Recent News

Videos/Photos: Start Of ‘Tour De Turtles Race’
Tuesday, August 14, 2012

This morning marked the official start of the race with one turtle being released at Clearwater Beach in St David’s.


Turtles to be released and tracked
Friday, August 10, 2012

At least five green sea turtles with attached satellite transmitters are being released from Clearwater Beach next week.


Tour de Turtles Bermuda: ‘Race On The Rock’
Thursday, August 09, 2012

“Tour de Turtles Bermuda: Race On The Rock” will kick off next week and will see green turtles fitted with GPS satellite transmitters to enable researchers to track their every movement as they “race” across the seas.


Volunteers clean up BAMZ
Thursday, July 26, 2012

​Some 70 students and volunteers from eleven companies participated in The Centre on Philanthropy’s Community Day.


Saving our 'floating golden rainforest' at a local level
Friday, July 13, 2012

FRIDAY, JUNE 13: The Bermuda Alliance for Sargasso Sea formed last June with the intention of supporting a government led plan to protect the Sargasso Sea and the multitude of species that live within it. The Bermuda Sun sat down with four of the BASS member charities to discuss their mission so far.



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Latest News

All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!

Concern as fewer predatory fish are being seen on reefs
Royal Gazette
Tuesday, July 01, 2014

By Cooper Stevenson
Published Jul 1, 2014 at 8:00 am

RG_140701_1a.jpeg
A Black Grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) at Bermuda Aquarium Museum and Zoo. Photo Mark Tatem.

Anecdotal reports on the numbers of predatory reef fish following the weekend’s Reef Watch survey are “not good”, according to Bermuda Zoological Society chief scientist Thad Murdoch.

While Dr Murdoch and the Reef Watch teams still have to analyse the data collected over the weekend, he said a lack of predatory fish on the reefs was not a good sign for predatory fish populations, which play a key role in keeping other fish species in-check.

“Certainly this year and last year people saw much fewer predatory fish than one would expect, based on what a healthy reef should have,” said Dr Murdoch.

“We still have to process this year’s data, but people were mentioning how they hadn’t seen one snapper or one grouper on a whole reef. That’s not good. People should be seeing 40 or 50 snappers and grouper on a reef.”

Around 20 boats carrying volunteer “citizen scientists” this weekend ventured out onto Bermuda’s reefs as part of the annual survey, raising more than $24,000.

Reef Watch — a community environmental monitoring and fundraising project run by Bermuda Zoological Society — aims to advance local knowledge on the health and abundance of critical species of fish and coral in Bermuda.

“What we’re doing is getting people to learn how to identify what a healthy reef looks like and we teach them what types of fish should be on a reef and what kind of abundances they should be seeing, so when they go out to a reef they can tell whether the reef is really healthy or if its not in good shape,” said Dr Murdoch.

However, Dr Murdoch said that reports on reef health were positive. “It sounded like coral health was good. Last year [Reef Watch] was right after a very hot summer, so coral bleaching was a threat and people did actually see it. This year, because it’s the beginning of summer, we didn’t expect people to see bleaching and from what I heard, I don’t think people did.”

In addition to collecting critical data on reef health and fish populations, participants also raised $24,573 in funds for the ongoing protection and conservation of Bermuda’s coral reefs, more than $3,000 compared to Reef Watch 2013.