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Grenada

Telescope Mangrove Nursery

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Conservation benefit: New mangrove nursery to support community-based restoration projects

Date Approved: 02.2014

Mangroves

This project protects mangroves, which trap more CO2 than any other kind of forest and as a result, slow global warming.

The Greater Grenville Area is one of the most vulnerable areas in Grenada in terms of sea level rise and other hazards of climate change. The area includes four coastal communities (Grenville, Marquis, Soubise, and Telescope) which are home to over 5,000 residents. Many of them make their livelihood from farming, fishing, and activities such as construction and sea-moss farming. Along the five-plus miles of coastline in this area, the effects and ravages of natural phenomena are evident. The communities are totally exposed.

The communities’ traditional knowledge tells us that the coastline was once completely sheltered by mangrove trees. The forest acted as a buffer between the land and the sea, and provided habitat for fish and other creatures. It also provided a natural anchorage for residents’ fishing vessels.

To help bring back the forest and its benefits, Seacology is providing funding for a mangrove nursery. Residents will get training in how to collect and propagate seedlings, and will eventually transplant and monitor their growth and survival rate.

Project Updates

May 2015

This project was finished on schedule in April. Following the collection and propagation of over 2,000 red mangrove seeds last year, as well as construction of the bamboo structure housing the physical nursery (completed in July), at its peak the nursery housed over 1,600 pre-rooted seedlings. Seedlings were planted in the Grenville Bay area on Thanksgiving Volunteers Day (October 2014), World Wetlands Day (February 2015), and Earth Day (April 2015).

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January 2015

The nursery has been built and currently houses more than 1,500 pre-rooted red mangrove seedlings in potting bags. The seedlings will be transplanted as needed in Telescope and other communities in the Grenville Bay area.

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June 2014

After the initial activities of late March, acquisition of necessary small tools and equipment, as well as the construction of a staging area for the project, on Sunday April 27 a short training exercise was held at the staging area. This training gave some interested residents an idea of the processes involved in collection, storage, care and transplantation of red mangrove seeds, which will be used to set up the nursery, and eventually as stock for restoration efforts at various sites.
The manual used for the training was prepared by Dr. Gregg Moore, a wetland biologist from the University of New Hampshire. The training was led by Mr. Allan Joseph, former Chief Forestry Officer, assisted by Field Representative Tyrone Buckmire, both of whom have worked with Dr. Moore over many years. Following the training, eight community members travelled to the south of the island, to donor sites in the communities of Woburn, Hog, and Calivigny islands, among others, to collect mature seeds. By the end of the day some 2,400 seeds had been collected. These seeds will now be stored in buckets half filled with sea water, which has to be changed daily over the next eight weeks, until they have developed sufficient roots to enhance their chances of survival once transplanted to restoration sites. Four residents have been contracted to have primary responsibility for this makeshift nursery.

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