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	<channel>
		<title>Conservation news</title>
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		<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bahamas/</link>
		<description>Environmental science and conservation news</description>
		<lastBuildDate>Fri, 07 Aug 2026 04:55:47 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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	<title>Bahamas environmental news</title>
	<link>https://news.mongabay.com/list/bahamas/</link>
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				<item>
					<title>Scientists use AI to produce first high-resolution map of global seagrass extent</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>10 Jul 2026 12:51:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Abhishyant Kidangoor]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Abhishyantkidangoor]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2026/07/10103637/IMG_2026-07-10-031214-768x512.jpeg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=323038</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Asia, Australia, Bahamas, Caribbean, Cuba, Global, Indonesia, North America, Oceania, Southeast Asia, and United States]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Artificial Intelligence, Biodiversity, Carbon Sequestration, Climate Change, Coastal Ecosystems, Conservation, data, Ecosystems, Environment, Environmental Policy, Global Environmental Crisis, Governance, Mapping, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Mitigation, Oceans, Plants, Politics, Protected Areas, Remote Sensing, Research, Satellite Imagery, Science, Seagrass, Software, Technology, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Almost 70% of the global extent of seagrass meadows is found off the coasts of just five countries. However, only 21% of this fall within marine protected areas. These are some of the key findings from the first high-resolution map of seagrasses around the world. Scientists at Arizona State University in the U.S. used satellite imagery and artificial intelligence to map seagrass cover over two periods, 2019-2020 and 2023-2024. According to a study, recently published in the journal Nature, the team identified “148,506 km2 of seagrass globally,” or about 57,340 square miles, a combined area larger than England, with the majority lying in subtidal areas. “We wanted to map seagrass in a very accurate manner,” Jiwei Li, an assistant professor at ASU’s School of Ocean Futures, who led the study, told Mongabay in a video interview. “And tell people where the seagrass is and where there is potential to protect it.” Scientists mapped seagrass ecosystems using satellite data and AI technology. Pictured above is a satellite image from a coast off of Richmond, Canada, along with the seagrass ecosystems highlighted in green to the right. Image courtesy of Jiwei Li, Arizona State University. Seagrasses are the only flowering plant species in the ocean, and form vast meadows in shallow waters. Apart from being habitats for many marine species, these meadows are also crucial carbon sinks that can absorb CO2 35 times faster than terrestrial forests. They also protect coastlines and filter pollutants in the water. However, seagrass ecosystems face threats from&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2026/07/scientists-use-ai-to-produce-first-high-resolution-map-of-global-seagrass-extent/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-323038</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>A small preserve leads a big effort to save native plants in the Bahamas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-small-preserve-leads-a-big-effort-to-save-native-plants-in-the-bahamas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-small-preserve-leads-a-big-effort-to-save-native-plants-in-the-bahamas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Dec 2025 19:37:19 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Marlowe Starling]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Jeremy Hance]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2025/12/30141924/3290-The-orchids-at-Levy-Preserve--768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=312307</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas, Caribbean, and North America]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Conservation, Critically Endangered Species, Ecosystems, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Islands, Plants, Protected Areas, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[ELEUTHERA, Bahamas — Tucked away beside the main road that runs along Eleuthera, a narrow island in the Bahamas, the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve holds 12 hectares (30 acres) of dense subtropical dry forest. Black witch moths (Ascalapha odorata), as large as bats, zigzag between the branches as fluorescent wasps hum along the path’s [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[ELEUTHERA, Bahamas — Tucked away beside the main road that runs along Eleuthera, a narrow island in the Bahamas, the Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve holds 12 hectares (30 acres) of dense subtropical dry forest. Black witch moths (Ascalapha odorata), as large as bats, zigzag between the branches as fluorescent wasps hum along the path’s edge. Orchard spiders (Leucauge venusta) sit on sprawling webs between mangrove roots. Meter-high termite mounds surround the bases of tree trunks. Native Jamaican slider turtles (Trachemys terrapen) sunbathe in the artificial wetland. Tree lizards, frogs and nonvenomous snakes make the preserve their home, too. Just two decades ago, the same plot of land belonged to a hotel, with stretches of abandoned farmland. After philanthropist Shelby White purchased the land, and after many years of restoring the property, it became an accredited botanical garden. Today, it’s known for its conservation, research and education on native Bahamian plants. The Leon Levy Native Plant Preserve is funded and managed through a partnership between the Bahamas National Trust, which oversees the country’s national parks, and the philanthropic Leon Levy Foundation based in New York City. Now, it’s the island’s standout example of native plant diversity and a hub for Caribbean plant knowledge. Native Jamaican sliders (Trachemys terrapen), freshwater turtles found in the Bahamas and other Caribbean islands, bask in the artificial wetland. Image by Marlowe Starling for Mongabay. Regrowing the forest The Bahamas’ subtropical dry forests are characterized by nutrient-poor soils, lots of limestone, shrubs, hardwood trees, and frequent&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-small-preserve-leads-a-big-effort-to-save-native-plants-in-the-bahamas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2025/12/a-small-preserve-leads-a-big-effort-to-save-native-plants-in-the-bahamas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-312307</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As Bahamas offshore project falls flat, oil driller island-hops across Caribbean</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>12 Feb 2021 17:07:29 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2021/02/12153836/Bahamas-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=239549</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Deep Sea Mining 2021 and Oceans]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas, Caribbean, and Florida]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Deep Sea Mining, Ecosystems, Islands, Marine, Marine Conservation, Oil, Oil Drilling, and Oil Spills]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas Petroleum Company’s controversial bid to drill for offshore oil near the Florida coast hit a wall after its exploratory well did not find commercially viable reserves. Environmentalists in the Bahamas and the U.S. staunchly opposed the offshore drilling they say threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. The Perseverance #1 well is located 240 kilometers (150 miles) from [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas Petroleum Company’s controversial bid to drill for offshore oil near the Florida coast hit a wall after its exploratory well did not find commercially viable reserves. Environmentalists in the Bahamas and the U.S. staunchly opposed the offshore drilling they say threatens the fragile marine ecosystem. The Perseverance #1 well is located 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the coast of Florida and 146 km (91 mi) from the nearest Bahamian island of Andros. The Stena IceMAX drillship started drilling on Dec. 20. By Feb. 7 it had plumbed depths of 3,900 meters (12,800 feet). BPC, headquartered in the Isle of Man, a British Crown dependency, had estimated that the targeted reserves could hold between 770 million and 1.44 billion barrels of oil. The well was not for oil production but to determine if viable deposits of oil exist. They do not. “Drilling has now ceased, the well having reached a depth of approximately 3,900 meters without incident, and the well will now be permanently plugged and abandoned,” the company said in a statement in response to questions from Mongabay. It was the first effort in many decades to seek offshore oil deposits in Bahamian waters. BPC has sunk more than $110 million into the project over the course of a decade. Its efforts came to fruition only last year when the Bahamian government issued environmental authorization for its exploratory oil drilling. The go-ahead sparked opposition led by the Our Islands, Our Future (OIOF) campaign, a coalition of local and international NGOs and&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2021/02/as-bahamas-offshore-project-falls-flat-oil-driller-island-hops-across-caribbean/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-239549</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Environmentalists seek to block Bahamas oil drilling bid near U.S. coast</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/environmentalists-seek-to-block-bahamas-oil-drilling-bid-near-u-s-coast/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/environmentalists-seek-to-block-bahamas-oil-drilling-bid-near-u-s-coast/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>18 Dec 2020 09:48:52 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Malavika Vyawahare]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Malavikavyawahare]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/12/18032952/Pikist_bahamas-nassau-island-beach-america-tropical-sea-beautiful-beach-water-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237988</guid>

											<reporting-project>
							<![CDATA[Land rights and extractives]]>
						</reporting-project>
					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas and Caribbean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, Marine, Marine Conservation, Marine Mammals, Oceans, Oil, Oil Drilling, and Oil Spills]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[The entry of STENA ICEMAX, a hulking 750-foot drilling vessel, into Bahamian waters this week signaled that a months-long battle over the blue waters of the Caribbean nation had come to a head. The ship, deployed by Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), is set to begin exploratory offshore oil drilling in Bahamian waters, 240 kilometers (150 [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[The entry of STENA ICEMAX, a hulking 750-foot drilling vessel, into Bahamian waters this week signaled that a months-long battle over the blue waters of the Caribbean nation had come to a head. The ship, deployed by Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), is set to begin exploratory offshore oil drilling in Bahamian waters, 240 kilometers (150 miles) from the coast of Florida, this month. Environmental groups approached the Bahamian Supreme Court on Dec. 10, saying the government’s granting of permits was &#8220;procedurally unfair, unlawful, an abuse of power.&#8221; They are seeking an immediate stay on BPC&#8217;s drilling operations. A map showing the location of the Perseverance #1 well (located inside the area marked in red). Map courtesy of Bahamas Petroleum Company. The group Our Island Our Future (OIOF) launched a campaign earlier this year after BPC made public its intention to start drilling. The coalition is made up of 41 Bahamian NGOs and businesses and more than 55 U.S.-based NGOs. &#8220;BPC will vigorously oppose the application, and we understand that the Government of The Bahamas will be doing likewise,&#8221; Simon Potter, BPC&#8217;s chief executive officer, said in a statement shared with Mongabay. &#8220;BPC&#8217;s drilling plans have been public knowledge for almost a decade, and the Government provided Environmental Authorisation to BPC in February 2020, following an extensive program of work.&#8221; Small-scale sporadic oil drilling has taken place in the Bahamas over the decades, but the scale of BPC&#8217;s planned operation is many times larger. Headquartered in the Isle of Man, a&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/environmentalists-seek-to-block-bahamas-oil-drilling-bid-near-u-s-coast/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/12/environmentalists-seek-to-block-bahamas-oil-drilling-bid-near-u-s-coast/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237988</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Meet the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize Winners</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/meet-the-2020-goldman-environmental-prize-winners/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/meet-the-2020-goldman-environmental-prize-winners/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Nov 2020 03:48:38 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Liz Kimbrough]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2020/11/29225455/Screen-Shot-2020-11-29-at-9.53.52-PM-768x500.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=237219</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas, Ecuador, France, Ghana, Mexico, and Myanmar]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Activism, Biodiversity, Climate Change, Conservation, Deforestation, Energy, Environment, Forest Destruction, Forests, Governance, Green, Greenhouse Gas Emissions, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Rights, Infrastructure, Land Conflict, Politics, Protected Areas, Rainforests, and Tropical Forests]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[This year, six environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in a virtual ceremony. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” this award is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include an Indigenous Mayan beekeeper who led a coalition to ban genetically modified soy [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[This year, six environmental activists will receive the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize in a virtual ceremony. Known as the “Green Nobel Prize,” this award is given annually to grassroots environmental heroes from each of the world’s inhabited continents. This year’s winners include an Indigenous Mayan beekeeper who led a coalition to ban genetically modified soy in seven Mexican states, a French activist who pressured France’s three largest banks to stop financing coal, a woman who harnessed youth activism to enact a ban on single-use plastics in The Bahamas, an Indigenous Waorani woman who organized legal action preventing oil extraction in a huge expanse of Amazon rainforest, an Indigenous Karen organizer who spearheaded the formation of the world’s first peace park in an active conflict zone, and an activist who prevented the construction of what would have been the first coal-fired power plant in Ghana. “These six environmental champions reflect the powerful impact that one person can have on many,” John Goldman, president of the Goldman Environmental Foundation, said in a statement. “Even in the face of the unending onslaught and destruction upon our natural world, there are countless individuals and communities fighting every day to protect our planet. These are six of those environmental heroes, and they deserve the honor and recognition the Prize offers them — for taking a stand, risking their lives and livelihoods, and inspiring us with real, lasting environmental progress.” The prize ceremony, typically held in April each year was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/meet-the-2020-goldman-environmental-prize-winners/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2020/11/meet-the-2020-goldman-environmental-prize-winners/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-237219</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>As hurricane season ends, now is the time to take local action to rebuild and recover (commentary)</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/as-hurricane-season-ends-now-is-the-time-to-take-local-action-to-rebuild-and-recover-commentary/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/as-hurricane-season-ends-now-is-the-time-to-take-local-action-to-rebuild-and-recover-commentary/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>03 Dec 2019 16:12:32 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Katie Arkema]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2019/12/03153938/damaged-home-in-bahamas_1210px-768x451.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=224976</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Bahamas, and Caribbean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Adaptation, Adaptation To Climate Change, Climate Change, Commentary, Environment, Extreme Weather, Flooding, Global Warming, Impact Of Climate Change, Infrastructure, Mangroves, Research, and Roads]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Most of us have places where we feel safe — a tree in our backyard, a den in our house, a beach in our town. But these days, some “safe places” may no longer be safe. Recent events, such as the unprecedented destruction of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, are grim verification of what climate [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Most of us have places where we feel safe — a tree in our backyard, a den in our house, a beach in our town. But these days, some “safe places” may no longer be safe. Recent events, such as the unprecedented destruction of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas, are grim verification of what climate science predicted. Fortunately, this same science also holds the key to changing our trajectory. As the 2019 hurricane season comes to an end, now is the time to consider action on the local scale, in spite of the helplessness we may feel in the face of global change. In 2016, I saw firsthand how the devastation of a hurricane challenges our assumptions about safe places. I was in the Bahamas just after Hurricane Matthew, visiting my Bahamian colleagues and conducting fieldwork on coastal resilience. Community members showed me their flattened homes, saying, “We thought the shallow water meant we were safe.” But what the community had assumed about their safety could not have been further from the truth. Living nearby shallow waters actually put them more at risk, not less. It’s no coincidence that the islands most devastated by Matthew and now Dorian were Grand Bahama, Abaco, Andros, and New Providence. Recently published coastal risk maps by Stanford’s Natural Capital Project in collaboration with Bahamian scientists, government partners, The Nature Conservancy, and the Inter-American Development Bank, show these are the islands most exposed to flooding and erosion. Their low-lying shorelines are situated along wide, shallow&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/as-hurricane-season-ends-now-is-the-time-to-take-local-action-to-rebuild-and-recover-commentary/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
										<wfw:commentRss>https://news.mongabay.com/2019/12/as-hurricane-season-ends-now-is-the-time-to-take-local-action-to-rebuild-and-recover-commentary/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-224976</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Hobby-grade drones can monitor marine animals beneath the surface</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/hobby-grade-drones-above-can-monitor-marine-animals-beneath-the-surface/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/hobby-grade-drones-above-can-monitor-marine-animals-beneath-the-surface/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>14 Dec 2018 14:44:59 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri (1965-2019)]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/12/14123852/EnieHensel_PhotoBy_Duncan_Brake_small-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=213547</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, cameras, Drones, Elasmobranchs, Endangered Species, Marine, Marine Animals, Monitoring, Oceans, Remote Sensing, Research, Sea Turtles, Sensors, Surveying, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Using drones for wildlife surveys isn’t new to marine wildlife research, but it’s been focused mainly on detecting the large mammals and sea turtles that break the ocean’s surface to breathe. Researchers in The Bahamas wanted to test whether they could also locate the many sharks, rays, and other species that spend time just below [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Using drones for wildlife surveys isn’t new to marine wildlife research, but it’s been focused mainly on detecting the large mammals and sea turtles that break the ocean’s surface to breathe. Researchers in The Bahamas wanted to test whether they could also locate the many sharks, rays, and other species that spend time just below the ocean’s surface using small, commercially available drones. They published their findings and testing methods last month. &#8220;We found that drones can be used to count and make species-level identifications of marine species, particularly in shallow marine environments,&#8221; lead author Enie Hensel, a Ph.D. candidate at North Carolina State University, said in a statement. Sharks, rays, and sea turtles are both disproportionately threatened by human activity and difficult to monitor. The aerial viewpoint offered by drone-borne cameras allows the pilot to detect these large animals beneath the surface. So the researchers set out to test if they could reliably identify animals in video footage taken from drones at different locations. Study lead author Enie Hensel flies a small commercial drone over the shallow waters of The Bahamas to test its utility in surveying and monitoring large marine animals. The researchers conducted aerial surveys and analyzed drone video footage to record the numbers and species of animals spotted. Image by Duncan Brake. They used small commercial-grade quadcopter drones that are relatively affordable, easy to use, and able to carry fairly high-definition video cameras to mimic the equipment that might be available to a wide range of&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/12/hobby-grade-drones-above-can-monitor-marine-animals-beneath-the-surface/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-213547</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Underwater tech unlocks the secrets of The Bahamas’ Exuma Sound</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/underwater-tech-unlocks-the-secrets-of-the-bahamas-exuma-sound/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/underwater-tech-unlocks-the-secrets-of-the-bahamas-exuma-sound/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>30 Aug 2018 03:21:45 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Catherine Morris]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Sue Palminteri]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/30021203/Photo_2_sub-with-lights-along-wall_small-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209836</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean and Bahamas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Biodiversity, cameras, Conservation, Conservation Solutions, Coral Reefs, Mapping, Oceans, Solutions, Technology, and Wildtech]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
											<grant>
							<![CDATA[CBO2017]]>
						</grant>
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers at the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) have been mapping the deep waters at the northern end of the Bahamian archipelago for many years, but their efforts got a boost recently when they partnered with state-of-the-art research vessel M/V Alucia. Equipped with two manned submersibles carrying cutting-edge cameras and high-tech sensors, the Alucia allowed the [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers at the Cape Eleuthera Institute (CEI) have been mapping the deep waters at the northern end of the Bahamian archipelago for many years, but their efforts got a boost recently when they partnered with state-of-the-art research vessel M/V Alucia. Equipped with two manned submersibles carrying cutting-edge cameras and high-tech sensors, the Alucia allowed the team to journey down 800 meters (2,624 feet) into the dark, mysterious depths of the Exuma Sound to see, monitor and sample the creatures and terrain. Exuma Sound, part of The Bahamas, includes deep-water habitats not found in the shallower Grand Bahama Bank. Image from Google Earth. For CEI Research Associate Brendan Talwar, it was a game-changer. &#8220;All of our information about the depths came from dropping lines, which didn&#8217;t give us very high-resolution data,&#8221; he said. &#8220;We had a very basic understanding of what was there. There is something so different and incredible about actually going down and exploring it.&#8221; Pancake batfish, swimming sea cucumbers, white-spotted catsharks and a dazzling array of jellyfish greeted the subs. When they broke the surface, the research team had a new understanding of the environment they&#8217;d been studying for so long. A pancake batfish (from above), one of the unusual creatures found using the submersibles and cameras. These flat fish live on the sandy bottom of the western Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. Image courtesy of NOAA&#8217;s Fisheries Collection; SEFSC Pascagoula Laboratory; Collection of Brandi Noble, NOAA/NMFS/SEFSC, CC 2.0. A learning experience The M/V Alucia, which is&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/underwater-tech-unlocks-the-secrets-of-the-bahamas-exuma-sound/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209836</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Rare bird, feared extinct after hurricane, is spotted in Bahamas again</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/rare-bird-feared-extinct-after-hurricane-is-spotted-in-bahamas-again/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/rare-bird-feared-extinct-after-hurricane-is-spotted-in-bahamas-again/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>27 Aug 2018 05:26:13 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mongabay.com]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Shreya Dasgupta]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/08/27033115/The-elusive-Bahama-Nuthatch-credit-Matthew-Gardner-UEA-768x512.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=209737</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean and Bahamas]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Birds, Conservation, Deforestation, Endangered Species, Environment, Forests, Green, Happy-upbeat Environmental, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have finally spotted the Bahama nuthatch, an endangered bird that they thought had gone extinct following a devastating hurricane in 2016. Things are still not rosy for the bird, though: the researchers fear there might be just a handful of individuals of the species left. “The photographs clearly show this distinctive species and cannot be [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[Researchers have finally spotted the Bahama nuthatch, an endangered bird that they thought had gone extinct following a devastating hurricane in 2016. Things are still not rosy for the bird, though: the researchers fear there might be just a handful of individuals of the species left. “The photographs clearly show this distinctive species and cannot be anything else,” Michael Parr, president of the American Bird Conservancy, said in a statement. “Fortunately this is not a hard bird to identify, but it was certainly a hard bird to find.” The elusive Bahama nuthatch. Image by Matthew Gardner. The Bahama nuthatch (Sitta insularis), known only from a small pine forest on the island of Grand Bahama, some 84 kilometers (52 miles) east of Palm Beach, Florida, has seen a progressive decline in its population over the years, driven mainly by destruction of the pine forest it calls home, fires and hurricanes. Its recorded numbers have never been very high: a few hundred individuals were recorded in 2004, while only 23 were spotted in a 2007 survey. But researchers feared the worst when Hurricane Matthew, a deadly category 5 Atlantic hurricane, caused widespread damage in the Bahamas in 2016. Searches for the bird after the hurricane yielded no sighting at all, pointing to the nuthatch’s possible extinction. However, recent expeditions have led to the sightings of the bird once again, renewing hope for the species. To look for the bird, Matthew Gardner and David Pereira, master’s students at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in the U.K., walked some&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/rare-bird-feared-extinct-after-hurricane-is-spotted-in-bahamas-again/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-209737</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>Queen conch dying out in the Bahamas despite marine parks</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/queen-conch-dying-out-in-the-bahamas-despite-marine-parks/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/queen-conch-dying-out-in-the-bahamas-despite-marine-parks/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>16 Feb 2018 07:00:48 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Jim Tan]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Maria Angeles Salazar]]>
					</author>
							<category><![CDATA[Uncategorized]]></category>
										<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2018/02/15062452/conch1-737x512.png" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=203812</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Atlantic Ocean, Bahamas, and Caribbean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Conservation, Environment, Fishing, Marine, Marine Animals, Marine Conservation, Marine Protected Areas, Molluscs, Oceans, Overfishing, Protected Areas, and Research]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[It’s hard to adequately describe the importance of conch to the Bahamas. Conchs are ingrained in the culture; there are conch festivals, conch homecomings and conch-cracking competitions. On the Bahamian coat of arms, a queen conch takes pride of place, sitting right at the top. But new research finds that the queen conch (Strombus gigas), [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
																					<content:encoded>
							<![CDATA[It’s hard to adequately describe the importance of conch to the Bahamas. Conchs are ingrained in the culture; there are conch festivals, conch homecomings and conch-cracking competitions. On the Bahamian coat of arms, a queen conch takes pride of place, sitting right at the top. But new research finds that the queen conch (Strombus gigas), economically important as food and for its decorative shell, is facing unprecedented fishing pressure throughout its Caribbean range. The study in the Marine Ecology Progress Series journal found widespread decline and an aging population among the conchs of the Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park (ECLSP), a marine protected area (MPA) in the Bahamas. The plight of this previously abundant and well-protected conch population is a troubling blow for this iconic marine mollusc. “Besides being a staple to the local diet, harvesting and sale of conch supports entire island economies,” the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), a non-profit organization that manages the country’s national parks, said in a statement. Conch meat is an important part of the Bahamian economy; domestic consumption is difficult to quantify but exports alone bring in an estimated $3.3 million a year. Not only are conchs economically and culturally important, but they also play a vital role in the marine ecosystem. Conch eggs and larvae, produced in the hundreds of thousands, are an important food source for a number of vulnerable and endangered marine creatures. Conchs also feed on the algae found on sea grass, preventing the sea grass from being smothered.&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2018/02/queen-conch-dying-out-in-the-bahamas-despite-marine-parks/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-203812</doi>				</item>
						<item>
					<title>New boa species “on its way to extinction” discovered in the Bahamas</title>
					<link>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/new-boa-species-on-its-way-to-extinction-discovered-in-the-bahamas/</link>
					<comments>https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/new-boa-species-on-its-way-to-extinction-discovered-in-the-bahamas/#respond</comments>
					<pubDate>20 Jun 2016 17:26:31 +0000</pubDate>
											<dc:creator>
							<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
						</dc:creator>
										<author>
						<![CDATA[Mike Gaworecki]]>
					</author>
															<enclosure url="https://imgs.mongabay.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/20/2016/06/01201014/Silver-Boa-495x330.jpg" type="image/jpeg" />
					<guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.mongabay.com/?p=187237</guid>

					
											<locations>
							<![CDATA[Bahamas and Caribbean]]>
						</locations>
					
											<topic-tags>
							<![CDATA[Animals, Biodiversity, Endangered Species, Environment, Global Environmental Crisis, Herps, Reptiles, Snakes, Species Discovery, and Wildlife]]>
						</topic-tags>
					
					
											<description>
							<![CDATA[There are now 12 known species of West Indian boas. A team from Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology discovered the silver boa (Chilabothrus argentum) in a remote corner of the Bahamian Archipelago called the Conception Island Bank. Like all members of the Boidae family, to which it belongs, the Bahamian silver boa or Conception Bank [&#8230;]]]>
						</description>
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							<![CDATA[There are now 12 known species of West Indian boas. A team from Harvard’s Museum of Comparative Zoology discovered the silver boa (Chilabothrus argentum) in a remote corner of the Bahamian Archipelago called the Conception Island Bank. Like all members of the Boidae family, to which it belongs, the Bahamian silver boa or Conception Bank silver boa is a nonvenomous, constricting snake. In a paper published last month in the journal Breviora describing the new species, the team writes that the snake should not only be listed as critically endangered based on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s Red List criteria but that it is “one of the most endangered boid snakes globally.” “We found this species on its way to extinction, and now we have the opportunity to intervene on their behalf so that doesn’t happen,” Graham Reynolds, a professor at the University of North Carolina, Asheville who led the team that made the discovery in 2015 while he was a Harvard Postdoctoral Fellow, said in a statement. The Bahamian silver boa or Conception Bank silver boa (Chilabothrus argentum). Photo by Graham Reynolds/UNC-Ashville. Reynolds knew he had stumbled on something new the first time he laid eyes on the silver-colored, distinctly shaped boa in July 2015. During a subsequent trip to the islands in October 2015, Reynolds and team found 14 more individuals, which they sampled, measured, and tagged. Conservation measures are now being developed with local organizations, including the Bahamas National Trust, in order to protect the&hellip;This article was originally published on <a href="https://news.mongabay.com/2016/06/new-boa-species-on-its-way-to-extinction-discovered-in-the-bahamas/" data-wpel-link="internal">Mongabay</a>]]>
						</content:encoded>
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					<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
										<doi>https://doi.org/10.66709/news-187237</doi>				</item>
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