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Friends of the Environment E-Newsletter
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Established in 1988
| February 2018 |
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Save the Date
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June 29-30
Green Turtle Cay Lionfish Derby
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This year FRIENDS celebrates 30 years of environmental
education and conservation. The year started off with ASAC and learning
about the amazing research happening in Abaco, Plymouth University
filling the Kenyon Centre, and rebooking for the next two years, and
sighting a rare sawfish on a field trip to Cross Harbour. Come by and
see the re-articulation of a false killer whale take shape on the lab
porch of the Kenyon Centre, and visit the only Natural History Museum in
The Bahamas at the entrance of the offices. In the midst of all this
excitement school visits, field trips and after school clubs continue,
not to mention two successful Reef Ball fundraising events. All of this
takes a lot of team work! To everyone on this team: all the donors,
volunteers, board members, and staff of FRIENDS a great big Thank You. I
am proud to be a part of this team that is educating and creating
awareness that brings environmental conservation to Abaco.
Cha Boyce
Executive Director
Friends of the Environment
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Education Update
School field trips are back!
Schools
are back in full swing for the semester, which means so are our field
trips! This month, we hosted field trips with Hope Town School and
Angel's Academy. We took both schools out in the mangrove ecosystem
where students were able to have a hands-on experience walking through
the mangroves. At the end of the field trips, we incorporated a tour of
the new Natural History Museum at the FRIENDS office. We are excited to
host more field trips for schools around Abaco in the upcoming month!
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Hope Town School poses in front of the FRIENDS office
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Angel's Academy learning about the Natural History Museum from Ms. Kelly Delancy of AMMC.
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Angel's Academy enjoying a nice picnic lunch after trekking through the mangroves!
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Kenyon Centre Update
Whale Project Begins
This
month, FRIENDS started the process of re-articulating the recovered
bones of a false killer whale which stranded dead on Duck Cay, off of
Cherokee Sound, back in February 2017. Our partners from the Bahamas
Marine Mammal Research Organisation (BMMRO) responded to the stranding,
collected data on the whale and buried the bones for future research.
The bones were recovered in December 2017, cleaned of leftover tissue,
and placed in converted fish traps in a sheltered mangrove creek to
further help the cleaning process. Finally, the bones were transported
to FRIENDS where we created a 10% hydrogen peroxide solution to dip the
bones in, then they were laid in the sun for bleaching. We welcomed
Albert Shepard (former curator of The Whale Museum in Friday
Harbour, WA) who is sharing his knowledge of past re-articulation
projects. The skeleton will be displayed on the porch of the Frank
Kenyon Research Centre.
We've
had an amazing group of volunteers from the beginning of this project,
and we couldn't have gotten this far without them! Thank you to all who
have taken their time to help with this project in any way that they
can. In addition to volunteers, we've also hosted two school groups so
far. They were given a presentation on false killer whales and marine
mammals, and were able to see the progress of the skeleton at the
centre. We have ALL learned so much during this project and are grateful
for this opportunity to contribute to science!
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Upper high school students from Long Bay School showed great
interest in the project. Agape Christian School 5th grade students also
visited the centre to learn about false killer whales.
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Kenyon Centre Vision:
Support
the work of FRIENDS by facilitating scientific research and outreach,
and promoting sustainable development in Abaco, Bahamas.
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Events
REEF BALL FUNDRAISERS
This month, FRIENDS celebrated its 30th anniversary at the Reef Ball, first in Hope Town on Feb. 10th and again in Marsh Harbour on Feb. 24th. A delicious
dinner, silent and live auction, and live music by Uppercut 242 from
Grand Bahama made both of these events unforgettable! Thank you to
everyone who showed us support for these events - whether it was
contributing to our auction or dancing the night away with us. Your support at these events is what helps make our education program possible and gives us encouragement. These
events could not have been made possible without our hosts: The Abaco
Inn & The Jib Room, the Board of FRIENDS, and dedicated Reef Ball
volunteers.
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Abaco's Environment in Photos:
A lesson and a success story
This
Abaco Boa was sighted on Elbow Cay, trapped in some plastic netting
that had been used to wrap a fern onto a tree trunk. Thanks to some
kindly
neighbors, the snake was safely freed! Please keep animals in mind when gardening and use only materials that will biodegrade.
Photos courtesy of Mary McHenry
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