Thanks again to partner organizations RENISA and Proyecto TESÓN who helped us keep the beaches clean.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
The results are in
Thanks again to partner organizations RENISA and Proyecto TESÓN who helped us keep the beaches clean.
Friday, July 27, 2012
From El Salvador: Hawksbills in the News
Sadly, today's batch of links includes news of the deaths of two critically endangered Hawksbills, both of whom were tagged by ICAPO earlier this summer.
This video from Media Center ElSalvador.com (in Spanish) features interviews with ICAPO staff, as well as mangrove conservationists, and provides a thorough overview of the significance of the lessons learned from these particular turtles, one of whom died as a result of fishing with explosives, the other after getting stuck in a fishing net.
This video from ContraPuntoTV (also in Spanish) features a community festival celebrating the Hawksbills who were tagged for science, illustrating the increasing awareness of the importance of local Hawksbill turtle populations for conservation science. It also shows just how the satellite transmitters are affixed to the turtle shells.
Before the fishing accidents, this July 22nd piece at ElSalvador.com (again in Spanish) brought attention to the importance of protecting critically endangered Hawksbills and their mangrove habitat.
There is much to be learned from ICAPO's studies of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill, and the unfortunate loss of these Hawksbills reminds us of the importance of protecting our mangroves, and continuing our work establishing sustainable fisheries in Nicaragua.
This video from Media Center ElSalvador.com (in Spanish) features interviews with ICAPO staff, as well as mangrove conservationists, and provides a thorough overview of the significance of the lessons learned from these particular turtles, one of whom died as a result of fishing with explosives, the other after getting stuck in a fishing net.
This video from ContraPuntoTV (also in Spanish) features a community festival celebrating the Hawksbills who were tagged for science, illustrating the increasing awareness of the importance of local Hawksbill turtle populations for conservation science. It also shows just how the satellite transmitters are affixed to the turtle shells.
Before the fishing accidents, this July 22nd piece at ElSalvador.com (again in Spanish) brought attention to the importance of protecting critically endangered Hawksbills and their mangrove habitat.
There is much to be learned from ICAPO's studies of the Eastern Pacific Hawksbill, and the unfortunate loss of these Hawksbills reminds us of the importance of protecting our mangroves, and continuing our work establishing sustainable fisheries in Nicaragua.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Aloha!
On July 14th the International Surfing Association World Masters Surfing Championship opened on Playa Colorado, Nicaragua, bringing the world's best surfers, surfing fans, and international media to the region where we work.
Surfwire described Playa Colorado as "a place where the jungle met the sand and the Howler Monkeys offered early-morning wake-up calls" giving the international visitors "a first-hand opportunity to see and be a part of a surf culture on the rise."
Gold Medal Team Hawaii knows a thing or two about surf culture, having invented the sport and shared it with the world. "I'm really stoked for the Hawaiian team," said women's gold medalist Rochelle Ballard. "This whole event has been about that, sharing our Aloha and our passion...I love that spirit of sharing; it's really inspiring."
Hawaii deserves congratulations for their medals and for their work in protecting the Hawaiian subpopulation of the green sea turtle or honu, whose IUCN Red List status was updated this month to species of least concern.
The IUCN's (International Union for Conservation of Nature) new honu status is the result of decades of research and conservation in Hawaii that "allowed the population to recover, and gives hope to the recovery of depleted marine turtle populations in other parts of the world."
To everyone in the international surfing community, and especially to our friends in Hawaii, felicidades, congratulations, gracias, thank you, and mahalo!
Surfwire described Playa Colorado as "a place where the jungle met the sand and the Howler Monkeys offered early-morning wake-up calls" giving the international visitors "a first-hand opportunity to see and be a part of a surf culture on the rise."
Gold Medal Team Hawaii knows a thing or two about surf culture, having invented the sport and shared it with the world. "I'm really stoked for the Hawaiian team," said women's gold medalist Rochelle Ballard. "This whole event has been about that, sharing our Aloha and our passion...I love that spirit of sharing; it's really inspiring."
Hawaii deserves congratulations for their medals and for their work in protecting the Hawaiian subpopulation of the green sea turtle or honu, whose IUCN Red List status was updated this month to species of least concern.
The IUCN's (International Union for Conservation of Nature) new honu status is the result of decades of research and conservation in Hawaii that "allowed the population to recover, and gives hope to the recovery of depleted marine turtle populations in other parts of the world."
To everyone in the international surfing community, and especially to our friends in Hawaii, felicidades, congratulations, gracias, thank you, and mahalo!
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Welcome to Playa Colorado!
Here, in part, thanks to the SIMA Environmental Fund, which supports our Surf Ambassadors program for ocean conservation, we're helping with event logistics and making sure the environmental impact is minimal. Working with our RENISA and our Proyecto TESON partners at Comunidad Connect and Cafe Las Flores, we're patrolling the beach all day for litter. Playa Colorado is an important nesting beach and it's turtle nesting season, so two of our star rangers are here to patrol the beach at night for turtles.
We're pleased to join ISA in working "for the conservation and improvement of coastal environments and the protecting of surfing resources worldwide."
Friday, July 13, 2012
The Underwater Enviropreneur
For the winter/spring edition of PERC Reports, Reed Watson talked to scuba diver and reef restoration entrepreneur, Brett Howell. As the Walker Conservation Fellow at the Georgia Aquarium, Howell hopes to illustrate that Florida's coral reefs, a hotbed of biodiversity, present opportunity for cooperation and restoration, rather than a source of conflict.
Howell works with the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF), which grows endangered species of coral in nurseries, to identify parties who benefit from (and are willing to pay for) healthy reefs. Given that reef-related eco-tourism generates $4 billion annually, Howell is well positioned to link the sellers of coral restoration (like the CRF) with potential buyers, such as the dive shops and fishing captains whose businesses depend on healthy reef ecosystems.
With our own commitment to conflict resolution and reef restoration, we are eager to watch Howell's experiment unfold.
Howell works with the Coral Restoration Foundation (CRF), which grows endangered species of coral in nurseries, to identify parties who benefit from (and are willing to pay for) healthy reefs. Given that reef-related eco-tourism generates $4 billion annually, Howell is well positioned to link the sellers of coral restoration (like the CRF) with potential buyers, such as the dive shops and fishing captains whose businesses depend on healthy reef ecosystems.
With our own commitment to conflict resolution and reef restoration, we are eager to watch Howell's experiment unfold.
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