Trip To The Aquarium

Our recent trip to the aquarium, our GIN team not only bonded and shared laughs,

but we learned many things about the different marine ecosystems on our island.

Although the aquarium is relatively small, it is beautiful, located in a building

overlooking the ocean, and full of different types of fish and tons of information,

such as:

Specific habitats are required for fish to transition between periods of their life.

Mangroves are extremely important as they help filter water and need to be saved

before irreversible damage is done. 40% of the coast of the D.R. is cliffs that are

becoming damaged from pollution and contamination from the cities. Grass on the

bottom of the ocean is very important as is protects fish from big waves and fishing

in the grass and using it as a waste deposit is causing lots of damage. The Dominican

Republic also has parts of it where salt and fresh water meet, providing lots of

healthy minerals.

Although the information about the ecosystems was very detailed, some of the

information about the fish posed some questions. There was a very detailed

paragraph about eels and how they are safe for humans, but didn’t talk about the

dangers they pose to fish, or if they do. They mention that there are 15 species

of scorpions in the Caribbean, but did not talk about if they are plentiful or

endangered.

Altogether, our trip was wonderful, and we even learned more about the efforts

around the island to eat the parrotfish. They are giving posters and stickers to

fisherman around the island and are even working with UNESCO. We talked about

raising money to help the aquarium and even the possibility of having a lionfish to

display at our school.

Article By: Maggie Baird

What Is GIN?

The Global Issues Network is an association that incorporates different schools throughout the world, once a year student leaders meet in an international conference to present an issue that is present in their home country, to offer an antidote to the same and so others may learn from and use in other places in the world. CMS’ first time involved in G.I.N., spearheaded by Lisa Yemma and Praxedes Rivera, focuses on our countries care for coral reefs. So far, the team has focused on educating the public about how parrotfish, who reconstruct and heal coral, are being over fished while lionfish, who hurt and destroy the ecosystem are left alone. The group has, alongside Reef Check DR, visited reefs, learned precautions to take in order to maintain them, as well as experience one of the many consequences of neglecting this natural beauty: beach erosion. A group of students, with Ms. Yemma, visited Playa Fronton and measured from the shoreline to the cliff and will go back after a few months to see the amount of erosion that transpires. The CMS GIN group, including the two teacher advisors, is made up of fifteen environmentally curious and cautious students who are soon to be Sao Paolo bound to present their project for the Dominican Republic’s problem with coral reefs.

Article By: Maria Laura Leon

Support CMS’ group of ecological leaders, subscribe to us:

FACEBOOK: CMS GIN Reefs

You Tube: ProjectGINdr

Blog: projectgindr.blogspot.com

GIN Sao Paolo Website: aassagin.ning.com/

Preparing a Lionfish for Consumption

Lionfish Nuggets

Ingredients: 

4 oz of Lionfish

Flour

1 cup liquid egg

Panko breadcrumb

Salt & Pepper

Cajun seasoning

In 3 separate bowls place your liquid egg, flour and breadcrumbs. Cut the lionfish into small bite sized pieces and season with salt & pepper & Cajun seasoning. Dip pieces into flour, shake off excess flour, and then dip into liquid egg and then into Panko breading. Once covered in the breading they are ready to take a long hot bath in some hot oil at 325 degrees until crispy golden brown.

Parrot Fish vs Lionfish

While snorkeling around the Caribbean coral reefs, you might find yourself swimming with two very beautiful and fascinating creatures; the lionfish and the parrotfish. The problem is, not both of them are native to the reefs of the Dominican Republic. Thanks to the pet trade, lionfish have traveled all the way from the Pacific Ocean to many other places around the world where they are not indigenous, including the U.S.A. and the Caribbean waters.

Parrot Fish

            The problem with lionfish is that they have no natural predators in our habitat, making their population grow exponentially to the point that they are eating off many other native fish that have an important role in the reefs. This is where the parrotfish comes in. The parrotfish cleans off the algae attached to the corals while producing a large amount of sand from their waste. Although it may not seem like much, they are a big part of the reason that the corals can continue to survive and why the beaches are so beautiful.

            The issue is that because the lionfish are consuming the parrotfish while nothing is killing off the invasive species, eventually it will get to the point where the parrotfish will go extinct while the others continue to flourish and wreak havoc in their new habitat. They are not evil; they are simply trying to stay alive. And they are getting very good at that.

Lionfish

            The lionfish reaches its reproductive maturity by approximately one year of age. In one mating session, the male can fertilize from 4,000 to 30,000 female eggs, all of which develop and hatch in less than 18 hours. This makes it extremely easy for their population to grow the way it has been. The parrotfish, on the other hand, reach sexual maturity in their third year of life. They are also hybrid animals, making most of their eggs infertile; when the eggs do manage to hatch, it usually takes about 3 or 4 days. This means that lionfish have a very large advantage in both ways considering that they are born and spawn quicker and that they really aren’t prey for another other species… unless humans take the initiative to start fishing for them! 


Article By: Laura Losmozos

Why Are They Invading?

The lionfish came to the western hemisphere through aquarium trade, and they cause much devastation. They eat almost anything they can find, even fish twice their size and they also threaten the food supplies of other fish. Lionfish are known for their venomous fin rays, a feature that is uncommon among marine fish in the East Coast coral reefs. They also reproduce very rapidly laying an outstanding 30,000 eggs a month. Reef Check has been monitoring them in this country, and campaigns are springing up everywhere to keep them from becoming an even bigger problem than they already are.  Organizations are also promoting consumption of the lionfish. Most find it surprising, but their meat is in fact very tasty and is considered a delicacy in many countries.


Article By: Maggie Baird 

Gastronomic Festival

Our latest activity was last weekend in La Caleta, where some university students and trained chefs showed the public how to catch and cook lionfish. The goal of this event was to promote the consumption of the lionfish, which has no predators here in the Dominican Republic. Not only that, but it is also known to be a threat to coral reefs and fish all over the Caribbean.