University Of Havana | Ocean Doctor

Cuba Marine Research & Conservation Program at The Ocean Foundation

December 18, 2011 By Ocean Doctor

Because of the decades-old U.S. economic embargo of Cuba, scientific collaboration between U.S. and Cuban scientists has been exceedingly difficult. Even though research is a permitted activity and U.S. scientists are allowed to travel to Cuba, the harsh logistical and political realities have prevented all but a few U.S. institutions from successful collaborative projects in Cuba.

The Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Program has been based at The Ocean Foundation (TOF) since 2008 and is built on more than 12 years of work in Cuba by TOF Senior Fellow, Dr. David E. Guggenheim, who directs the program, and TOF Research Associate, Fernando Bretos. The program is a regional effort to study and conserve the shared marine resources of the Gulf of Mexico and Western Caribbean.

Filed Under: Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Featured Tagged With: 60 Minutes, Cuba, David E. Guggenheim, Fernando Bretos, Jardines de la Reina, Proyecto Costa Noroccidental, The Ocean Foundation, University of Havana

Jean-Michel Cousteau on the Gulf, His Father and Our Oceans’ Future

January 30, 2011 By Ocean Doctor

January 31, 2011: Our special guest this week is Jean-Michel Cousteau, who leads Ocean Futures Society, a nonprofit marine conservation organization which he founded in 1999 to honor his father’s legacy to carry on his pioneering work in exploring, filming and protecting the oceans.? Jean-Michel has produced over 80 films, received the Emmy and the Peabody Award among others. He was honored with the Environmental Hero Award by the White House. In February 2002, he became the first person to represent the Environment in the Opening Ceremony of the Olympic Games in Salt Lake City. Jean-Michel led the effort to return Keiko, the captive killer whale of “Free Willy” film fame, to the wild. With his team, Jean-Michel has been working for months to document the impact of the BP Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster. Also: Our in-depth coverage of the National? Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill continues.

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Filed Under: Podcast Tagged With: Bill Riley, Bob Graham, bp, bp deepwater horizon, bp oil spill, climate change, Cousteau, Cuba, environmental education, Fidel Castro, Gaspar Gonzales Sanson, Gulf of Mexico, Jacques Cousteau, Jean-Michel Cousteau, marine protected areas, marine spatial planning, mpa, National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling, National Conference on Science, Ocean Futures Society, PBS Newshour, Policy and the Environment, President Barack Obama, Ray Suarez, shifting baselines, The Ocean Foundation, University of Havana, William Riley

PBS “Nature” 2010-11 Premiere Features The Ocean Foundation’s Bretos and Guggenheim in Cuba

December 22, 2010 By Ocean Doctor

Cuba: The Accidental Eden features The Ocean Foundation's Fernando M. Bretos and David E. Guggenheim

With the episode, “Cuba: The Accidental Eden,” the 2010-11 season premiere of the acclaimed PBS series, “Nature” features The Ocean Foundation’s own Fernando M. Bretos and David E. Guggenheim, along with other Cuban and American colleagues. Bretos and Guggenheim have worked together in Cuba for more than a decade and head up The Ocean Foundation’s “Cuba Marine Research and Conservation Program. ” Their work includes joint research expeditions in Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico waters and a major sea turtle conservation project with the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research (Centro de Investigaciones Marinas). The episode can be viewed in its entirety online (see below) and is now available on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

Jacques Cousteau, Fidel Castro and Cuba’s Undying Passion for the Sea

December 6, 2010 By Ocean Doctor

December 6, 2010: Join The Ocean Doctor, along with Ocean Foundation Research Fellow, Fernando Bretos, on a field trip to Havana to visit with Cuba’s next-generation of marine scientists at the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research (Centro de Investigaciones Marinas). We visit with the Center’s new director, Dr. Jorge A. Angulo Vald’s. We also visit with Dr. Julia Azanza Ricardo who directs the Center’s unique sea turtle research and conservation program in the wilds of Guanahacabibes Biosphere Reserve on Cuba’s western tip. For these two and their colleagues, their passion for the sea runs deep, thanks in large part to two influential people in their lives: Jacques Cousteau and Fidel Castro.

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Filed Under: Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Podcast Tagged With: Center for Marine Research, Centro de Investigaciones Marinas, CIM, Cuba, Dr. Jorge A. Angulo Vald, Dra. Julia Azanza Ricardo, Dra. Maria Elena Ibarra, Fernando Bretos, Fidel Castro, florida, Guanahacabibes, Havana, Jacques Cousteau, Mexico, sea turtles, The Ocean Foundation, Trinational Initiative, Trinational Initiative for Marine Research & Conservation in the Gulf of Mexico & Western Caribbean, University of Havana

Cuba and the U.S. Find Friendship and Hope in the Gulf of Mexico

October 18, 2010 By Ocean Doctor

October 18, 2010: After 50 years without formal diplomatic relations and no end to the last vestiges of the Cold War in sight, marine scientists and conservationists have taken matters into their own hands to form the Trinational Initiative for Marine Science and Conservation in the Gulf of Mexico and Western Caribbean, a unique partnership of Cuba, Mexico and the United States that is working past political barriers to make a difference for the waters we share and forging new friendships along the way. The Trinational Initiative recently held its fourth meeting in Sarasota, Florida and after nearly a decade of the Administration denying visas, more than 20 Cubans received their visas and participated in the meeting. The Ocean Doctor leads the meeting and shares its successes.

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Filed Under: Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Podcast Tagged With: Admiral Alberto Vazquez de la Cerda, bp deepwater horizon, bp oil spill, Center for International Policy, Consuelo Aguilar Bentacourt, Cuba, Dan Whittle, Fabi?n Pina Amargos, florida, Jardines de la Reina, Mexican Navy, Mexico, Mote Marine Laboratory, National Commission on the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill & Offshore Drilling, NOAA, oil spill, sarasota, The Ocean Foundation, Trinational Initiative, Trinational Initiative for Marine Research & Conservation in the Gulf of Mexico & Western Caribbean, University of Havana, Wayne Smith, William Kiene

Expedition to Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico: Preparations Underway

July 13, 2008 By Ocean Doctor

Exploring Cuba's Gulf of Mexico HAVANA, CUBA – Final preparations are now underway for an August expedition to explore and map one of the least known areas of the Gulf of Mexico — Cuba’s northwestern coastal waters, including Cuba’s spectacular Los Colorados barrier reef. A joint effort of the University of Havana’s Centro de Investigaciones Marinas (Center for Marine Research) and the Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, this, the fourth expedition in a multiyear project entitled, Proyecto Costa Noroccidental (Project of the Northwest Coast). (See Exploring, Studying Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico for details on this important effort.) The fourth expedition will concentrate study on Los Colorados, an area with remarkably healthy coral reefs, despite the alarming decline in the health of coral reefs elsewhere in the Caribbean. This research is providing the most comprehensive biological picture yet of this little-explored region, and Cuba’s healthy corals may offer important clues for protecting and restoring corals elsewhere. (See Can Cuba’s Mysteries Help Save the World’s Coral Reefs? in OceanDoctor’s Blog.) [Read more...]

Filed Under: Cuba, Cuba Research & Conservation, Featured, Projects & Expeditions Tagged With: Caribbean, coral reef, coral reef symposium, coral reefs, Cuba, florida, Gulf of Mexico, Havana, international coral reef, los colorados, OceanDoctor, texas, University of Havana

Exploring, Studying Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico

September 1, 2007 By Ocean Doctor

Proyecto Costa Noroccidental research team aboard Cuban research vessel Boca del Toro, second expedition

The Harte Research Institute for Gulf of Mexico Studies (HRI) at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research (CIM) [Centro de Investigaciones Marinas] are leading a collaborative effort, Proyecto Costa Noroccidental [Project of the Northwest Coast], a comprehensive multi-year research and conservation program for Cuba’s Gulf of Mexico coast. Dr. David E. Guggenheim, president of 1planet1ocean, is a member of HRI’s Advisory Council and also serves as HRI’s Cuba Programs Manager and is co-principal investigator of the project with Dr. Gaspar González Sansón of CIM. [Read more...]