Announcing Project “Red Alerta” – Isle of Youth, Cuba
We are pleased to announce Project “Red Alerta,” a unique partnership of Ocean Doctor’s Cuba Conservancy Program and the community of Cocodrilo, a small community on the southern shore of Cuba’s Isle of Youth. Through this project, a coral reef ecosystem monitoring network and education program will be established in the community. Participants will be taught about environmental issues and protection, coral reef ecosystems, their importance and threats, and trained in monitoring methodologies. They will be provided with and trained in the use of snorkeling gear, coral reef identification and health assessment, and how to collect and prepare data for sharing with the scientific community and the public.
Cocodrilo has high unemployment and few opportunities. The majority of the jobs in the community remain fishing-related. Project “Red Alerta” can help broaden the community’s opportunities for income. As the community gains familiarity with its coral reef ecosystems and identification of corals and fish, they will be gaining key skills that can be used to educate tourists, allowing the community to develop a strong, sustainable ecotourism operation. Cocodrilo residents are eager to benefit from tourism and the first bed and breakfast (casa particular) was just approved in the community in December 2015.
Location of the community of Cocodrilo on Cuba’s Isle of Youth
Over time, the program will help support economic independence for the community and provide strong incentives to protect the adjacent Punta Frances Marine Protected Area (PFMPA). In addition, the program will have important educational linkages to young students in school programs and help foster a growing environmental awareness throughout the community.
[pullquote]The project name, “Red Alerta,” takes advantage of two different meanings of the word “red” in Spanish and English. “Red Alerta” translates as “Alert Network” from Spanish (where “red” means “network”), while in English, “Red Alerta” is close to the term “red alert,” conveying great urgency, appropriate to the dire situation facing Caribbean coral reefs.[/pullquote]
Despite its designation as a protected area, fishing continues illegally within the PFMPA limits, both by commercial fishing cooperatives and by individuals. Unfortunately, the net impact of continued fishing may be threatening the health of the coral reef ecosystem. In August 2015, a scientific workshop led by Ocean Doctor, including Cuban and U.S. scientists, observed a striking lack of large fish (including grouper, snapper and sharks) and some coral reefs experience an overgrowth by macroalgae, a possible symptom of overfishing. Understanding and managing the problem is compounded by a lack of ongoing coral reef monitoring, due to a lack of resources. Project “Red Alerta” can benefit the marine park by providing ongoing monitoring and economic incentives to protect it.
Ultimately, Cocodrilo could serve as a model for other Cuban coastal communities seeking a future that is both environmentally and economically sustainable.
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VIDEO: A Cuban Conservation Leader Reflects on More than a Decade of Collaboration with Ocean Doctor
Cuba and U.S. Announce Cooperation on Marine Conservation
HAVANA, CUBA – Today the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the National Park Service (NPS) signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with Cuba’s Ministry of Science, Technology, and Environment (CITMA) to faciliate collaboration in marine science, stewardship, and management of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). The MOU also aims to promote education and outreach initiatives in both countries..
Initially the effort will focus on Guanahacabibes National Park in Cuba, a Biosphere Reserve, including the waters of Banco San Antonio that lie off Cuba’s northwestern coast, and the Flower Garden Banks and Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuaries, and the Dry Tortugas and Biscayne national parks.
The MOU builds upon the work led by a number of U.S. nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), including Ocean Doctor, Center for International Policy and Environmental Defense Fund, which have worked for more than 15 years to elevate collaboration in marine science and conservation in Cuba during a period with no diplomatic relations and limited government-to-government dialogue. Marine conservation is recognized as one of the most successful areas of collaboration between Cuba and the U.S. during the years without formal diplomatic relations.
Ocean Doctor president, Dr. David E. Guggenheim, co-led a decade of research expeditions with the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research to create the first ecosystem maps of Cuba’s northwestern coast, until then its most unexplored waters. Banco San Antonio, the key Cuban component of today’s agreement, was part of those expeditions. In the process, this research helped train the next generation of Cuban marine scientists who today are in positions of leadership in Cuba.
Today, Ocean Doctor work in Cuba, housed by its Cuba Conservancy Program, has advanced beyond basic scientific research to comprehensive conservation efforts, including:
- Coral Reef Health & Resilience: Ocean Doctor is leading research efforts focused on the health and resilience of Cuba’s coral reefs along Cuba’s southwestern coast, including the Isle of Youth. This research will help ensure the ongoing protection of these reefs and may help provide insights to protecting coral reefs throughout the Caribbean.
- CUSP – The Cuba-U.S. Sustainability Partnership: In collaboration with the Center for International Policy, CUSP was announced earlier this year in order to help Cuba prepare for the immense wave of tourism and foreign investment from the U.S. and to prevent it from following the path of other regions in the Caribbean that have lost their culture and natural ecosystems, such as Cancún.
- Valuing Cuba’s Ecosystems: In collaboration with World Resources Institute, University of Colorado, Boulder, the Cuban Center for Coastal Ecosystem Research and other partners, Ocean Doctor is working to apply the tools of environmental economics to Cuba’s natural ecosystems to support sound decision making. Initially, this effort is focused on a proposal to expand the protection of one of Cuba’s most important marine protected areas.
- Cuba Environmental Film Festival: In partnership with the Antonio Nuñez Jimenez Foundation for Humanity and Nature and the Global Foundation for Democracy and Development (Dominican Republic), Ocean Doctor is leading efforts to launch Cuba’s first environmental film festival in October 2016. The festival will feature renowned filmmakers and environmentalists from around the world as well as Cuba, and through film presentations and round tables, will serve to foster dialogue in Cuban communities about environmental issues.