User perceptions on coastal resource state and management options in Curaçao

Public environmental awareness and support for management measures are key determinants of the scope for successful implementation of natural resource management. To assess user perceptions and opinions on resource state and potential management options for the coastal zone of Cura?ao, we queried 250 coastal resource users from around the island (sport divers, part-time artisanal fishermen and recreational boaters) using questionnaires. There is wide awareness of a long-term decline in coastal resource condition as measured by various indicators. Even among fishermen there was wide awareness of anthropogenic contributors to the decline, broad agreement of management measures required and a general willingness to contribute to management by means of annual license fees. Some of the more salient findings include the endorsement by fishermen of the current ban on spearfishing (81%), the regulation of the beach seine fishery for scad (77%), the introduction of fish reserves (72%), special protection for sea turtles (90%), conch (82%), and lobsters (72%), and notable support for gradual elimination of trap fisheries (45%). Also, both divers (65%) and boaters (92%) expressed the importance to them of an attractive coastline, with both groups expressing preference for natural (un-built) coastline (>74%) above other categories. Management based on the concept "user pays", as already implemented in the Netherlands Antilles on Saba and Bonaire, is well supported by the resource user public. A review of other main constraints such as finances and institutional capacity, shows that conditions are quite favorable for implementation of new legislation. Modem coral reef management is urgently needed in Cura?ao to safeguard a key natural resource and concerted action is called for on the part of government agencies, legislators and elected officials.     

Damage to the leeward reefs of Curaçao and Bonaire,Netherlands Antilles from a rare storm event: Hurricane Lenny,November 1999

Fringing reefs along the southwestern shores of the Caribbean islands of Curaçao and Bonaire (12°N), located outside the most frequent hurricane tracks, are rarely affected by heavy wave-action and major storms, yet have experienced disturbances such as coral bleaching, coral diseases, and mass mortalities. The last major hurricane to hit these islands occurred over 100 yr ago. In November 1999, Hurricane Lenny took an unusual west-to-east track, bisecting the Caribbean Basin and passing approximately 200 miles north of Curaçao and Bonaire. The leeward shores of both islands were pounded for 24 h by heavy waves (~3–6 m) generated while the storm was centered far to the west. Reef damage surveys at 33 sites conducted between November 1999 to April 2000, following the storm, documented occurrences of toppling, fragmentation, tissue damage, bleaching, and smothering due to the storm. Reefs were severely damaged along westward-facing shores but less impacted where the reef front was tangential to the wave direction or was protected by offshore islands. At the most severely damaged sites, massive coral colonies 2–3-m high (older than 100 yr) were toppled or overturned, smaller corals were broken loose and tumbled across the shallow reef platform and either deposited on the shore or dropped onto the deeper forereef slope. Branching and plating growth forms suffered more damage than massive species and large colonies experienced greater damage than small colonies. Toppled massive corals have a high potential of preserving the event signature even if they survive and continue to grow. Reorientation of large, long-lived coralla may provide a unique indicator of disturbance in a reef system rarely affected by hurricanes. At some locations, wave scouring removed loose sediment to reveal a cemented framework of Acropora cervicornis rubble on the shallow platform above 10-m depth. This rubble was generated in situ, not by storm processes, but rather by an earlier mass mortality of thickets of staghorn coral that covered extensive areas of the shallow platform prior to the incidence of white band disease in the early 1980s.     

Changes in Coral Reef Communities and an Associated Reef Fish Species, <Emphasis Type="Italic">Cephalopholis cruentata</Emphasis> (Lacépède), After 30 years on Curaçao (Netherlands Antilles)

Using the same methodology and identical sites, we repeat a study dating from 1973 and quantify cover of hard coral species, soft corals, sponges, hard substratum and soft substratum, and density of a commercially important reef fish species, the graysby Cephalopholis cruentata, along a depth-gradient of 3–36 m on the coral reefs of Curaçao. The objective was to determine the multi-decade change in benthic coral reef cover and structural complexity, and their effect on densities of an associated reef fish species. Total hard coral cover decreased on average from 52% in 1973 to 22% in 2003, representing a relative decline of 58%. During this time span, the cover of hard substratum increased considerably (from 11 to 58%), as did that of soft corals (from 0.1 to 2.2%), whereas the cover of sponges showed no significant change. Relative decline of hard coral cover and of reef complexity was greatest in shallow waters (near the coast), which is indicative of a combination of anthropogenic influences from shore and recent storm damage. Cover of main reef builder coral species (Agaricia spp., Siderastrea siderea, Montastrea annularis) decreased more than that of other species, and resulted in a significant decrease in reef complexity. Although density of C. cruentata was highly correlated to cover of Montastrea and Agaricia in 1973, the loss of coral cover did not show any effect on the total density of C. cruentata in 2003. However, C. cruentata showed a clear shift in density distribution from shallow water in 1973 to deep water in 2003. It can be concluded that the reefs of Curaçao have degraded considerably in the last three decades, but that this has had no major effect on the population size of one commercially important coral-associated fish species.     

Short-term rescue by RNA injection of a mitotic arrest mutation that affects the preimplantation mouse embryo

The mutation oligosyndactyly results in syndactyly, abnormal fusion and insertion of certain limb muscles, and diabetes insipidus in heterozygous mice. When homozygous the mutation is lethal; beginning at the blastocyst stage, the homozygous cells arrest in metaphase with intact spindles. The mutant phenotype cannot be corrected by forming aggregation chimeras with wild-type cells, suggesting that the mutation results in a cell autonomous lethal condition. Short-term rescue of the homozygous-induced mitotic arrest can be achieved, however, by cytoplasmic injection of polyadenylated RNA obtained from a rapidly dividing embryo-derived stem cell line.     

The early lethality of autosomal monosomy in the mouse

Using male mice doubly heterozygous for pairs of Robertsonian translocation chromosomes that have one arm in common, mouse embryos monosomic for 11 of the 19 autosomes have been generated. All of these monosomies result in death prior to or during the implantation period, with only rare survivors being detected 6 days after fertilization. For some of the monosomies the onset of lethality can be detected during the third or fourth day of development, but others do not begin to die until sometime after the late blastocyst stage on day 4. Retardation of development, as revealed by decreased cell numbers, is often detectable prior to or after the onset of the lethal period. The period during which death occurs may spread over several days and does not coincide with any of the developmental landmarks of the pre- or peri-implantation period. Genetic factors that may affect the rate of cellular proliferation or other aspects of embryonic development appear to play an important role in determining exactly when individual monosomies result in death. The universal early lethality of the autosomal monosomies leads to the conclusion that a large number of loci scattered over all of the autosomes are involved in processes that are so concentration dependent that a 50% reduction is sufficient to produce very serious consequences.