Descriptions, field collections
The Blue Belt Programme is the UK Government’s flagship marine conservation programme, working with a number of the UK Overseas Territories to safeguard more than four million square kilometres of the World’s oceans. Earlier this year, the Blue Belt Programme conducted its first offshore research expedition ‘Beyond the Reef’ to the Caribbean UK Overseas Territories of Anguilla, Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos Islands. As a component of the ‘Beyond the Reef’ survey, Cefas undertook water sampling, yielding 417 filters (348 samples, 69 field negatives). Our overall aim is to identify the composition and distribution of teleost fishes and elasmobranchs around Anguilla, and the Turks and Caicos Islands in the Caribbean.