Times of the Islands Summer 2024

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green pages Newsletter of the Department of Environment & Coastal Resources Head office: Church Folly, Grand Turk, tel 649 946 2801 • fax 649 946 1895 • Astwood Street, South Caicos, tel 649 946 3306 • fax 946 3710 • National Environmental Centre, Lower Bight Road, Providenciales Parks Division, tel 649 941 5122 • fax 649 946 4793 Fisheries Division, tel 649 946 4017 • fax 649 946 4793 email environment@gov.tc or dema.tci@gmail.com • web https://www.gov.tc/decr/ KORT ALEXANDER This close-up details a colony of rose coral being grown in the coral lab at the School for Field Studies in South Caicos. One Fragment at a Time Restoring TCI reefs. By Kort Alexander and Kara Rumage, The School for Field Studies Center for Marine Resource Studies, South Caicos We sit on the siderails of the boat in anticipation, hands holding our masks and regulators in place. The captain counts down from three and we lean back until our tanks hit the water. We are instantly transported to another world. Schools of yellow and blue grunts congregate warily under a nearby ledge while silvery barracuda with gaping mouths full of sharp teeth glide by on their morning prowl. An endless array of colors flash by as numerous fishes—angelfish, butterflyfish, wrasses, jacks, parrotfish, tangs, snappers, just to name a few—go about their daily lives. 32 www.timespub.tc
green pages newsletter of the department of environment & coastal resources A large colony of elkhorn coral (Acropora palmata) grows on the reef near South Caicos. At the center of all this activity are corals and the that form giant colonies and build hard skeletons of calcium carbonate which form the foundations of reefs in reefs they create. A thick trunk of deep orange elkhorn coral extends from the hard bottom towards the surface, tropical seas worldwide. gathering sunlight with branches that resemble open Corals not only provide shelter for fish and structure for habitat, but also serve as the basis of energy hands (hence elkhorn’s scientific name, Acropora palmata). Other species, including brain corals and boulder for the entire ecosystem. Using tiny tentacles, coral star corals, dot the reef with a dazzling variety of textures polyps ensnare and feed on plankton floating through the and patterns. water, but they get most of their energy from microscopic algae called zooxanthellae that live inside their cells. The The power of polyps zooxanthellae use sunlight to make food through photosynthesis and share the energy that they produce with Although they are immobile and might seem more like plants, corals are actually animals, most closely related the coral polyp in exchange for shelter. This energy then to jellyfish and anemones. They are made of thousands gets passed up the food web through animals that feed of tiny individuals called polyps, mere millimeters in size, on coral, forming the basis of one of the most biodiverse HEIDI HERTLER Times of the Islands Summer 2024 33
Page 1 and 2: TIMES SAMPLING THE SOUL OF THE TURK
Page 3 and 4: Building Your Vision, Delivering Ex
Page 5 and 6: Crafted for the fl ow of life. Form
Page 7: Arc By Piero Lissoni Elevated Beach
Page 10 and 11: The sky is the limit. The world’s
Page 12: Exclusively available within The Tu
Page 18: UNDERSTATED LUXURY AT THE WATER’S
Page 21 and 22: looking back From September 12-18,
Page 23 and 24: of the tidal wave was somewhere in
Page 25 and 26: Bengt Soderqvist and his son Lars p
Page 27 and 28: creature feature Opposite page: The
Page 29 and 30: This close-up shows how a flounder
Page 31: Flounder are mainly solitary creatu
Page 35 and 36: green pages newsletter of the depar
Page 38 and 39: 38 www.timespub.tc
Page 40 and 41: The beginnings—Bamboo Gallery On
Page 42 and 43: quite petite.” Later that day whe
Page 44 and 45: SHUTTERSTOCK
Page 46 and 47: ELLINGTON OSBORNE The response This
Page 48 and 49: of Salt Cay sailors and had carried
Page 50 and 51: ANTHONY FORBES—TRIPLE A EVENT PHO
Page 52 and 53: The return 3:45 PM Kell called his
Page 54 and 55: DR. DONALD H. KEITH 54 www.timespub
Page 56 and 57: The mysterious inscription The insc
Page 58 and 59: GIDEON JACQUES DENNY This oil paint
Page 60 and 61: Who inscribed the epitaph? On Septe
Page 63 and 64: esort report Opposite page: The 20
Page 65 and 66: front desk; Aiesha Sealy and Romane
Page 67 and 68: Grown on North Caicos Ocean Breeze
Page 69 and 70: Donkeys possess several traits that
Page 71 and 72: astrolabe newsletter of the Turks &
Page 77 and 78: about the Islands Map provided cour
Page 79 and 80: and either single phase or three ph
Page 81 and 82: (Grits) with Dry Conch is revered a
Page 84:
Nothing compares to that perfect pl
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Times of the Islands Summer 2024

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