Cape Eleuthera Institute
| Formation | 2006 |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | Eleuthera, The Bahamas |
Key people |
David Philipp (chairman) Aaron Schultz (director) |
| Website | www.ceibahamas.org |
The Cape Eleuthera Institute is a research and education facility that works to enhance conservation initiatives and economic prosperity at local, regional, and global scales through research, education, and outreach. In 2013 through the work of Chris Maxey of The Island School and Dr. Betsy Boze, President of The College of The Bahamas, CEI was renamed The College of The Bahamas Cape Eleuthera Institute.[1] The institute seeks to model how island nations can employ intentional strategies for managing supplies, processing waste, producing energy, and conserving water. CEI is supported in part by The Cape Eleuthera Foundation and through private funding and research grants.
History
The concept for CEI began out of the research and marine conservation initiatives of The Island School. In 2006, CEI opened an independent campus adjacent to its primary subsidiary, with the vision of expanded research programming and ecological design systems management. It expanded to become an independently operating research station that hosts permanent and visiting scientists from around the world while still supporting the advising and management of The Island School’s Applied Scientific Research classes.
Primary Research Programs
Flats Ecology: Bonefish and Inshore predators
Shark Ecology: Deep Water and Lemon Sharks
Sustainable Foods: Aquaculture and Aquaponics
Marine Ecology: Lionfish, Sponges, Turtles, Patch Reefs, Conch
Facilities
The campus is continually expanding, and as of 2012, comprised a main office building and reception area, a wet lab, the largest of its kind in The Bahamas, a dry lab, two large dormitories, common meeting spaces, and a newly constructed residence for visiting researchers and guests. The Cape Eleuthera Institute shares ecological design components with the adjacent Island School Campus. The CEI campus stores its own 80,000 gallons of water in cisterns. The 5000 square foot wet lab supports the world’s first solar powered hatchery. A dry lab with four geothermic vaults was designed using sustainable building materials made of earth bags. Additional buildings were constructed using reclaimed Douglass Fir. CEI also manages a 3,000 cubic meter off-shore aquaculture cage designed by Ocean Spar Technologies, LLC., with a shark resistant net designed by DSM Dyneema and constructed by Net-Systems, INC, the first of its kind in the world.
Seastation
The objectives of the Cape Eleuthera Institute’s offshore aquaculture program is to produce marketable size cobia, from hatchlings to harvest, with a systematic approach to promote higher growth rates with a low food conversion rate, while mitigating environmental impacts. In 2004 the first off-shore fish-rearing cage was installed off of Powell Point Eleuthera. The aquaculture program has harvested cobia from two full grow-outs, though maximum fish production has been repeatedly compromised due impacts from native shark populations tearing holes in the netting. CEI partnered with Royal DSM in actively testing and developing a new shark-resistant fiber technology for use in open ocean aquaculture cages in warm water environments. In the fall of 2011, “PREDATOR-X shark-resistant netting made with Dyneema®” was installed at the Seastation. The Aquaculture Program at CEI has also partnered with The University of Miami's Rosenstiel School for Marine and Atmospheric Science (RSMAS) in order to develop a less ecologically intensive Cobia feed.
Education and Outreach
CEI offers campus tours daily, M-F at 11am and 1:00pm.
The Visiting Educational Programs Department at the Cape Eleuthera Institute and The Island School annually hosts nearly 600 additional middle, high school and college students, interns, graduate students, Ph.D. students, scientists, professionals and conference participants from over 100 educational and research partners coming from many different countries. They also provide education and outreach opportunities for local Eleutherans and visitors from the greater Bahamas. Educational programming is individualized for groups. Programs range from single-day to multiple month, and can include activities based in a broad assortment of educational opportunities. Programs may study: Marine Conservation and Ecology Issues such as Sharks, Invasive Species/Lionfish and Bonefish and Climate Change to issues of Sustainability including Alternative Energy, Green Initiatives and Food Sustainability, and Community Service and Outreach programs. With access to camping gear, a full service dive center, dockage and a fleet of boats and kayaks, they can also accommodate Adventure Education Programs including sea kayaking expeditions, SCUBA and other water activities. Programs have access to all resources and equipment owned by The Cape Eleuthera Island School and the Cape Eleuthera Institute. In 2010, CEI offered its first Gap Year program which it now hosts twice annually.