The Antillean Island chain is a known breeding and calving ground for North Atlantic humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae). However, while most research efforts for this species have focused on the largest aggregation of whales, located on Silver Bank, off the northern coast of the Dominican Republic, there are still significant knowledge gaps w...
As part of the permit, Rijkswaterstaat requested an ecological monitoring and evaluation framework guideline to accompany the permit-application for the activities of BOPEC (Bonaire) and Nustar (St. Eustatius), related to the activities of the loading and unloading of oil and oil-related-products. IMARES has been asked to develop a tailored guideli...
A semi-detailed landscape-based vegetation map (scale: 1: 37,500) is presented for the 13 km2 Lesser Antillean steep volcanic island of Saba, Netherlands Caribbean. The map is based on a total of 49 vegetation plots that were sampled in 1999 using a stratified random sampling design and analysed using TWINSPAN cluster analysis. Three hundred and fo...
Worldwide many shark populations are in strong decline mainly due to fisheries. Population status of sharks in the Caribbean is still poorly known. In order to be able to take effective measures to protect sharks, insight in their spatial behaviour during different life stages is required. Do marine parks enhance shark populations and if so at what...
One of the most deleterious invasive introduced predators worldwide is the domestic cat which has been found responsible for many island extinctions worldwide. Cats can live off both natural prey and garbage and can be a particularly serious threat to ground-nesting bird populations. Saba is an important location for the Red-billed Tropicbird, Phae...
Published in Journal of the science of food and agriculture
The use of red grapes to obtain 'saba' seems more rational for the presence of higher amounts of antioxidant substances. Ancellotta showed several factors interesting for 'saba' production, such as the very high anthocyanin content, including anthocyanin antioxidants. A more detailed investigation on 'agresto' technology is required.
In October 2011 an expedition took place to the Saba Bank, on board of the ship the Caribbean Explorer II. Main aim of the expedition was collecting data on underwater fauna and coral reefs. Apart from that data were collected on nutrients, water flow, sponges and seabirds and marine mammals. Data on the last group were collected by deploying acous...
According to previous studies and anecdotal evidence there are a lot of lost lobster traps at the Saba Bank. One study estimated the loss to be between 210 and 795 lobster traps per year. The Saba Bank is an approximately 2,200 km2 submerged area and spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) is one of the main fisheries with an annual economic value over USD...
