Blog

This past week was a busy one at the SFS Turks and Caicos field station. Students learned how to identify around 100 species of coral and fish as part of their marine ecology course. In their research management course, students gained understanding of invasive species and invasive species management. In environmental policy, students discussed regulation strategies.

Some students were lucky enough to go sharking with Dr. Aaron Henderson, tagging a 9 foot female tiger shark, while other students were able to capture a lemon shark. On Saturday, March 4th, select students went out with Professor Kathy Lockhart to check “lobster condos” as part of her on going data collection.

Currently, students are preparing for midterms next week, and working on their Conch field exercise. In this exercise, students are surveying queen conch inside and outside of marine protected areas, checking for abundance of queen conch in addition to size distribution. Queen conch are part of the fishing industry, which is the second most prominent industry in Turks and Caicos. Queen conch specifically are the second most profitable “fish” in that industry.

We are looking forward to progressing into the second half of the semester here on South Caicos!

Student Kaya Williams holds a cushion starfish

→ Marine Resource Studies in the Turks & Caicos Islands