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Coral Reef Restoration and Shore Protection Projects in Ukupseni, Kuna Yala, Panama: 2005 Progress Report May 14 2005
Thomas Joaquin Goreau Arango, Ph.D.
Introduction The Global Coral Reef Alliance has been working with the indigenous community of Ukupseni (Playon Chico) in the Comarca of Kuna Yala, Panama to restore coral reefs and fisheries, and protect the coastline from erosion. The community approved these projects in 1994, but it took six years before funding could be found to start pilot projects there. The Kuna are one of the most remarkable native people of the Americas. They have prevented any loss of their lands and never lost their cultural and political independence. They have been able to prevent outsiders cutting down their forest and introducing cattle by the fact that there are no roads to their land. They live on an archipelago of 365 islands, 50 of which are inhabited, and own the entire eastern third of the Panamanian Caribbean coastline right up to the top of the mountain range that separates the Atlantic from the Pacific. Despite their deeply traditional way of life, they highly value education and acquiring knowledge to be used for their own purposes. The Kuna economy is almost entirely dependent on lobster and crab fishing, and their catch makes up around 70% of Panama's marine exports by value. The health of Kuna Yala reefs and the quantity of lobsters and crabs was once among the best in the Caribbean. The quantity and size of lobsters is steadily decreasing due to a combination of over-fishing, and habitat degradation due to algae overgrowth of the coral reef, caused by increasing sewage from a rapidly growing population (T. J. Goreau, A. Tribaldos, A. Gonzalez-Diaz, L. Arosomena, & M. Goreau, Water quality in Panamanian Caribbean coral reefs, 1997, Proceedings of the Association of Marine Laboratories of the Caribbean). Restoration of lobster habitat is therefore critical to the future of the Kuna way of life. In addition, all of the islands, which are only a few to tens of centimeters above the high tide mark, suffer erosion during four months of heavy winds and waves from the north early each year. They are very vulnerable to rising sea level, which has risen about 20 centimeters in the last century, based on tide meters at the mouth of the Panama Canal (H. Guzman, C.Guevara, & A. Castillo, 2003, Natural disturbances and mining of Panamanian coral reefs by indigenous people, Conservation Biology 17:1396-1401. NB: they incorrectly estimated the rate of sea level rise as 10 times higher than it actually is). Due to rapidly expanding populations, and the fact that inhabited islands are chosen because they are near sources of freshwater from rivers on the mainland, there is an ancient tradition of expanding inhabited islands and building new ones by mining living coral. When people were few and corals were many the effects were minor, but this is no longer the case. GCRA's work with Kuna communities focuses on use of Biorock technology for restoring coral reef habitat, restoring lobster habitat, protection of the shoreline from erosion without the need for mining coral reefs, and on establishment of environmental education programs for schoolchildren and fishermen. Figure 1. Ukupseni(seen from the air) is completely built up. Progress To Date 1) Coral Restoration The Akaubiski Galu (Coral Nursery in the Kuna language, Dule) project is a hemispherical dome about 20 feet (6.5 meters) in diameter, located at Sapibenega Eco-resort on Iskardup Island. Akuabiski Galu was tied together by hand because there was no power to weld. It is located at about 6 meters depth on a muddy bottom in an area where few corals could grow. Approximately 15 species of corals are now growing on it. Many of them have shown remarkable rates of growth. Numerous fish and large barracuda has established residence, making it an eco-tourism attraction. Akuabiski Galu has been seriously under-powered because the solar panels powering it were moved and the connections damaged. This project was switched from solar panels to chargers in April 2005 after the resort got a generator. It is expected that it will now grow much faster and attract many more fish.
Fig. 2 Akaubiski Galu, April 2005 Figure 3. Coral growth on Akaubiski Galu 2) Lobster Habitat Restoration The Dulup Galu (Lobster nursery) is a flat structure in very shallow water, about 1 meter depth on the opposite side of Iskardup from Akuabiski Galu. Dulup Galu is composed of sheets of expanded metal mesh propped up about 0-20 cm above the bottom. Coral fragments transplanted onto it are doing very well, and numerous fish are sheltering underneath. The structure was designed to provide lobster habitat, based on observations in Jamaica and Mexico that large aggregations of lobsters lived in Biorock structures of suitable shape. No lobsters were observed in Dulup Galu because fishermen actively hunt for lobsters in the area and remove them as fast as they find them. Dulup Galu has been under-powered for the same reasons as Akuabiski Galu, and converted to chargers at the same time. It should do even better in the future.
Figure 4. Dulup Galu creates hiding places for lobsters in sea grass Fig. 5. Fish and lobsters can hide underneath Dulup Galu Fig. 6. Corals grow on top of Dulup Galu 3) Shore Protection A breakwater was constructed offshore from an erosion prone area of Iskardup near Dulup Galu. The breakwater is about 10 meters by 10 meters in area and consists of around 50 iron reinforcing bars in a square mesh laid over the reef flat and wired together by hand. The structure has been severely under-powered because a coconut tree fell on several of the solar panels and broke them, and because the remaining panels were moved and their connections damaged. The structure has now been powered by chargers and should grow much more quickly. Despite the low power the structure has grown impressively and cemented itself solidly to the reef flat. Large coral heads are growing up around it, and many fish shelter under it. Waves crossing it are seen to sharply slow down and break on the shore with less force. Figure 7. Ukupseni breakwater is already firmly cemented to the reef A breakwater was constructed for the Ukupseni Hospital. The Hospital dock cannot be used for four months of the year due to heavy waves, and patient's lives can be lost because they cannot land at the hospital. Therefore the community asked GCRA to make a breakwater there as a top priority. The first breakwater was constructed in late 2004. Unfortunately the welding machine, connected to the hospital's generator, broke, and most of the structure had to be wired together by hand. Due to insufficient material, the breakwater was suspended under the hospital dock, and tied down with rope until it could cement itself in place. Unfortunately the rope was cut and stolen, and the breakwater fell into the sea where it was damaged during the rough season. At the start of the calm season we rebuilt the breakwater. This time it was designed to be much stronger, stable, and self-supporting. The material rescued from the first breakwater was used to strengthen it. Its effect slowing down the waves was immediately visible. As long as power can be maintained, it will get steadily stronger and create a safe place for patients to land in the next stormy season. Unfortunately the hospital generator burned up, and the community then gave the hospital the town generator, since few people in the village could afford to pay for the electricity. This generator is much larger and uses four times more diesel fuel, but the hospital has no budget for extra fuel and so can only afford to run it a few hours a day. Until the Ministry of Health increases the fuel budget for the hospital they will have very little power either to run the hospital or to grow their breakwater. Fig.8 Getting ready to submerge the breakwater Fig. 9 The breakwater before installation under the jetty. 4) Environmental Education Results of the
Children's Program has already been reported. See: The program has continued to expand since then with further field trips by schoolchildren. More videos and books on reef management in Spanish have been obtained and shown to the fishermen's cooperative. Fig 10. Kuna children ready to swim on Akabidki Galu Future Plans The economic future and continued cultural independence of the Kuna people depends on restoration of coral reef habitat and their lobster and crab populations. Our pilot projects, although strikingly effective and well known throughout Kuna Yala, have been severely limited by lack of funds, time, and logistic difficulties of working in such remote places. The funds used for the pilot projects have largely dried up, so new funds are needed to continue and expand the projects. Several Kuna have eagerly learned the skills needed to construct and maintain these projects, but funds are needed so they can expand them to other locations on a larger scale. The number one priority is to increase the lobster population by growing shelters for lobsters so that their survival from predators is greatly increased. The supply of juvenile lobsters is high because the mangroves along the coast of Kuna Yala are almost entirely intact. Young lobsters suffer severe predation in sea grass beds and reefs by fish and nurse sharks before they reach marketable size. In Cuba creation of lobster shelters has greatly increased lobster populations, catches, and export income. We believe that Biorock shelters will do even better than the Cuban ones because we will not only provide shelter but also provide grow clams and barnacles that are food for lobsters. Our goal therefore is to train Kuna fishermen to make Biorock lobster nurseries of suitable sizes for lobsters in all habitats they use at different stages of their life cycle. We propose to use solar powered structures in mangrove, sea grass, and reef habitats that are protected by the fishermen in order to increase their harvestable catch elsewhere. GCRA plans to work closely with the fishermen of Ukupseni and other Kuna villages, the Congreso General Kuna (the supreme legal authority in Kuna Yala), the Panamanian Autoridad Maritima de Panama, and the newly formed Unversidad Maritima Internacional de Panama to achieve these goals in coming years. Acknowledgments We thank all the chiefs and people of Ukupseni for permission to work there and unfailing cooperation. We thank the owners of the Ukupseni eco-lodges, Paliwitur Sapibe and Eligio Alvarado for providing room, and their staffs for helping with transportation. We thank the doctors and staff of the hospital for their help, especially Dr. Joaquin Chen, Dr. Luis de Urriola, and Sr. Eulogio, the electrician. We thank Marina Goreau for starting the children's program, and Griselio Grimaldo and Kenji Wright for help with it. We thank the students and teachers of the school for their enthusiastic participation. We thank the Asociacion Oceanica de Panama for help. None of this work would have been possible without a generous donation from Roland and Katherine Pesch. Photographs 1-9 by Gabriel Despaigne. Photograph 10 by Marina Goreau. |
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