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Donations Driving More Coral Restoration Projects • Conduct at least three community consultations with Seine Bight, Monkey River and Placencia Villages to identify community needs and citizen science programs.
By MONIQUE VERNON Outreach Officer Fragments of Hope (FoH)
fohoutreach@gmail.com
Fragments of Hope (FoH), the Placencia based organization establishing coral restoration projects in Belize since 2013 has seen many successes. With over 23 in situ coral nurseries established and maintained in southern Belize, South Water Caye and Turneffe Atoll Marine Reserve, and over 77,000 nursery-grown corals out-planted at Laughing Bird Caye National Park alone, the continued efforts towards safeguarding the critically endangered Caribbean Acroporid corals deem promising, but they can’t do it alone. Placencia Resort Group Named New Chrysurus Top-Level Sponsor: Through the generous donations from Hatchet and Wild Orchid/Moho Caye, FoH will be carrying out several activities this year leading up to 2019. A few of these activities include: • Increasing awareness via posters, coloring books and puzzles doubling the amount budgeted under their GEF Small Grants Program (SGP) grant. • Providing a one-week summer session on Sandwatch activities for primary school students from Placencia and Seine Bight with added emphasis on mangrove ecology. • Conduct lionfish roundups in partnership with the Placencia Tour Guide Association (PTGA) and the Southern Environmental Association at the upcoming Placencia Lobsterfest and the 2019 Placencia Sidewalk Art Festival. • Celebrating International Year of the Reef and Independence Day this September.
sharing, and hands on experience outplanting corals at the Silk Caye Marine Reserve (via MAR Fund) and South Water Caye Marine Reserve (via the World Bank Adaptation Fund and MCCAP).
• Continue reef replenisment activities and more. In less than a month, members of FoH visited Jamaica, Donors who contribute over directly assisting the OraBZ$10,000 qualify for a cabessa and Sandals team “Chrysurus” membership with their coral outplanting. named after the yellow tail The collaborative efforts bedamsel fish (Mycrospatho- tween regional colleagues in don chysurus) featured in Jamaica and Belize has been our logo. This designation educational and rewarding. provides several benefits in- FoH is in full support to cluding an annual field expe- increase region exchanges dition to our restoration sites, and thrilled with in country an invitation to our annual cooperation between groups coral mixer and mentions in in Jamaica working towards The Placencia Breeze news- the same goal: More Corals paper. Consequently, we are = More Fish. FoH is planpleased to announce Hatchet ning another exchange this & Wild Orchid/Moho Caye year with Mexican reef as our new Chrysurus do- restoration practitioners, via nor. They are guaranteed a grant from the MAR Fund. perpetual membership and promotion of their business Private Donations Support in FoH publicity tools. Lionfish Eradication: Important to FoH is promotGrant Facilitates Regional ing marine conservation edExchange Program with ucation and reef restoration Jamaica: in local communities like With a mission to replen- Placencia. With thousands ish critically endangered of successfully outplanted coral species in degraded fragmented corals and inreef areas, increase capacity creased fish populations, building and knowledge ex- things are looking up. Still, change, FoH was thrilled to with the invasive lionfish on have received funding from the loose, the health of our GEF SGP that propelled a marine ecosystem can be recent regional exchange jeopardized. program with coral restoration practitioners from Thankfully, with recent Oracabessa Bay Fish Sanctu- private donations, FoH is ary, members of the Sandals pleased to sponsor towards Boscobel Fish Sanctuary in lionfish eradication at PlaJamaica, and the FoH team. cencia’s 2018 Lobsterfest. The brief exchange allowed Together with the PTGA and visits to Laughing Bird Caye Hatchet Caye, the planned National Park, information Lionfish Roundup will have
The Hatchet Caye Resort and Wild Orchid/Moho Caye group has been named a Chrysurus member for their donation of over BZ$10,000 towards the coral restoration work and advocacy efforts carried out by Fragments of Hope.
Save the Date! FoH ANNUAL PUBLIC MEETING Where: Placencia Community Center When: Thursday, June 14, 2018 @ 6 p.m. The meeting will comprise of several topics such as: Regional exchange, Hatchet Caye donation, New FoH member, Lionfish roundup, Sandwatch (school program) summer session, Reef themed parade (September celebrations), Corals, Promotional materials, Seaweed and crab farming. Equally important are your opinions, requests and ideas. So, spread the word, bring a friend and let's talk science. Light refreshments will be provided. See you there!
one main goal: to eradicate as much lionfish within a given time period while simultaneously participating in adventure dives. So, on Friday, June 22, the hunt is on! Let's see how many of these critters our five teams will remove from our waters. Join us at the pier or visit our FoH, Hatchet Caye and PTGA booths to experience the thrill! FoH’s mission is primarily
funded by grants and donations and would be impractical without such support from a caring community. If you or your business are interested in donating to FoH and becoming more involved with the work they do, please visit our website at fragmentsofhope.org or find us on Facebook and Instagram. FoH is also registered in the United States as a non-profit 501c3 organization. ▪
French grunts (Haemulon flavolineatum) swim around staghorn corals (Acropora cervicornis). The patch is a tiny part of the more than 77,000 nursery grown outplanted corals at Laughingbird Caye National Park (LBCNP) that illustrates FoH's motto “More Corals=More Fish”. FoH has been collecting fish diversity and abundance data on replenished sites at LBCNP since 2014 and expects to publish on these results in 2019.
Monique Vernon is a new member of the FoH team. A native of Placencia Village, she holds a Bachelor of Science in Natural Resource Management from the University of Belize (2016). She
carries extensive experience with youth and schools and worked with FoH in 2017 implementing the Sandwatch program. FoH is dedicated to employing local coastal community members.
