Tag archives for Waitt Foundation
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This past weekend I spent an afternoon with Barbudan fisherman Josiah “Papa Joe” Deazle and his family. 82 years old, still fishing, lucid, and so wise. I interviewed him as part of the Waitt Foundation’s Barbuda Ocean Initiative, and it was an honor. He was in the midst of his children and grandchildren who jogged his memory and…
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…
How do you publicly launch an island-wide ocean zoning initiative aimed at sustainable use of ocean resources? A party with a steel band, of course. Or better yet, two parties. 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…
I hear the SCUBA instructor say: “Buddy check! Weights? Mask? Snorkel on the left. Don’t touch the coral; it is a living thing and you will kill it. Don’t touch anything underwater! Hover.” We recently ran a SCUBA certification course on Barbuda as part of the Barbuda Blue Halo Initiative. Building local capacity for monitoring…
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…
In January, I was in the Bahamas to learn about efforts there to establish new marine protected areas (MPAs), meet the key players, and help strategize about how to make these efforts more successful more quickly (see previous blog post). I’m back because a critical step of that strategy has just been completed. Last week a…
Last month I had the pleasure not only of traveling among Bahamian islands, but of seeing them through the eyes of local conservation organizations. As manager of the Waitt Foundation’s grant to The Nature Conservancy (TNC), I was there looking for ways we could further ensure successful expansion of the Bahamas’ network of Marine Protected…
Hi. My name is Ayana. I’m a marine biologist, and I’m thrilled to join National Geographic’s stellar group of ocean bloggers. Big shoes to fill. 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…
