INTEC researchers carry out analysis of the ecosystem of the Bay of Samaná
The research project, which is carried out with funding from Fondocyt, consists of the economic valuation of the ecosystem services associated with the visits of humpback whales to the Bay of Samaná
SANTO DOMINGO. - A group of researchers of the Instituto Tecnológico de Santo Domingo (INTEC) carries out a pioneering study about him Samaná Bay ecosystem with the purpose of analyzing the economic valuation of the ecosystem services associated with the visits of Humpback whales to that area of the Dominican Republic.
Ecosystem services are those benefits that an ecosystem provides to society and that improve the health, economy and quality of life of people. Environmental or ecosystem services are the services that result from the functioning of ecosystems.
The study is led by Dr. Víctor Gómez-Valenzuela, environmental economist and research professor at INTEC, who is accompanied by the university's research professors Solhanlle Bonilla-Duarte y Katerin Ramirez. Likewise, as part of the project they participate as research assistants Ana Pou Espinal, Claudia Caballero González y Ramon Roque Paulino, students of the doctorate in Environmental Sciences of INTEC, who develop their doctoral theses within the framework of the project.
What are the main ecosystem services provided by Samaná Bay and how do they relate to humpback whales? What are the main threats to the Bay's ecosystems and how do they affect the whales? What is the visit value of humpback whales? How are changes to the Bay's ecosystems affecting humpback whale visitation and how can they be addressed? The answers to these questions are key to the planning and management of the Bay's ecosystems, as well as to the definition of policies and programs that contribute to the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal 14 on coastal-marine ecosystems.
As part of the project, analyzes will be carried out based on methods such as contingent valuation and travel cost, and geospatial study techniques will be applied to determine the health of the Bay's ecosystems. The project also includes an analysis of the governance of natural resources with the aim of improving the management of ecosystems and their natural resources.
The project is funded by the National Fund for Scientific and Technological Research (FONDOCyT) of the Ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology (MESCyT) and with the collaboration of organizations such as the Center for the Ecodevelopment of Samaná Bay and its Environment (CEBSE).
Gómez-Valenzuela, former vice-rector of Research at INTEC, indicated that humpback whales move thousands of kilometers from the North Atlantic to the warm waters of the Samaná Bay estuary and for this reason that area must be protected.
“These natural visitors are not tourists but Dominican citizens in their own right who come to the warm waters of the Bay as part of their life cycle and dynamics of socialization and reproduction. But they also contribute to the dynamism of national and international tourism due to the thousands of local and foreign tourists who travel every year to share with the exclusive inhabitants of the Bay,” said the researcher.
Whales are marine mammals with a social life and interact in family groups, as well as with other species of marine mammals (dolphins) and with the entire ecosystem around them, so their presence is a type of bioindicator of the quality of the whales. ecosystem services of the Bay.