Federal and local scientists will present data collected over the last year about Salt River’s bioluminescent bay and discuss its importance to the community Saturday at the University of the Virgin Islands Great Hall on St. Croix. Results of the research could impact a multimillion-dollar marine research center in the planning for the last 10 years by the National Park Service, the Department of the Interior, the V.I. government and four stateside universities.
Bioluminescent organisms are one-cell organisms found only in a few bays worldwide. The dinoflagellates give off light and have both plant and animal properties – photosynthesizing like plants and processing food like animals, according to Marcia Taylor, UVI biologist for the Center of Marine and Environmental Studies.
Over the last year, researchers from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography, the Universities of South Carolina and North Carolina, and UVI have been studying the bioluminescence in Salt River Bay with funding by the U.S. Department of the Interior and support from the St. Croix Environmental Association.
The bay is “economically important” and supports four or five companies who offer kayak tours at night. The bioluminescent salt water is also a tourist attraction.
The results of the study will be important to the development of the Marine Research and Education Center that is planned for the east side of Salt River Bay. The Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies, the National Park Service and the Department of the Interior have been planning the marine research center since 2004.
“The two main concerns people have voiced about the project are the effects on the bioluminescence the facility would have and that university students would be in their backyard,” said Michael Bayer, the project manager, a consultant with Environmental Resources Management.
Although he hasn’t reviewed the results of the research, Bayer said the “key thing out of the study” is that the bioluminescence is “the result of a lot of human intervention” when the bay was dredged and the soil removed in the 1960s to build a hotel. The hotel was never completed. Bayer said he also understands that the bioluminescence may have a life span and fade away eventually.
The research to be presented at Saturday’s symposium focused on water quality including salinity, temperature and turbidity (cloudiness) at different depths; how nutrients are affected by water flow and weather; and the amount of light and chlorophyll released by the organisms.
“Everybody assumed the organisms were the same as those in Vieques, but there also were other species – perhaps even a new species,” Taylor said.
The federal grant for the study also allowed St. Croix high school students to kayak into the bay at night to observe and study the mangrove and the phenomena. Some of their projects will be displayed at Saturday’s symposium.
“Most of the local population doesn’t know about it (the bioluminescent bay). Most of the students didn’t know about it,” Taylor said.
Originally the Marine Research and Education Center was to occupy eight acres of Hemer’s Peninsula and include 12 lab modules and housing for 48 college students and a dozen researchers at a cost of $60 million.
Over the last decade, the size of the project has been reduced by 40 percent to reduce the cost to around $31 million, according to Bayer.
Once constructed, 40 students will live and work at the research center each semester. They will work on new and existing projects, be involved in resource management, and work with local elementary and high school students, Bayer said.
A marine center on St. Croix can eventually involve the entire Caribbean, Bayer said, and will increase UVI’s capability for research.
Currently Bayer and other stakeholders are preparing information for National Park Service approval that includes a schematic for the site and plans for operations and fundraising. Bayer is working with the Gov. John deJongh Jr. and the V.I. Energy Office on the project.
The symposium will open at 9 a.m. with a display of 15 research posters and the scientists will discuss their study and the results until a break at 1 p.m. for lunch.
The afternoon session will begin at 2:30 p.m. with a roundtable discussion with all of the investigators. It is open to the public.
There will also be an update on the Marine Research and Education Center from Camille McKayle, UVI interim provost.
The symposium is hosted by the Joint Institute for Caribbean Marine Studies, which includes representatives from Rutgers University, UVI, University of South Carolina and University of North Carolina at Wilmington. The Department of the Interior and the National Park Service are also sponsors.
