I spoke from the heart, and here is what I said:

At the risk of being controversial, I would like to offer my honest take. The #1 threat to coral reefs is lack of political will and sense of corporate responsibility. It’s great that this summit is focused on those two groups, but we need much more progress on this front. Apart from that, the primary threat has long been overfishing, and that is now being joined by, and soon to be eclipsed by, climate change. Pollution and habitat destruction are at #3 and #4, the order depending on your location.

I was invited to speak about overfishing. Overfishing is a serious, serious problem. But there are simple solutions: DON’T CATCH AS MANY AS YOU CAN, EVERYWHERE YOU CAN, ALL OF THE TIME, WITH WHATEVER MEANS YOU WANT.

That means limiting the amount of fish that you take out of the ocean (i.e., total allowable catch). That means closed areas  (i.e. fish sanctuaries, reserves where no fishing occurs). That means closed seasons (i.e., times of the year when you do not fish for certain species). And that means restricting and banning some types of fishing gear (i.e., gear that damages habitat, targets juveniles, has high bycatch) – proliferating use of nets is the primary problem here.

All these measures amount to: give the fish and the reefs a break. Give them a respite, a chance to reproduce and replenish. Then fishing can be sustained at a higher level and be more profitable, and there will be more for tourists to see.

If there is one thing you should focus on to improve the health of coral reefs and the fisheries that depend on them it is protecting key herbivores: parrotfish and surgeonfish. They are the lawnmowers of the reef that eat the algae so slow-growing coral stands a chance. They are not choice fish in the Caribbean – there is not a strong cultural/traditional attachment to consuming these species.

Necker Island, British Virgin Islands. Privately owned by Richard Branson, and Summit site.

Belize enacted a ban two years ago and it is well supported by the community. Parrotfish and surgeonfish are only being heavily targeted now because they are the most abundant fish left after severe depletion of groupers and snappers. However, political and business leaders at this Summit committed to focus on creating regional protection for sharks and rays. I think that misses the point; that’s low hanging fruit, and it is not what is needed to restore coral reef ecosystems.

In mulling over all the speeches I heard yesterday, the almost entirely vague commitments made by political and business leaders, at first I thought that what we needed was to be more ambitious, to set bigger goals. But really it’s that we need to be more practical. In a region that is so heavily dependent on tourism related to healthy ocean resources it is simply bad business to allow those resources to continue to degrade.

100% of the ocean should be managed. Managed just means to have a plan. And the goal of that plan should be to increase the quantity of fish closer to their former abundances, and to fish in a way that is sustainable. So I would implore you to be MUCH more visionary than the Caribbean Challenge goal of 20% managed by 2020. If I had gotten to write the goals for the Caribbean Challenge I would have written: 100% of ocean area managed by 2020, and 20% of ocean areas set aside in fish sanctuaries that are completely closed to fishing.

You may say this sounds extreme, but all this really means is treating the ocean more like the land. You don’t just let people bulldoze willy nilly on land, you require permits for development; there are limited areas for industrial use; there are parks; there are farming areas. You should do the same for the ocean.

There is room for creativity in solutions. One such solution for sustainable fishing is the research that won me the Rare/National Geographic Solution Search prize. If you put a slot, a vertical and rectangular escape gap, in the corner of a fish trap you can reduce bycatch by 80% without at all reducing the value of fishermen’s catches. There are other such solutions ready for implementation.

There is also room for needed national and local specificity, but really we all need to think bigger. Not just protected areas, but comprehensive, island-wide zoning of entire coastal oceans or even entire exclusive economic zones, based on science, and with deep stakeholder engagement. That is the approach the Waitt Foundation is taking with initiatives in Bermuda and Barbuda, and we hope to do more of that holistic work in the near future. So if any islands represented here are interested in taking that approach, let’s talk.

Well, someone had to jump on Sir Richard’s trampoline.

Interviewing Josiah “Papa Joe” Deazle.

Here are some of Papa Joe’s words:

“Things are getting very bad. What you all are doing is trying to help us. This is no joke. This is a serious serious serious thing. If you’re in a country and you mash up your own livelihood what is going to happen? People don’t seem to understand that things are getting worse. If it go good, it’s good for everybody; if it goes bad, it’s bad for everybody. It’s everybody’s business.

There is much less lobster now, much less fish. I used to go get conch in water shallower than my knee. There are no more there now. You have to go into deeper water now, use SCUBA. It’s a mess.

Parrotfish is my favorite fish to eat because I have no teeth anymore. How I’m going to eat boney fish? … But catch of parrotfish should be banned. People are taking so much of them the reef is gonna die.

One of Papa Joe’s great-grandchildren with a pet iguana.

Fewer people are using traps now. Young people don’t want to do it. Fish pot wire is getting expensive and young people don’t want to spend the money. Instead they go diving and take the lobster out of other people’s traps –steal the lobster and the traps. We are interfering with one anothers’ traps. That’s the worst thing to happen: piracy. So when you go out you don’t get anything. We are hampering one another.

People are always fishing in the shallow waters. We need to move out into deeper waters and give the shallow waters a break, then the fish would increase again. I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s a mess.

Need to get the younger people to understand that things might na done, but they get scarce. They get so scarce it’s like it done. You can over do it. I’m an old man. My time is limited. Need to get the young people to come in and say this [Barbuda Initiative] is for the good of everybody. It’s a serious thing.

You have to eat. You can get things worked out, but the people just have to make up their mind to do it. If ya can’t get no fish, what you going to do? If you can’t produce no fish, can’t produce no lobster, what are you going to do? It’s not a joke. “Too late, too late” will be the cry.” 

There is supposed to be a solution to every problem.”

Papa Joe’s great-grandchildren playing marbles.

Bycatch. That’s the fish that fishers didn’t mean to catch but did – baby fish, species people don’t like to eat, fish no one will buy. High levels of bycatch make fishing unsustainable, not to mention it’s a huge waste. So what can be done about it? Well, that depends on the type of fishing gear being used. For fish traps (often called fish pots), I have a solution: put a hole in the corner. No, I’m not being glib. Putting vertical, rectangular holes, aka escape gaps, in opposing corners of fish traps can reduce bycatch by up to 80%, without reducing (and potentially even increasing) the value of the catch. How, you ask? Escape gaps allow the narrow-bodied and juvenile fish (including lots of herbivores) to escape, while retaining the larger, meatier fish that fishers want to catch. It’s that simple.

For a delightful, colorful, and way more entertaining explanation, check out the animation by Odd Todd (above).

This was the first research project I did as part of my PhD dissertation. I designed these fish traps with a local fisherman in Curaçao (Thank you Ibi Zimmerman!), and then did hundreds of SCUBA dives to examine the catches of different trap designs … Tada! The escape gaps worked. Tim McClanahan of Wildlife Conservation Society tried them out in Kenya … Again! Worked like a charm. Want to see the data? Check out my full paper, and one by Tim and his colleagues will be published soon.

Figure 2 from Johnson et al. 2010. Mean (±SE) catch composition of trap sets for families representing 5% or more of the total catch of control traps.

Lincoln Burton (Barbudan fisher) with his new trap design.

Armed with evidence from both the Caribbean and Indian Oceans, we entered this sustainable fishing concept into the Solution Search competition sponsored by Rare and National Geographic. We won! (Sincere thanks again to all who voted for us. For more info: our entry and my blog post.) Commission of the video above (and here’s the Vimeo link) was part of the prize, along with funding for future research, and a lovely plaque that’s in my office. Since the award, I got consumed by other projects (such as the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative that I’ve also been blogging about here), but Tim has continued to work to spread the adoption of escape gaps in additional communities in East Africa, and I’m hoping Barbuda will adopt the gaps too (one fisherman already has new traps designed).

Escape gaps are now required in all fish traps in Curaçao. In Kenya, one fishing community (Mkwiro) has adopted use of escape gaps, six additional communities are testing it out, and Tim is raising funds to spread this work to Tanzania, Zanzibar, and Dar es Salaam.

Curaçaoan fisherman Ibi Zimmerman teaching me how to make fish traps.

The majority of reef fish captured globally are caught in fish traps. Using escape gaps to increase the sustainability of trap use is simple, inexpensive, doesn’t require new gear, and it can work anywhere. Existing traps can be retrofit with a variety of low-cost materials, depending on what is available. As an added bonus, traps with escape gaps can reduce catch of key herbivores (i.e., parrotfish and surgeonfish) by over 50%. These algae eaters (I like to think of them as lawnmowers) are critical to maintaining coral dominance on reefs.

In sum, escape gaps are a win-win for fishermen and conservation. Fishers make the same or more money, while the fish population and ecosystem can rebound due to reduced catch of juveniles and herbivores. This, in turn, could further increase fishers’ incomes in the future when there could be more fish to catch.

Kenyan fishers lined up to receive escape gaps.

The problems facing the ocean can seem daunting, but in many cases they are also quite straightforward. Whether the issue is overfishing, climate change, pollution, or habitat destruction, we already have lots of solutions. The diagram below by Jennifer Jacquet and colleagues (full paper here) shows the full spectrum of solutions for overfishing. More solutions are of course always welcome, but we already have more than enough to start with: gear modification, marine reserves, ending subsidies for unsustainable fishing, community-based enforcement, etc., etc., etc.

So? What are we waiting for? Chose a problem, chose a solution, and go!

A message from your friendly Waitt Foundation Director of Science and Solutions. (Yes, that’s my official title.)

Diagram from Jacquet et al. 2010. “Scanning the Ocean for Solutions.” (click to enlarge)

The Blue Halo Initiative diplomatic launch celebration (photo album, press coverage) took place aboard the Waitt vessel, anchored a few hundred meters off Barbuda’s coast. It was an honor to host such an illustrious group of guests: Antigua and Barbuda’s Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment, Barbuda’s Member of Parliament, the Chairman and members of the Barbuda Council, Fisheries Department staff, Codrington Lagoon National Park officials, key fishermen, exporters, educators, and tourism operators. The guest list belied the depth and breadth of collaboration necessary to make this project a success.

Prime Minister, Environment Minister, Barbuda Council, Fisheries and Lagoon Park officials, fishermen, exporters, tourism operators, and educators. Amazing to have all these people in one room, gathered to support the Initiative. And all without shoes on!

Some highlights:

• Mr. Ted Waitt’s opening words poignantly summarized why we had all gathered: “I love this island. I think it’s a beautiful place, but when you go underwater it’s not as beautiful as it once was, or as beautiful as it could be.”
  

  The primary school’s steel band, with bandleader Evertt Thomas taking a solo.

• Prime Minister Spencer gave his strong endorsement: “We fully support this initiative because it brings to the forefront the need for us to manage the important fisheries and ocean sectors in a sustainable manner and with a collaborative approach.” (Government press release here, full remarks here.)
• Member of Parliament Trevor Walker spoke to the need for the Initiative: “I am really pleased [the Waitt Foundation] chose Barbuda to do this. We depend heavily on our marine resources and over time we have seen the depletion of those resources.”
• The most thrilling words came from Barbuda Council Chairman Author Nibbs, who pledged, “We are definitely going to outlaw the fishing of parrotfish.” As the primary herbivores on coral reefs (or the lawnmowers, as I like to think of them), parrotfish (known locally as “chub”) keep algae levels down so corals can thrive. Prohibiting the catch of parrotfish would be an important and bold step towards restoring coral reef health! However, I’ll hold off celebrating until this is signed into law.
• We made the evening news and the cover of a national newspaper.

Left to Right: Minister Hilson Baptiste, Member of Parliament Trevor Walker, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer, and Mr. Ted Waitt.

The community launch party gave the diplomatic one a real run for its money (photo album, press coverage). Around 500 people (about 1/3 of the island’s population) attended the event to learn about the Blue Halo Initiative, listen to the primary school’s full steel band (only an ensemble had been able to fit for the party on the boat), eat the delicious food grilled by local cooks, and enjoy a lovely spring evening on the shore of Codrington Lagoon.

The community began to gather at the Fisheries Complex, and the steel band played.

Some highlights:

• 

  Trivia game for the kids. I think she’s saying “parrotfish.” The most important fish!

  I had the pleasure of introducing the island’s newly certified SCUBA divers to the community, and presenting them with a donation of gear from the Waitt Foundation. (See previous post “The Good, Bad, Ugly, and Hope of SCUBA Diving on Barbuda.”) They will be key to the monitoring and implementation of the Initiative, and they certainly can’t do that without SCUBA gear and other key equipment.

• I gave out Blue Halo swag to people who correctly answered trivia questions. For the kids, I asked if they could name a fish that lived on a coral reef. Dozens of kids ran up, at first tapping me and then hitting me to get my attention so they could yell the name of a fish into the microphone. To be deluged by joyous children yelling the names of coral reef fish was such a thrill. I hope some of them become the next generation of marine biologists and park rangers.
• The DJ endorsed the Initiative by putting Blue Halo stickers on his DJ equipment, and as all good celebrations do, this one ended in dancing.

Introducing the newly certified SCUBA divers.

Many Barbudans are becoming increasingly vocal in their support as they learn more about the Initiative and its potential benefits for (increased and sustained fishing profits, support of the tourism sector, protection of local ocean-based traditions). Local and national politicians are behind us, and we are about to conduct an island-wide ecological assessment of the lobster, conch, fish, and coral (more on that soon). So exciting — and heartwarming too, since I have quickly grown to care deeply about this island and the future of its ocean. So much more to be done, but we are on track and momentum is building. We’re off and running!

[You can follow our progress on Facebook and Twitter (@BarbudaBlueHalo).]

Kurt Brown helping Rishma Mansingh check her gear before the class makes its first dive.

We recently ran a SCUBA certification course on Barbuda as part of the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative. Building local capacity for monitoring the island’s ocean resources and implementing measures for sustainable management is the part of the Initiative that I am most excited about, and this was the first step in that process.

Attentive students receiving an introduction to SCUBA diving from instructor Kurt Brown of Twin Divers Curaçao.

It may also be the most fun step, thanks to Kurt Brown, dive instructor extraordinaire and co-owner of Twin Divers in Curaçao (and translator for my Ph.D. research interviewing Curaçaoan fishermen). His sense of humor combined with his dedication to conservation, and seriousness about safety were the perfect fit.

Barbuda now has eleven newly certified PADI Advanced Divers amongst the Fisheries Division, Codrington Lagoon National Park, and Tourism Department. They are good! And they made good use of the gear Antigua dive shops Extreme Marine, Aquanaut Divers, and Jolly Dive donated for the course. From the very first dive they were always helping each other, solving problems, rapidly becoming self-reliant. They are ready to go out with the team of marine biologists that is coming down this week to assess the island’s lobster, conch, fish, and coral. The new divers will be trained in scientific protocols, so they can do subsequent monitoring themselves.

Learning to assemble SCUBA gear.

However, along with this good, there is the bad and the ugly. There is also ample reason for hope.

The Bad: I already knew it, but hearing Kurt say it made it sink in: “I didn’t expect the reef to be dead like that. The northern reefs are a desert, very few fish. There is so little coral. All we saw was about nine fish, and one was a [invasive] lionfish. And the fish run from you. They’re scared. If they see a person they know it’s bad news because of all the spearfishing.”

This is in contrast to reefs on Curaçao where Kurt usually dives, which are among the healthiest in the Caribbean, where spearfishing is prohibited, and where there is strikingly more coral and fish.

A dead coral reef on Barbuda (left) and a healthy one on Curaçao (right).

The Ugly: I had heard inklings of the wildly dangerous diving that lobster and conch fishermen were doing here, so I organized evening seminars so Kurt could talk with them about safe techniques. Per Kurt, “It was scary to hear how these guys are diving. They had no knowledge of how long they were staying down or the safe diving limits. It’s only a matter of time before someone dies.”

Evening SCUBA safety seminar for fishermen.

Some fishermen are going through six tanks a day, spending four or more hours at 70 to 100 feet, switching out tanks underwater. No safety stops – they just come straight up when they run out of air, when they feel the regulator start to breath hard. When we explained how dive tables calculate safe diving limits, the fishermen explained how obeying the tables would make it hard to make a living, that by diving by those rules they wouldn’t be able to catch enough lobster.

We explained that their diving habits put them at risk for paralysis, erectile dysfunction, and death. They get the bends, but don’t go to a recompression chamber – they just wait (for weeks) for the searing pain to subside then start diving again.We gave pointers for ways they could at least lower their risk: plan and time their dives, safety stops, rotate divers for longer surface intervals, and take days off to recover. I cried when I got home that night. I woke up the next morning thinking about the economic forces that drive this risky behavior, the same forces that drive unsustainable fishing – unregulated foreign demand, short-term thinking, how the lack of ownership of the resource reduces incentives for stewardship. Ocean conservation is much more about people and dollars than it is about fish.

SCUBA instructor Kurt Brown teaching the dive tables to Barbudan fishermen.

The Hope: These driving forces could potentially be addressed with management measures such as quotas, closed seasons, fish sanctuaries (where fishing is prohibited), endowing fishers with property rights in the fishery, and Fair Trade principles. There are solutions, scenarios under which (at least to some degree) you can have your fish and eat them too.

Despite their initial reticence, fishermen were glad to learn the dive tables and be able to keep the ones we gave them at the seminar. Three of them joined the dive class and learned about the safe way to dive. There are now fourteen newly certified divers on the island who can teach others about what it means to dive within safe limits. We encouraged them all to spread the word.

Another reason for hope is that some reefs around Barbuda are in better shape than others. Kurt said of Coco Point, “We saw sting rays and spotted eagle rays and more fish there, because there was more reef. That was the best place to dive because there was live coral.”

And Kurt is a role model: a successful, young, black entrepreneur who makes a living from the ocean without killing anything in it. If fish sanctuaries and improved management can bring back the reefs here, maybe some of these new divers can follow in his footsteps. Maybe one of them will open the first dive shop on the island.

Happy, newly certified SCUBA divers.

Well, then you might have something the Waitt Foundation calls a Blue Halo Initiative. The Blue Halo concept is comprehensive ocean zoning plus sustainable management of fisheries that:

1. Is based on the best available scientific, social, and economic data,
2. Heavily engages the community in the planning process,
3. Minimizes impact on fishing livelihoods, and
4. Includes sanctuary zones (where fishing does not occur) to restore and conserve fish populations and habitats.

Depiction of comprehensive ocean zoning. (Note: This is a mockup, not a proposal for zoning Barbuda.)

To many, this may sound no different than the growing number of efforts that fall under the umbrella of Marine Spatial Planning (MSP), and in many ways it isn’t different – it is certainly still marine, spatial, and planning. What does seem (to my knowledge) to be different here is that the Waitt Foundation is aiming to go from concept to full implementation for entire islands, bringing together all the key pieces of the puzzle – ecological assessment, habitat mapping, legal analysis, socioeconomic surveys, stakeholder-driven zoning, communications, and local capacity for implementation. Further, we received support from the top political levels before launching, instead of building political support through smaller proof of concept projects. Oh, and we plan to do it all within a year.

There is Waitt-funded Blue Halo work in Bermuda that more or less takes this approach, and which was the source of the “Blue Halo” name I find so compelling. As in, sustainable management is heavenly, angelic.

Honorable Baldwin Spencer, Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda. I had the pleasure of discussing the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative with him, and am thrilled to have his support for this work.

In seeking islands that might be suitable and amenable to application of a lean and ideally replicable version of this concept, we were invited to Barbuda. (See previous blog post “Hope and Opportunity on the Island of Barbuda” for more about this wonderful place.) It has a small (and lovely) population (~1,500 people), high dependence on fishing, community awareness of the need to improve the sustainability of management, and local and national governments who endorse the Blue Halo concept.

Thus, the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative was born. This Initiative is a collaborative partnership between the Barbuda Council (island government), Codrington Lagoon National Park, Barbuda Fisheries Division, the people of Barbuda, and the Waitt Foundation. I am thrilled to be working with all these folks.

The goal is to manage ocean resources sustainably, resulting in more and bigger lobster, conch and fish, healthier ecosystems, improved fishing catches, and strengthened ocean-based livelihoods.

The approach is to develop zoning, implementation, monitoring, financing, and enforcement plans for the waters within 1 league (3.45 miles) of shore that are under jurisdiction of the Barbuda Council. This can accommodate a variety of activities, while supporting ecological integrity and productivity, and working to ensure sustainable fishing for future generations of Barbudans.

Meeting with the Barbuda Council to discuss next steps for the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative. L to R: David Shaw, Addie Newton, Bentham Lewis, Calvin Gore, Elvis Burton, Arthur Nibbs (Chairman), Trevor Walker (MP), me, Dorcas Beazer-Williams, Sibly Charles, and Wayde Burton.

The technical experts working on this project are Benjamin Ruttenberg (ecology – California State Polytechnic University), Will McClintock (stakeholder-driven zoning plan – www.SeaSketch.org), Sam Purkis (habitat mapping – National Coral Reef Institute), and Kathryn Mengerink (legal assessment – www.eli.org). I am leading the overall project for the Waitt Foundation, as well as the socioeconomic assessment (which means I get to spend fascinating and enlightening hours talking to Barbudan fishermen and community members), local capacity building, and communications components.

Should you want to follow our progress, I’ll be blogging here, tweeting via @BarbudaBlueHalo, and there’s a Facebook page too (like away!).

Wish us all luck – or better yet send sage advice.

Low Bay on the northwestern shore of Barbuda.

Barbuda is the north-easternmost island in the Caribbean.

This island grows and grows on me. It is my fourth trip to Barbuda (part of the country Antigua and Barbuda) in the last six months. I am here to launch a comprehensive ocean zoning initiative called Barbuda Blue Halo, an exciting collaboration between the local government and the Waitt Foundation with the goal of sustainable management. But I’ll save talk of that for a later post. For now, I want to share some of my experiences and observations, and provide context for future posts about the project. A bit of an ode…

Tiny pink shells give Barbuda’s beaches their color.

So, meet Barbuda. First, it woos you with its pink sand beaches and shockingly turquoise water. Glorious. And, greedily, the best thing about the coastline is how few people you have to share it with. The island of 62 square miles (161 square kilometers) only has an estimated 1,500 residents, all concentrated in the town of Codrington. For tourists, there are only three hotels, with a total of around 50 rooms, and a few guesthouses, though many also arrive by sailboat.

The Lagoon. It is a Ramsar site, a wetland of international significance, with sea turtle nesting beaches and one of the world’s largest colonies of the (aptly named) Magnificent Frigatebird. It is encompassed by the Codrington Lagoon National Park, and has extraordinarily extensive (and almost completely intact) mangrove and seagrass ecosystems. It provides an ideal habitat for juvenile lobsters, and is therefore critical to the health of the lobster population and local economy.

Codrington Lagoon, with its extensive mangroves and seagrasses, magnificent frigatebirds, sea turtle nesting beaches, and juvenile lobster habitat, is a Ramsar-designated wetland of international significance.

The lobster. After the public sector, the lobster fishery represents the largest part of the economy, estimated at about 40%. Lobster is caught in traps and by SCUBA diving. I’ve had the pleasure of going lobster diving on three occasions with local fishermen. With a simple loop of wire at the end of a rod, they lasso lobster well before I can even spot them.

Vernon Joseph, my favorite Barbudan lobster fisherman/squash and citrus farmer.

The kindness. Local community members and business owners have been generous with me in innumerable ways after learning that I’m here to do work focused on improving the sustainability of fishing. Thank you Kelly for your insight and pep talks. Thank you to the Barbuda Council for inviting me and the Waitt Foundation in to organize an island-wide look at how ocean resources could be better managed. Thank you to the women of the Council office for helping me to get things done. Thank you Sir Hilbourne for walking me through the legal system. Thank you Henry, Roy, and Zander for showing me around the land and waters. Thank you Orlando for thinking through the practicalities of implementing this project. Thank you Myra for complimenting my dance moves. Thank you Wade for helping me understand the politics. Thank you Lindy for shipping my cargo. Thank you Karen and Keisha for befriending me. Thank you Cerene and Caron for the special accommodations. Thank you Vernon for the grapefruits, Henry for the peppers and okra, and Gail for the watermelon from your gardens.

Left: Roy (Fisheries Technician) and Alexander (Ranger for Codrington Lagoon National Park). Right: Me with Kelly Burton (Park Manager) – nice Waitt Foundation cap!

Speaking of food… yum. Agriculture is limited now (though farming used to be more common and the island used to export lots of produce), but squashes are commonly grown, and I’ve found local eggs, scallions, zucchinis, and more. There are a few restaurants and half a dozen people who grill meats and corn along the roads. Everything I’ve tasted has been delicious, including, of course, the lobster.

Left: Biga with his delicious corn and watermelon. Right: Irose at her roadside produce stand (I’m a regular customer).

The roads. Shared by bicycles, cars, and pedestrians. Driving theoretically occurs on the left, but in reality is a freestyle activity due to the potholes. But soon you memorize all the obstacles, learn to anticipate the wildlife (donkeys, horse, cows, goats, dogs), and it becomes a ballet.

The land. “All land in Barbuda is owned in common by the people of Barbuda.” No one even owns the land their house is built on. I find it beautiful that collectivity is rooted so deeply in the culture and laws. If you want to build a house or start a farm, you find a space and it can become yours. Of course, this is made feasible by the small population, but the result is that people come back. The Barbudan diaspora is focused in the Bronx, New York (which is fun for me since most people have been to my home town of Brooklyn), Leicester, England, and Toronto, Canada. But when northern, urban life gets taxing, or it comes time to retire, or absence makes the heart grow fonder and they realize just how wonderful it is here, people come back. Sometimes finding ways to split the year between places, sometimes returning for good. It’s home, in the greatest sense.

A pregnant donkey — unassuming from the side, but absurd when it turns to face you.

And the donkeys. They say there are more donkeys than people, and I believe it. Not to be believed, however, is the storybook lore that the sound they make is “hee-haw hee-haw.” Completely false. Rather, I can best describe the sound as “grunt-squeak grunt-squeak.” It cracks me up. It also amuses me when a pregnant donkey turns to face you, and what looked unremarkable in profile is suddenly double-wide.

It’s not all donkeys, and lobster, and boat rides, though. There are serious challenges. Barbuda has not escaped the global diabetes epidemic, sand mining is a major source of government revenue, there are a bunch of leases for pending coastal development, the coral reefs I’ve seen so far are in rough shape, and fishermen talk of how depleted the waters are compared to what they once were. But these problems have solutions, and as far as the ocean is concerned, I’m here to work with the community to find them.

Vernon pointing out one of the last living staghorn corals in Palastar Reef Marine Park.

So, that’s Barbuda, in a nutshell, through my eyes, so far. It’s an easy place to love, and I get a thrill each time someone asks me who I’m related to and here to visit. Would that I were so lucky to be born into such an island.

Two Foot Bay on the northeast coast, highest point on the island and popular camping spot.

Last week a team of scientists brought together by The Nature Conservancy (TNC) returned from a two-week expedition to remote islands in the southeastern Bahamas (see map below). Offered the opportunity to use the Waitt research vessel, TNC pulled together a great team of scientists and organized an expedition in record time. They conducted an ecological assessment of several areas that have been proposed for protection, but were virtually unexplored scientifically.

Map of the Bahamas with expedition study area outlined in red: Acklins and Crooked Islands, Samana and Plana Cays, and Mayaguana. (Via Google Earth)

One step in creating MPAs is to understand what’s out there under the water so you can make a solid argument for why particular areas should be protected. The government here agrees – “science must drive informed decision making,” in the words of the Minister of the Environment, Mr. Dorsett.

To facilitate this connection between science and policy, this past weekend the Waitt Foundation hosted a reception for the Bahamas’ political leaders aboard the Waitt vessel so they could meet the scientists, hear about the initial results, and discuss next steps. The Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of the Environment, and several other Ministers and Members of Parliament were in attendance, as were the heads of the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) and Department of Marine Resources (see photo below).

The data from the expedition are still being analyzed, but one of the most interesting preliminary results is how few large fish (groupers and snappers) there were on some of the most remote reefs of Samana and Plana Cays. To me this is indicative of how little fishing pressure it can take to deplete a fish population. It also indicates the importance of protecting nursery habitats – these remote islands did not have much in the way of seagrass, mangrove, and tidal creek habitats where juvenile fish thrive, so the fish the scientists did see likely grew up elsewhere. Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but if an area’s fish population is not self-sustaining, you can’t expect to be able to fish there sustainably, which is a good argument for protecting that area from fishing.

Scientists and politicians who met to celebrate the expedition and discuss MPAs in the Bahamas. Back row L-R: Lindy Knowles, BNT; Patricia Kramer, Scientist; Michael Braynen, Dir. Marine Resources; Philip Weech, Dir. BEST Commission; Eric Carey, Exec. Dir. BNT (partially blocked by my afro); Neil McKinney, President BNT; V. Alfred Gray, MP, Minister of Agriculture, Marine Resources and Local Government; Philip Kramer, Exec. Dir. TNC Caribbean and lead expedition scientist; Mr. John Canton, Dir. of Works; Vallierre Deleveaux, Scientist. Front row L-R: Captain Richard; Sandy Voegeli, Scientist; Alannah Vallacot, Scientist; Ayana, Waitt Foundation; Philip Davis, MP, Deputy Prime Minister of the Bahamas; Eleanor Phillips, Dir. TNC Bahamas; Kenred Dorsett, MP, Minister of the Environment and Housing; Renward Wells, MP, Parliamentary Secretary, Ministry of Works and Urban Development.

Near the end of the gathering, the Environment Minister said, “The Bahamas has been and will continue to be a leader in marine protection and in the Caribbean Challenge.” I sincerely hope they not only lead, but raise the bar. The Challenge aims for 20% of marine area managed by 2020. I say “managed” isn’t enough; it should be 20% of marine area set aside as fish sanctuaries, marine reserves closed to fishing, by 2020. Then sustainably fish the other 80% of the Bahamas’ waters. As the nation with the largest exclusive economic zone in the Caribbean, there would certainly be plenty of places left to fish.

But as the Deputy Prime Minister noted by way of allegory, if you dive into shallow water headfirst you can get paralyzed. He sees it as the role of science to ensure ocean management decisions are well reasoned and therefore more likely to succeed. Well, I’m certainly on board with science-based decision making. Here’s to such bold decisions, and them being made soon.

L. to R.: Eric Carey (BNT), Eleanor Phillips (TNC), Hon. Kenred Dorsett (Minister of Environment), and me.

In Nassau, the capital city, I was honored to meet with Mr. Dorsett, Minister of Environment and Housing, the Bahamas National Trust (BNT, which manages the country’s MPAs), and the Department of Marine Resources. We discussed the need to empower local communities to participate in the designation of new MPAs, the importance of economic data on the effects of MPA expansion, the need to create a sustained awareness campaign about the benefits of fish sanctuaries (where no fishing occurs), and the perennial challenge of how to prevent illegal fishing. Much to do, but Mr. Dorsett’s recent appointment as Minister is cause for hope that sustainable ocean management will get the thoughtful attention it requires.

Proposed East Abaco Creek MPA site.

While many important ocean management decisions are made in the capital, I was eager to get to the “Family Islands,” to see the locations whose protection was being discussed in these city meetings.

On Abaco, we explored the proposed East Abaco Creeks National Park with Friends of the Environment. I learned about Friends’ wonderful education and community engagement programs, and their goal to increase the amount of environmental research conducted on the island. I snorkeled in the surprisingly vibrant tidal flats, and made some failed attempts at fly-casting for bonefish. When I confessed this failure to my boss, he responded, “fly fishing is all about zen.” Given my excitement about the creatures I was spotting, I could not have been further from a meditative state. “Ooh! Cassiopeia upside-down jellyfish!” However, in such a lovely setting I’d happily try my hand again at this catch-and-release fishing that is such a big recreational draw for the Bahamas, and whose proponents tend to be conservation-minded.

View from the headquarters of Exuma Land and Sea Park. Makes me want to become a sailor.

Next we arrived at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park via my first ever flight on a sea plane. That did not disappoint – a plane landing on the water and pulling right up to the beach?! From Park Administrator Andrew Kris, I learned about how the Park keeps itself running by collecting mooring fees and making use of passing sailors as park volunteers. We snorkeled, saw four reef sharks (yay sharks!) and swimming pigs (hysterical). Despite the delightful diversions, discussions here, as on every island came back to the challenges of building community support and ensuring adequate enforcement in such a large and sparsely populated set of islands.

Exuma adventures: snorkeling, reef sharks, sea plane, and swimming pigs.

Ocean conservation work from my office in Washington, DC can get abstract. Absurd as it may sound, I sometimes lose touch with the wondrous magnificence of the ocean. Doing cartwheels on the beach, swimming with graceful and goofy sea creatures, and hearing about the real challenges of implementing sound ocean management on the ground were my reality check about both how much hard work remains to be done, and why it’s overwhelmingly worth the effort. The good news is there are a bunch of dedicated people in the Bahamas working hard to improve ocean management. I hope to be reporting some MPA victories to you soon.

Til next time, you can find me (@ayanaeliza) on Twitter sharing pieces of ocean conservation news I find compelling.

My plan is to use this space to share stories of what I have begun to call my “adventures in ocean conservation.” As Director of Science and Solutions at the Waitt Foundation, I travel the world on a mission to collect, create, curate, actualize, and amplify the best ideas for sustainable use of ocean resources. In my travels I have the privilege of spending time with impressive fishermen, brilliant scientists, savvy politicians, successful entrepreneurs, and devoted NGO leaders.

I am liable to look both of these ways in a single day.

Each trip I make reinforces for me in some way the fact that effective ocean management is only in small part about having the scientific evidence to support a policy. As a natural scientist, I strongly believe in the importance of gathering and then making decisions based on the best available data. But as a social scientist and policy nerd, I know that it’s rarely that simple. So I want to talk here about that nuance, about the intricate relationships between science, culture, dollars, fish, votes, and sustainable use of the ocean.

The Waitt Foundation, under the leadership of founder and Chairman Ted Waitt, has a simple goal: to end overfishing. The premise for our work is that overfishing is a tractable problem that can be solved by a combination of (1) science-based management, (2) engaging communities and policy makers, (3) establishing marine protected areas, and (4) raising public awareness. I’m all in. In future posts I’ll write about the great projects we are funding and my work with grantees to ensure their success.

So who is this Ayana person and what does she care about? I expect much of that will be revealed here over time. For now, my bio is here (CliffsNotes version: Brooklyn, Harvard, Turks and Caicos, Environmental Protection Agency, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 300+ SCUBA dives, artisanal fisheries research, Curaçao and Bonaire, NOAA, Washington, DC, Waitt Foundation), previous blog posts are here, and I’m @ayanaeliza on Twitter.

Adorable baby trunkfish.

But all you really need to know is that my primary motivation for this work is to ensure sustainable seafood for the approximately 1 billion people who depend on the ocean for the their nutrition, livelihood, and culture. I believe collaboration of all types is critical to achieving that. And I haven’t yet become so jaded that I don’t utterly enjoy a swim in the sea, a walk on the beach, or a baby trunkfish sighting.

Please stay tuned and let me know in the comments section what you think about what I’m thinking about. The Waitt Foundation and I are looking forward to learning from all who stumble upon and read this blog. More soon…