In the past month, I have been informed of the death of at least 10 eels: 2 Green Morays, 1 Sharp-tail Eel, 2 Viper Morays, and 5 others that were not described enough to be able to identify. If anyone has seen any dead eels, please report on this forum the 1. Species, 2, Dive site, date and depth, 3 any signs of damage. JCLigon

We found two dead Spotted Morays at Buddy's reef. Both were at about 30 ft. 12Sept08 5pm.

2 Spotted Morays 1 at Tolo south of the entrance
1 at Karpata also south of the entrance.Both Aug 22 at about 50 ft.No sign of damage to the one at Tolo,the one at Karpata's head was at an unnatural angle to the body.

Oh my...this is not good...it sickens me

Snorkeling last week we saw a dead eel near small wall, at about 10 ft depth, and another one washed up to shore at Andrea II. Both were small sharp tail.

While snorkeling at Andrea II on Sept. 6, we saw 4 dead spotted morays like the one pictured. We also saw another one at Oil Slick a few days earlier. Only one of them had any signs of damage. That eel appeared to have been dead for a while and had apparently entered the food chain.

Jerry, I have just been observing in the past six months of snorkeling on Bonaire that I have not seen one eel alive or dead! I used to see them everywhere but not any in the past six months. Might the disappearance and death of the eels be the "canaries in the coal mine" for Bonaire's reefs signaling their rapid deterioration?

I'm happy to say all of the six sharp tale, two spotted, a one very large green were all very much alive - Sept 1 through sept 12... I saw 0 dead eels.

(Message edited by muddysoapfish on September 13, 2008)

An aggravated local fisherman ensuring those eels would not be wasting his time again?

That could account for 'the one at Karpata's head was at an unnatural angle to the body' (killed by breaking it's neck) and for no other 'damage' visible on others. Also for the seemingly sporadic occurrence. And for the small size of those seen dead.

Would retrieval of such dead eels for STINAPA (in the name of sscience) be allowed?

It would be a 'happier' explanation than pollution, et al.

(Message edited by glenr on September 13, 2008)

Glen, I, too, am "hoping" (sad term here) that it is direct human involvement & not indirect environmental human involvement with the deaths of the eels.

Very disturbing, to say the least.

Jerry, please keep us apprised as to whatever information you are able to collect and any determination as to the cause of the deaths of the eels.

Thanks for bringing this to our attention. cb

Could this be a result of the storm surge that happened on Bonaire a week or so ago?
Was there any reports like this after Lenny?

Dead green moray at Witch's Hut. Seen on 7/28/08 at depth of about 30-35 feet, south of the entrance steps.

Saw a large and dead spotted morray at Bari Reef just a couple nights ago. I've heard several reports of dead morrays. The one I saw suffered no physical damage.

Purple tube sponges are being strangled by the red algae across the reefs. There is a dramatic increase in red algae and green algae in the past 12 months.

Does anyone know if any of the dead eels are being analyzed for causes of the deaths???

Another dead green moray eel just seen today, September 30, at about 1 p.m. at Donkey Beach just in the shallow reef to the right of the dock for the jet fuel barge. Only about 20 feet from shore, which means it could be a convenient tissue sample to see what is killing them.

There is a dead eel on the beach near the rocks at 1000 steps. Seems like it has been there awhile.
Also saw one off of Buddy's...have pictures will post once I resize them.

I find it hard to believe that there isn't anyone who can do an autopsy & ascertain the cause of death. A virus or bacteria? Perhaps something similar that killed off all the sea urchins 15 years ago? Until we have this nailed down, everyone is just speculating (me included).

there are studies being done at the CIEE Research Station here on Bonaire including autopsies.

Pietri,

TKS for that information.

Can you suggest to the scientists that they do/allow an update here to keep us advised, even if no solution is yet known??

The information you have given (that something is being done) is new and helpful to us out here concerned for the health of the reefs and their animals.

sorry... graphic....
but it was on the beach...I didn't want to believe it....

see to graphic for the post :0

when the study is complete the data will be shared...

Pietri,
When the data is complete where will the CIEE Station findings be posted?
Thanks for the input!

I found the remains of an eel in the shallows at Bachelor Beach yesterday.

your help is needed for the CIEE study.... we need RECENTLY departed eel and fish remains ... please bring to the research station any fish and eel RECENTLY departed wrapped in newspaper and refrigerated or iced if required. CIEE is located at 21 Kaya Govenor de Brot., you can really help us in this study.. many many thanks ...should you wonder i am on the administrative staff .. CIEE will share the results of this study on Bonaire Talk and the media .

my apologies .. we also need the data of the location.. again thanx .. we really need your help!

Pietri...the one I posted was on the beach at 1000 steps (last week)
Also another in the water between Buddy's and Habitat.

Pietri,

TKS for your continued support for us, but...

Please give divers who read this specific direction of what to do if they see a dead eel/fish.

Call someone?? Who, with tele number.

Retrieve animal? In a bag or what? Take it where?

The best help can be given by informed people. :–)))

(Message edited by glenr on October 2, 2008)

species number dead date dive site

Spotted Moray 1 12sept08 buddy's
Spotted Moray 2 22aug tolo's (old blue)
Spotted Moray 4 6sept Andrea 2
Spotted Moray 1 6sept oil slick
Spotted Moray 1 17sept bari
Spotted Moray 1 24sept bari
Spotted Moray 1 28sept bari
spotted Moray1 1 28sept capt dons
Spotted Moray 1 30sept bachelor beach
Sharp-tail 2 15sept small wall
green moray 1 13aug ?
green moray 1 25sept ebo's
green moray 1 30sept donkey beach
green moray 1 28aug witch's hut
green moray 1 30sept 1000 steps
viper moray 2 25sept tory's
viper moray 1 23sept front porch
viper moray 1 20sept Andrea 1
Chain Moray 1 1Oct front porch

Here are the results of dead eels, through 2 Oct. Most were from this forum and others who reported to me,directly.
Interesting observation is what is missing. No Golden-tail Morays, and only 1 Chain Moray. These two do not spend much time directly on the bottom as the others do, but are usually seen up off the bottom sticking their heads out of coral heads 2 or 3 feet off the bottom. Jerry C Ligon

please retrieve the dead eel or fish. as stated in my previous post .... wrap in newspaper and keep cool with ice or refrigeration until it can be brought to the Research Station located at 21 Gob. de Brot. there is no need to call .. there are staff and students there 24/7. if you really need to make a contact my CIEE phone number is 785-3149.

TKS, Jerry. Bits of good info help ease the suspense out here.

TKS,Pietri. Missed your earlier post with 'directions'. :–)

Interesting that the preponderance of recoveries in Jerry's list are from north of the marina. Is the current drift along the coast there predominantly northward??

Yeah, thats a good question. Diving Witches Hut last week, the viz seemed significantly worse there than in the south; plus, it seemed to me there was more damage and what appeared to me to be some kind of disease process going on with some of the hard corals versus the southern sites. Probably just my imagination but I was definately thinking that way on the dive. It made me wonder on the dive if the sewage being dumped in the Marine Park in the center of the island was drifting North; or maybe that particular site is just becoming over dove. Who knows.

Somewhere that I can't locate now I have a copy of an aerial photo (Google Earth?) from 2-3 years ago showing a plume emanating downtown and going north, hugging the shore.

Is there data to show if the subject eels are more susceptible to 'stray' chemicals than other species?

Are any other fish species also dying? Or would any such likely be scavenged too quickly to be seen at the times divers dive? (I have never seen a dead fish on the reefs. The only thing that came close turned out to be a grouper lying over 2 Yellow-Headed Jawfish who were cleaning through it's downside gill plate.)

Are the subject eels bottom scavengers as well as travellers??

All these things are being looked at, I am sure.

So Bachelor's Beach to Ole Blue. That would put the cruise ship dock between the two points?
Not that I am trying to connect the cruise ships to this...but looking for large activity that could pose a problem.
It baffles me as to why just the eels seem to be dying?
Eels have poor eyesight..do they rely on sound to get about like bats?

Is it a coincidence that the eels are dying in the same places that sponges are being strangled by the red algae?

The farther out you go, the less red algae. In the areas of high concentration, the algae covers much of the sand. The greatest concentrations of red algae seem to coincide with the concentrations of population.

thanx for your input -- please keep it coming -- this input is of great value and is being forwarded to CIEE ..

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/marine-life-ecosystems/201302-can-you-identify-disease-spotted-moray.html

just trying to look up eel diseases.

The picture of the eel from 1000 steps looked like it had a large gash on its back/neck.. not sure if that is from the decomposition.

http://coralnotesfromthefield.blogspot.com/2008/09/say-it-isnt-so.html

One more...

Could this be an answer to Eels Dying to?

I happened to come across the study: "Teen Girls' Body Burden of Hormone-Altering Cosmetics Chemicals" published by the Environmental Working Group (http://www.ewg.org) http://www.ewg.org/node/27174.

"Laboratory tests reveal adolescent girls across America are contaminated with chemicals commonly used in cosmetics and body care products. Environmental Working Group (EWG) detected 16 chemicals from 4 chemical families - phthalates, triclosan, parabens, and musks - in blood and urine samples from 20 teen girls aged 14-19. Studies link these chemicals to potential health effects including cancer and hormone disruption. These tests feature first-ever exposure data for parabens in teens, and indicate that young women are widely exposed to this common class of cosmetic preservatives, with 2 parabens, methylparaben and propylparaben, detected in every single girl tested."

The study team further states: "We tested blood and urine samples for a total of 25 chemicals, and detected 16 of them (64%) in our teen participants. Each young woman had between 10 and 15 chemicals in her body. 9 of these chemicals were found in every single teen tested."

So if I understand well young ladies are exposed to cancerogenic and otherwise unhealthy chemicals through the inadvertent use of cosmetics and "body care" products and thus the wastewater and especially urine gets contaminated with endocrine disruptors and ends up a hazardous liquid.

What about all the people who a well over their Teen time and longer time exposed to this substances?

As fare I know nearly all of the waste waters flowing untreated to Bonaire's marine live.

Remark: The planned centralised high-tech treatment plan will not able to eliminate this substances and will even spread through effluent irrigation the original isolated substances to all irrigated places near beaches.

Only Source Control (urine separation) at the beginning of all waste water pipes versus "flush and forget" would make a difference...

Regards,
Detlef

Stay focused people.
The objective here is to help the biologists determine why the eels are dying so it can be stopped.
Not to speculate on the dozens of possible causes.

Rolf,I admit that the above articles go above and beyond..but every little input may help. There may very well be multiple causes.
At least there is a passionate desire to find an answer.

Jerry:

Noticeably absent are Purplemouth morays. When I was there @ Bari July 26-Aug 00 We noticed an abundance of Spotted morays out "free swimming" more than we had seen in the past. We also noticed several Chain morays out free swimming and had never encountered Chains free swimming in all our dives in the past. However, We did not come across any dead eels during these 2 weeks. The documented period appears during the Spawning Season. Is there any correlation? Is there a similar report along the Klein Sites?

Jim Bellay

I'm concerned about this; have any other creatures been affected (fish or crustaceans)? I guess I've been taking it for granted that there are always a lot of eels on Bonaire. Has this ever happened before? Is it also happening in neighbouring islands, such as Curacao? Is there any chance that this could be a cyclical occurrence? I hope the eel autopsies can shed some light on what is happening.

Have eels been seen dead between Divi and the marina entrance? That stretch is not dived as much as the areas where eels have been reported and might warrant a special survey.

It's not just the northern reefs. Here is the dead eel we found last week, on 9-29-08 - it was at The Lake, on outside of 2nd reef at about 80':



In a week of diving, we saw several golden tails, a few spotteds, and not one single living moray.

Let me try that again:



Thanks, Freddie

Yesterday, 7 Oct., on Barcadera, I found 2 Chain Morays and 2 Goldentail Morays and all four ALIVE. No other eels. Again, these two species are usually found up off the bottom, and don't appear to be as tightly associated with living on the bottom as the other moray species. BUT, I felt like celebrating. LIVE MORAYS, for a change. Jerry

Congrats Jerry!

I have been going to Bonaire once a year for probably about 15 years (skipped a few trips here and there). I tend to dive Calabas and the southern sites.

Three observations:
a) In all of those years/dives, I have never seen a dead eel. (Came close one year as a I came upon a mixed school of jacks attacking one -- I suspect they would have finished the job but they paused allowing the eel to hide in a coral head).
b) It seems like in the early years, I saw more green morays than goldens or purples. For years, it has been the reverse.
c) The population seems to ebb and flow a significant amount trip to trip -- especially greens. With seeing only a few greens some years. (Part of that is I tend to see more eels at night and I tend to almost always dive the same site at night.)

The whereabouts of WEB's waste-waters of reverse osmosis processes is not clear and not mentioned in any environmental studies, done by consultants as part of gov. sewage project planning.

Note: All Reverse Osmosis (RO) Plant Membranes needs cleaning by: Antifoulants, De-scaling Chemicals, Biocides, Ph-Booster, and Sludge Conditioners.

www-examples:
http://www.reverseosmosischemicals.com/biocides-reverse-osmosis.htm
http://cat.inist.fr/?aModele=afficheN&cpsidt=3015291


This chemicals are needed to reduce WEB's operating costs, eliminate hazardous acid dosing and reduce the frequency of their membrane cleanings through the use of specialty RO chemicals. RO antiscalants and antifoulants and non-oxidizing biocides have eliminated or resolved issues related to calcium carbonate, calcium phosphate, calcium sulfate, barium sulfate scaling, as well iron and silica fouling and membrane biofouling in Reverse Osmosis systems.

Where they go after being use and mixed with "dirt"?

Detlef

More speculation again

Jong Bonaire -- the teen center of
Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean


Can you drink the water?

Not only can you drink it,
you'll savor it!




Seawater enters and is filtered



The vacuum distillers dwarf the technical staff



Green pipes carry seawater, yellow are steam and blue are finished water



The beach, right next to where the water returns to the sea



Finished water is pumped to tanks high on the hills (red arrow) for storage
How many vacation spots are there where one of the attractions is the drinking water? Not many, but Bonaire certainly is one. Visitors and locals alike delight in the taste-free water that's not only good to drink but also seems to make the food, coffee and tea here taste better.

Two methods
The water comes from WEB, our electricity and water utility and it starts out as the same seawater found on our healthy reefs. Huge pumps draw in filtered seawater and pass it on to be either distilled or ultra-filtered. Both methods have their advantages.

The distillation method takes advantage of the waste heat from the production of electricity. This heat is piped off to warm the water to about 50º Celsius (about 122º Farenheit). The water is kept under vacuum so it actually boils at this low temperature, becoming steam that is cooled and condensed by the incoming colder seawater.

Boiled under vacuum
Vacuum distillation is expensive but results in the best water quality possible. The extra cost is worth it, though. When the residual brine is returned to the sea the temperature is only 38C or lower (just above body temperature). This protects the animal and plant life. In fact, the beach at the WEB plant is among the healthiest around. The ultra-filtration (reverse osmosis) system is less expensive but requires a bit more post-treatment of the water. With both methods, the water is tested daily and treated to the standards of the World Health Organization.

Up to the hills
WEB currently can produce about twice the daily consumption of the island so there is room for growth. In addition, the company can store many days of water in its tanks around the island and has developed two different plans for assuring the island's water supply in case of storm surge. Even in the worst case, WEB expects that it can re-establish a reliable supply within a day or two.

Come to Bonaire and enjoy the water:
in the sea and in the glass

WEB
Water en Energie Bedrijf Bonaire N.V.

Kaya Carlos nicolaas #3

tel: (599) 717-8244 fax: (599) 717-8756 e-mail: web@bonairenet.com

I read a relevant question (dismissed and unanswered in the posting above), not speculation.

To paraphrase the question as I understood it:

What is in the fluid returned to the sea from the water/electricity plant? Is it brine only (i.e., 'concentrated pure seawater') or have chemicals been added as suggested above that are pumped into the sea? What other byproducts (if any) are discarded by the WEB plant and how and where do they go?

Pertinent information for Bonaire residents and visitors. A straight answer from WEB would help.

See and zoom in by your self: http://www.panoramio.com/photo/1245484

US-owned Bonaire Petroleum Corporation N.V. ("BOPEC" ) within Washington Park at the Goto lake:

Where are the collected spills (storm water run-off mixed with soil and sand, contaminated by crude oil) are “going” after collection of this US-owned storage and fuel oil blending facility, since 1975? Just to a pond at West corner of facility?

Detlef

The aerial view at the link above also shows the plumes by the marina entrance and Harbor Village that I mentioned above.

The plumes may have been one time, then, or may continue. Not good whatever.

And although I agree that Bonaire's drinking water is first-rate, Rolf, the reefs are not "healthy"! Marine biologist after marine biologist has said the reefs are at the "point of no return" because of nutrient pollution from wastewater, sewage, etc.

The question is: what role does WEB play in this pollution of the reefs? Detlef and Glen raise legitimate questions about your processing of WEB's wastewater. So, can WEB answer those without trying to "sell" us a rosy picture that, at closer inspection, is not that rosy?

Sorry Glen What are plumes in this regard?

Don't forget the reason for this post is to help the marine biologists determine what is happening to the eels by providing them with locations & the dead eels for analysis.As far as I can see only one Marine Biologist(Jerry) has posted here.

A relevant question is how many eels have been turned in to date? From the dissection has trauma natural or manmade been rules out? Finally can samples be obtained for toxicoligical analysis?

Perhaps it may be necessary for the biologists to get blood samples from living eels for analysis(any volunteers?) If this becomes necessary the biologists have my sympathies.

"In the past month, I have been informed of the death of at least 10 eels: 2 Green Morays, 1 Sharp-tail Eel, 2 Viper Morays, and 5 others that were not described enough to be able to identify. If anyone has seen any dead eels, please report on this forum the 1. Species, 2, Dive site, date and depth, 3 any signs of damage." JCLigon

Glen...Most people don't look at aerial view...
I do...for many years...
The new maps may compromise the views. Not sure how you can tell "when" the date of the view is taken.
But..if you go to the weather "views" you can get a more up to date view of any area.
I have seen the Harbor views you speak of...and they are very disturbing. I don't understand why the eel deaths would be NORTH of this though? As they "appear" to be drifting South.

CIEE has someone in studying the eel carcasses. Contact CIEE or STINAPA to participate Oct. 20-27.

Thanks Annie! Are they on island?

I asked diving school Wederfoort on Curacao if they found dying eels in their reefs.

I just received a message that is does not occur there.

Very interesting, Bob. cb

10/20: Calabas reef dead spotted moray in 30 FSW. (Also, same dive, live one in about 60 FSW)

my group saw many eels alive. In fact one diver stated he saw the largest moray he's every seen diving. I can gesture for you but the effect will not get across. But the gesture he made for me was indeed a very large Eel. I have photos of many eels also. In my group no one mentioned any dead eels and there were 26 of us all diving between 10 and 20 dives over the week all over the island.

I hope this is good news!

This was printed in the latest edition of the Bonaire Reporter

Bonaire Marine Park Manager,Ramon de Leon, reported on the sudden increase in eel mortality along Bonaire’s coast. He said in a STINAPA release on October 19 that the eels submitted to the biologists at Bonaire’s CIEE (Council on International Educational Exchange) center indicated that a bacterial infection was a possible cause, but the results weren’t conclusive. This week Dr. Ernest Williams, an expert in fish illnesses from the University of
Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, will be on island to assist.
Bonaire resident naturalist Jerry Ligon independently reported that he learned of 27 dead eels up to October 2. More have been reported since. Most were Spotted or Green Morays- no Goldentail Morays - and only a single Chain Moray. These two do not spend much
time directly on the bottom as the others do, but are usually seen up off the bottom sticking their heads out of coral heads two or three feet off the bottom.
Live eels apparently in good health have also been seen.
Dive shop operators have been advised to collect dead or sick eels and bag them for later dissection. If shore divers find dead eels they should do the same and please inform the Marine Park (717- 8444/786-8444) or Dr. Rita Peachey at CIEE (786-7394). If the eel is recently dead, please preserve in newspaper and pack in ice if possible it and bring it the CIEE Center at Kaya Gob Debrot 61.

species number dead date dive site
Spotted Moray 1 12sept08 Buddy's
Spotted Moray 1 22aug Tolo (Old Blue
Spotted Moray 22aug Karpata
Spotted Moray 4 6sept Andrea 2
Spotted Moray 1 3sept oil slick
Spotted Moray 1 17sept Bari
Spotted Moray 1 24sept Bari
Spotted Moray 1 28sept Bari
spotted Moray1 1 28sept capt dons
Spotted Moray 1 30sept bachelor beach
Spotted Moray 3 6Oct Chez Hine
Spotted Moray 1 6Oct Jerry's Sponge
Spotted Moray 1 6Oct Andrea 1
Spotted Moray 1 8Oct Bari
Spotted Moray 1 9Oct Some. Special
spotted Moray1 1 12Oct Jeff Davis
Spotted Moray 1 17 Oct First after Omar
spotted Moray1 1 19 Oct Knife
spotted Moray1 1 20 Oct SW Corner
Spotted Moray 1 20 Oct Calabas
Spotted Moray 1 21Oct Angel City Turned in CIEE
Spotted Moray 2 22Oct East Coast
Spotted Moray 1 24 Oct Bari
spotted Moray 1 2 27 Oct Something Sp- CIEE
Spotted Moray 1 26 Oct Angel City
Spotted Moray 2 27 Oct 1 turned in CIEE
Sharp-tail 1 8sept small wall
Sharp-tail 1 8sept andrea2
green moray 1 13aug ?
green moray 1 25sept Ebo's
green moray 1 30sept donkey beach
green moray 1 28july witch's hut
green moray? 1 30sept 1000 steps
green moray 1 7Oct SW Corner
green moray 1 ear. Oct South Bay
viper moray 2 25sept Tory's
viper moray 1 23sept front porch
viper moray 1 20sept Andrea 1
viper moray 1 27 Oct Something Sp-CIEE
Chain Moray 1 1Oct front porch
Purple-mouth 1 25 Oct Something Sp- CIEE
Goldentail 1 Karpata ear. Oct

Total 50 Through 27 Oct
NOTE: Few Purple-mouths, Golden-tails, Vipers, Chains on the DEAD list. ALso, I have seen few Yellow-headed Jawfish lately. Are these pertinent bits of the puzzle?? Jerry C Ligon

From Oct 10-26 I saw no dead eels. I saw about the same number as on previous trips. 1 Chain, 3 green, 3 golden tail, 4 sharp tail, and numerous spotted.

Somebody on the island told me about collecting dead and 'almost-dead' (yea... like I'm going to poke one to find out if it's almost dead) eels, but I didn't see any.

Most of my dives were post-Omar.

(Message edited by raxafarian on October 29, 2008)

(Message edited by raxafarian on October 29, 2008)

Jerry, thanks for the update...this is just sickening. Have they had any luck disecting the dead eels to find any clues? It seems that the majority are on the North end as well, are they looking at location percentage?

Heartbreaking...

I'll add my findings from the 5-10th of October - no dead eels, but only saw one spotted moray, no chains or greens, and 10-12 goldentails.

Jerry, ygm

I'm a little late posting these results, from our trip in July but we thought that what we saw was isolated cases of badluck on 4 dives. We mentioned it to Bart @ Buddy's but he brushed us off as "Stupid Canadians that didn't know what we were talking about" We only found out about this issue on the Scubaboard Forum this morning.

Total of 8 Dead and 1 nearly dead.

July 18- 0700- 1000 Steps, depth 48 feet. Chain Moray - 18"
July 18- 0700- 1000 Steps, depth 32 feet. Green Moray - BIG 3'

July 22-0900- Oil Slick , depth 62 feet. Green Moray - 20"
July 22-0900- Oil Slick , depth 24 feet. Spotted Moray - 18"

July 24-1300 - La Danias, behind ladder on btm- Green 18"
July 24-1300- La Danias, depth 44, feet. Green Moray 24"

July 25- 0900- Karpata , depth 82, feet. Goldtail Eel 20"
July 25- 0900- Karpata , depth 72, feet. Green Moray 18"
July 25 -0900- Karptata, depth 60, feet. Chain Moray 18" watched for a while as it struggled to breath, spasm, drop to the bottom of it's hole, bash it's head against the sides, stop breathing then spasm and repeat. Had to leave as btm time was used up. We saw this same "choking, spasm behavior a few more times while there.

Months ago Detlef asked me what I meant by the word 'plume' in this context. Finally I respond.

I meant it in the sense of the trail of 'pollution' that can be seen crossing the mouth of the marina in the current Google Earth aerial image of Bonaire. It also applies to a plume of smoke, or steam, rising in the air from a chimney. Originally from 'plumage', i.e., a feather shaped intrusion of one thing into another.

That material in the water in the Google image can't be a benefit to the reef. I am not sure from the image where the pollution starts (hard to differentiate it from the reef along the shore) but it seems to be visible as far south as the square, light-bluish building.

Since the start of this thread I have been watching the moored boats in the Yellow Submarine pier webcam images. From them it can be concluded that the prevailing current along the part of the shore is south to north, like the plume in the Google image. That plume seems to turn westward at the marina mouth, so the current may be different further north. A north-going current could explain why most of the eel deaths were north of the marina, if a heavy poison came into the water somewhere down around town and was taken north along the bottom.

The 'choking' eel described just above is interesting. I don't remember another observation here of an ailing eel.


Can anyone tell us any conclusions from the study of the eels, or give a link to results?

Send Jerry a message for updates. His message is above here in this thread just a few items - Jerry C Ligon.

I am hoping that Jerry or Pietri will post here so we can all learn what is known. I could email them; I understand that both read BT so I tried this. :–)

Sorry for tardiness in reporting back, but here is some info.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sgzOHZPi0Pw
is a video clip put on youtube by Rita Peachey from CIEE. Also I have the presentation presented to the public at CIEE by Kara, one of the students.
I do not know how to put this Power Point presentation in this post, so If any moderator can give some hints, I will post the presentation that details the mortality of the morays on Bonaire.
Also, I still have not found any Yellow-headed Jawfish on any dives, and I suspect they were also a vulnerable species. Seeing a few young Spotteds lately, 5 on one dive on Bari last week. Jerry

Jerry,
I have found them in front of Eden Beach and down near the tug New york but much deeper than usual. Have also found some with eggs which is wonderful!!!

Jerry, this link shows how to attach your powerpoint file. Use the /attach option.
http://www.bonairetalk.com/cgi-local/bbs/discus.cgi?pg=formatting#images
If the file is too big, you may be able to convert it to a pdf and post that.

Detlef
If I am reading things correctly, the BOPEC terminal and all the connected petroleum interests in the US are owned by the Venezuelan oil industry.
Mick

Susun,

Are the 'them' in 'I have found them in front of Eden Beach...' Jawfish? Sounds right with your mention of 'with sggs'. (Jerry mentioned 2 species.)