Achievement Report Curieuse May 2017

Report Title
Another New Project Off To a Flying Start at GVI Curieuse

Objectives
1. Increase scientific knowledge and baseline data on the health of ecosystems on Curieuse Island
2. Increase awareness of GVI Seychelles projects and the ecological value of the Curieuse Island Na-
tional Parks in-country

Summary
The newest addition to the GVI Curieuse portfolio of research projects has now officially been tested
and approved. With the presentation of the project to our local partners, the Seychelles National
Parks Authority (SNPA), along with a joint deployment session, our Baited Remote Underwater
Video (BRUV) project is now ready to unveil to our volunteers and get them actively involved in the
research and analysis.

Report
One of the most attractive features of the Island Conservation Expedition on Curieuse is the diversity
of science projects we undertake. No volunteer or staff member will ever be bored since we already
have seven separate science projects for everyone to get involved in. On the 13th of June there was
a final testing session before our eighth project could be added to the list. This is a very exciting new
project called Baited Remote Underwater Video, or BRUV for short. It has been under development
for some time so everyone here is extremely eager to see the initial results and what extra
information they can reveal about the environment here in the Curieuse Marine National Park.

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Until now, most of the marine research on Curieuse has been limited to the more accessible
shallower sites, or in the case of the GVI lemon shark and turtle surveys, to study sites accessible
from the shore. Virtually no information exists about the species which inhabit the more exposed
deeper waters off the north shore of Curieuse. The BRUV project is intended to show the relative
abundance of predatory and scavenging fish species at a number of sites along the north coast.

The BRUV technique involves a metal frame with an HD video camera fixed to the centre and
pointing at a bait arm which extends outside the frame. On the end of the bait arm is a can with
several holes drilled in it. The can is filled with chunks of fish, and once the video is running the
frame is lowered over the side of the boat and down to the sea bed. It is then left there for 90
minutes while the bait attracts the target species into the video frame. At the end of the deployment
the frame is recovered to the boat and the anticipation builds until the video can be viewed!

An initial short test of the baited equipment was carried out the previous week by GVI staff. The site
chosen for that test was in about 20m of water off the north shore of Curieuse, and it was clear that
the bait was having some effect. As the gear was pulled up towards the boat there were several very
large remoras swimming around the bait canister. The remoras were about the size of our newborn
lemon sharks, so we were wondering what size of creature they may have been attached to! Upon
reviewing the video footage it showed that the equipment was working perfectly with clear video of
the remoras and a very large bumbling stingray, even in the lower light conditions at that depth.

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With our intrigue in overdrive and the equipment shown to be effective, it was then time to conduct
a full test of the gear with many representatives from the Seychelles National Parks Authority. It was
an all day event which began with an informative presentation on the technique from GVI's Science
Coordinator Pete Kowalski, followed by deployment of the equipment from SNPA's boat in a slightly
shallower location off the north shore of the island, with GVI's Dexter collecting environmental data.
Despite some fairly challenging weather conditions the test went perfectly with 90 minutes of video
being recorded. Everyone had been holding their breath to hear of what exciting species may have
come to investigate and been filmed for all to see. The result was numerous species of teleost fish
trying to get to the bait, but the star of the show was a rare giant guitarfish! These large
cartilaginous fish (latin name Rhynchobatus djiddensis) are spotted once every few months by GVI
staff and volunteers whilst snorkelling, so it bodes very well for the future of the project that such a
rare species has already been filmed in only the first full deployment of the equipment!

Everyone here at GVI and SNPA are very much looking forward to seeing more footage of a diverse
array of species which we might otherwise not be able to see, and the project will be a great
addition to our expedition, further expanding our knowledge of this unique environment.

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