available. Thanks to Government of Montserrat's GIS Director, Mrs. Laverne Rogers for providing Benthic Habitat Map shape file and corresponding classification layer file produced by the WAITT Institute in 2016. This now allows me to stratify our benthic habitat sampling. In the meantime, I’ve made a “ happiness “ folder of pictures and quotes from this project. This is useful in many ways when days are tough. Here is a video taken last year, from one of our boat days, testing Make Niu. It's images like these that act as a constant reminder of why this project is so important, and the way sacred community show up. It is reason for deep gratitude.
More soon...
Veta and Team #MMMF
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