NY Explorer's Club group arrives today for 12-day flag expedition

By K. NANCOO-RUSSELL

Freeport News Reporter

A seven-man crew from New York City's distinguished Explorers Club will arrive in Grand Bahama today for a 12-day Flag Expedition during which they will create an accurate map of the coral reef system within the Petersen's Cay National Park, which is situated about 2.2 miles north of Grand Lucayan Waterway.

The expedition to Grand Bahama and the Little Bahama Bank will be led by Marine Biologists Drs. Stefan Harzen and Barbara Brunnick, and Science Writer Joe Frey and is sponsored by the Grand Bahama Develop-ment Company (DEVCO) and UNEXSO.

Titled the "2008 International Coral Reef Initiative," it is part of a worldwide effort to focus attention on coral reefs and supporting ecosystems.

The entire reef complex south-west of the Cay is approximately one square mile in size and this will be the first time that a highly precise digital map with an accuracy of one mile or less, of a coral reef is produced in the Bahamas and wider Caribbean.

The planned expedition is the only major scheduled effort to explore the diversity and health of coral reefs in the northern part of the Bahamian Archipelago.

Brunnick and Harzen have developed a method to delineate specific habitats and even individual organisms by integrating aerial photography, Global Positioning Systems (GPS) and Global Information Systems (GIS) with scientific field surveys.

While the technology itself is not new and has been used by civil engineers and land surveyors, its use in gathering baseline data and conservation biology is very recent.

According to the Explorers Club website, this map will enable mariners and underwater explorers to have a clearer view of what lies beneath the ocean's surface.

"The habitat maps will surely change the world as we see it. Instead of showing a coral reef, a sea grass bed or a wetland, we can graphically document the diversity of the coral reef, the varying densities of the sea grass beds and can discern mangrove swamps from herbaceous marshes and areas of variable saturation," the site states.

"Additionally, we are finally able to determine the spatial expansion of the individual components of an ecosystem with an accuracy never before possible."

The International Coral Reef Initiative (ICRI) has designated 2008 as the International Year of the Reef, which focuses on coral reefs and their associated ecosystems.

The designation is expected to further a greater appreciation of the ecological, economic, social and cultural value of coral reefs and a better understanding of the critical threats, as well as help generate practical and innovative solutions to ensure their preservation, restoration and long-time conservation.

The Explorers Club is an international multidisciplinary professional society dedicated to the advancement of field research and the ideal that it is vital to preserve the instinct to explore.

The Club promotes the scientific exploration of land, sea, air, and space by supporting research and education in the physical, natural and biological sciences.

© 2008 The Freeport News