Dan Whittle: EDF Voices

Back in February of this year, our team of Cuban and American marine scientists placed a satellite tag on a longfin mako shark off the coast of Havana to track its movements. By mid-July, the shark had traveled more than 5,500 miles, swimming as far north as New Jersey – and we expect it to be back in Cuba for the winter.

The amazing journey of a single shark shows why conservation of migratory species cannot be the responsibility of a single country acting alone. We must work across political borders to share science and resources, and we must support one another to get the job done.

This is why Cuba’s historic National Plan of Action to conserve and sustain vulnerable sharks – crafted in collaboration with Environmental Defense Fund and the first such plan developed by a Caribbean island – is such a breakthrough.

A plan for sharks - and people

The plan calls for new protective zones to guard critical shark habitats. It adopts new regulations that will protect juvenile sharks, and limits fishing and by-catch of shark.

Importantly, it also involves fishermen in the collection of shark data because, as my friend Jorge Angulo, a senior scientist with Cuba’s Center for Marine Center, said, “The more we understand about how people and sharks interact, the better we can manage and conserve them.”

Cuba’s plan follows guidelines developed by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization, which has urged the international community to save the world’s dwindling shark population. I’m not surprised Cuba heeded the call.

The country is, in some ways, the epicenter of shark conservation. Scientists think nearly 20 percent of the world’s 500 shark species swim outside the island nation’s coast.

Cuba also happens to have some of the best-preserved marine ecosystems in the Caribbean, thanks in no small part to its strong commitment to conservation.

Earlier this year, the country banned shark “finning.” Today’s shark plan also comes on the heels of a historic agreement forged between Cuba and United States to work together to study and protect marine habitats in the Gulf of Mexico, made possible by the their restoration of diplomatic relations in July.

Next: A regional effort?

The new shark plan was developed over the past two years during dozens of meetings, workshops, e-mail exchanges and field trips involving, among others, our team and some of the Cuban partners we’ve now worked with for the past 15 years. The plan was later reviewed by world-renowned shark experts in the U.S., Cuba, Mexico and Australia.

Next, we’ll take a closer look at the plan to see how to increase our knowledge of sharks and to best conserve shark populations over the long-term. The management of the plan will then be coordinated with Cuba’s immediate neighbors and other countries in the region.

Already, Cuba is talking about crafting a regional plan for shark conservation, and there’s a compelling economic argument supporting such overtures.

Ecotourism is a growing business, and countries that want a slice of the pie had better look after their marine resources. Cuba knows.

Blog Category for Navigation: Oceans

With relations between the United States and Cuba continuing to improve, we knew it was just a matter of time before this new political reality would trickle down to the ocean floor.

The foundation for collaboration was already there, laid by marine scientists from both countries who forged relationships when the governments couldn’t.

We worked together for years to bring research and conservation to this still-largely intact region of Caribbean – and always on a shoestring because of the embargo.

The agreement Cuba and the U.S. announced this week to map and inventory marine life in the Florida Straits and Gulf of Mexico was the signal we all waited for.

The decision opens the door open for American scientists to study Cuba’s pristine reefs in hopes of learning how to protect dying American reefs. It allows scientists from both countries to now openly trade best practices for protection of endangered species or keeping out invasive species.

Perhaps most importantly, it paves the way for outside financing of marine programs in Cuba.

All the while, the inventorying and mapping of the ocean, as spelled out by the governments’ agreement, will allow scientists to collect baseline data that will help us better manage fish populations and critical habitat.

We stand ready to ramp up the work and show the world what this amazing ocean, with its rich biodiversity and magical coral reefs, has to offer.

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This spring, we made history together with a Discovery Channel film crew and a group of divers and scientists, 50 miles off Cuba’s south coast.

For its 2015 Shark Week program Tiburones: Sharks of Cuba, Discovery had expressed an interest in returning to more science-driven programming and chosen Cuba as the place to shoot video. A decade ago, this would have been hard, if not impossible.

The Obama administration’s 2014 decision to normalize relations with the Caribbean nation - and the impending opening of embassies this month - won’t eliminate all barriers we face trying to support environmental projects in Cuba, or obstacles to document such projects. But it’s definitely a step in the right direction.

Already today – for each, cautious step our nations take to break down 60 years of sanctions and suspicions – we’re seeing some doors swing open.

Discovery filmed new way to tag sharks

Discovery’s Shark Week segment from Cuba was the first environmental documentary involving American and Cuban producers and filmmakers since the Castro revolution in 1959, and probably the first ever.

Notably, it was also an opportunity to connect Discovery’s producers with scientists from Mote Marine Laboratory and several Cuban agencies, and with the sharks that bind us all.

It became a trip where we deployed the first-ever remote-tracking tags on sharks in Cuba, and the first time large sharks were tagged without hooks, nets, ropes or spears. The trip yielded the first-ever coral transplant in Cuba, and it was the first time a longfin mako shark was tagged and filmed underwater in Cuba.

The whole experience was novel in this new era of normalized political relations between the United States and Cuba. And it signaled that by collaborating across borders, rather than sealing off borders, we can expand marine science to the benefit of everyone.

I’ve been working hard over the past 15 years to build relationships with Cuban officials and scientists. And today, I feel optimistic we can - together - secure a future for our shared seas.

Normalized political relations expand marine science

Although the embargo remains in place, the Obama administration’s changes to America’s Cuba policy makes it easier for outside organizations to legally donate sea time on research vessels, along with satellite tags and other equipment Cuban scientists and resource managers need to boost conservation efforts.

Improved relations will give more marine scientists from the U.S. access, and enable a much-needed flow of research funds, as well as grants and loans from international development banks that can be used to boost ocean protection programs and facilities.

Today, Cuban scientists do amazing work with limited resources, but they want – and need – to do much more to protect the country’s rich and, still, relatively well-preserved ocean. Our countries are separated by a mere 90 miles of water, and the sea life that lives there doesn’t recognize national boundaries.

So it’s of keen interest to both our nations that conservation efforts continue and grow - and that we broadcast them for the world to see.

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Last week I was lucky to be in Havana when news broke of the historic change in U.S.- Cuba relations.

I had traveled to Cuba to visit a fishing community on the north coast and – coincidentally – to participate in a workshop on improving ties between our two nations.

That Tuesday, December 16, I attended a ceremony for former Ambassador Wayne Smith, who was being honored for his tireless efforts over five decades to bring about positive change to U.S.-Cuba relations.

We didn’t know then that change was just hours away.

President Obama’s decision to resume diplomatic relations with Cuba opens up a new level of collaboration and exchange with the Cuban partners that Environmental Defense Fund has cultivated for more than 13 years – while reminding us that the island’s much-needed economic development may also bring new environmental challenges.

A history of ocean collaboration

The oceans we share with Cuba hold a treasure trove of marine life critical to sustaining ecological diversity. EDF has long focused on working with local partners to find ways for Cuba to protect this extraordinary natural heritage while growing its economy.

Our work has paid off. Some examples:

• Marine Protected Areas flourishing

Early on, we worked with Cuban scientists to identify marine areas around the island that needed protection. As a result, Cuba set a target to designate 25 percent of its coastal waters as Marine Protected Areas.

Today, Cuba has more than 100 such areas, including the Caribbean’s largest, the majestic Gardens of the Queen National Park.

• Shark population getting protection

Since 2010, we’ve collaborated with Cuban scientists and fishermen to study the declining population of migratory sharks in the Gulf of Mexico.

In 2013, EDF helped convene an international conference in Cuba on sharks and, as a result, Cuba committed to a national plan of action for conserving sharks under a voluntary United Nations agreement. We’re now working with leaders to help shape the plan.

• Local fisheries becoming sustainable

We support a new community-based project called SOS Pesca that helps local leaders manage fisheries sustainably by combining fishing rights with sustainable harvest controls and marine reserves.

Pilot projects are under way in two small towns along the Gulf of Ana Maria on Cuba’s south coast, Guayabal and Playa Florida.

The work “has just begun”

There’s still much work to do. But the opportunities that come with normalized relations will also bring challenges.

As money begins to flow into Cuba, it’s critical that we build on this foundation of trust and cooperation to continue working with our Cuban partners to strengthen their impressive environmental protections.

Last Wednesday, I watched Presidents Raul Castro’s and Barack Obama’s speeches at the Institute for Foreign Relations with nearly 200 students who erupted in wild applause when President Obama announced the restoration of diplomatic relations.

Following the speeches, I thanked Wayne Smith for his courage, leadership and unwavering faith. He smiled and said, “Our work has just begun.” 

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On the surface, the remote, tightly knit village of Playa Florida—on Cuba’s south central coast—hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years.

Most of the town’s 514 inhabitants either fish or depend on fishing for their livelihoods. State-owned shrimp trawlers, many decades old, still ply the rich waters of the Gulf of Ana Maria. And private fishermen use the same small wooden fishing boats their parents and grandparents used to fish for lane snapper and other species in mangrove-fringed lagoons and around nearby keys.  Some of these boats have motors built before the 1959 Cuban Revolution; others are powered only by muscle and wind.

But amid so much continuity, locals say, Playa Florida faces challenges that threaten its economy and way of life.

Hardships

At a recent gathering at the town’s elementary school, one woman said she and her husband were fishing longer and longer hours, but coming home with fewer and fewer fish. Another fisherman said there is less diversity in his catch than in previous years and the fish tended to be smaller. “Some of the big fish are simply gone,” he said.

Local residents who serve as crew on the shrimp boats said they were making less money because shrimp harvests in the Gulf were declining. And finally, many pointed to sea level rise that is eroding shorelines and jeopardizing the town’s bustling summer tourism trade.

Playa Florida is not alone. Fishing communities throughout Cuba are facing similar challenges.

While Cuba boasts some of the Caribbean’s most intact marine ecosystems, for the past several years overfishing has significantly contributed to the decline of once pristine coral reef systems and thriving fish populations. Cuban scientists estimate that more than 40% of commercially important fish species are overfished – posing a major threat to Cuba’s fishing industry, food security and marine biodiversity.

Fighting back with sustainable fishing

The good news is that the Cuban government is taking steps at the national, regional and local levels to make fisheries more sustainable.

For example, earlier this year the Cuban government authorized the use of cooperatives in a range of economic sectors, including fisheries. Well-designed fishery cooperatives in other developing countries have shown to be effective in achieving social, economic and conservation goals. They can work in Cuba too.

In a couple of months, the National Assembly is expected to enact a new fisheries policy that places conservation and sustainability on an equal footing with production. Hopefully, science-based catch limits and measures to reduce illegal fishing will be featured in the new law. Finally, national park officials have proposed several new marine protected areas (MPAs) aimed at conserving coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangrove forests, all of which are important habitats for marine species.

At the regional level, scientists and managers are developing programs along Cuba’s southern coast to better integrate MPAs and fisheries management. This initiative includes a proposal to expand the legendary Gardens of the Queen national marine park, the largest marine park in the Caribbean and an important sanctuary for sharks and other large fish.

At the local level, a new community-based sustainable fisheries initiative called SOS Pesca is designed to give two small fishing communities on Cuba’s southern coast a more direct role in the management of fisheries and protected areas. Playa Florida is one of the project’s two communities, along with Guayabal, a town of 4,200 in Las Tunas province.

The principal goals of SOS Pesca are to conserve critical coastal and marine habitats in and around the two villages through new and expanded protected areas, to end overfishing through more sustainable fishing practices and management approaches, and to identify alternative livelihoods for those who wish to exit the fishery.

Fishermen in both communities will be examining how fishery cooperatives and other tools can be used to improve fishing conditions, increase revenues and sustain healthy fish stocks for future generations. SOS Pesca is supported by a grant from the European Union and is being implemented by the Cuban National Center for Protected Areas, the Italian NGO COSPE, World Wildlife Fund-Netherlands, and a variety of Cuban institutions. EDF is providing scientific support and fisheries expertise to the initiative.

Cuba’s biodiversity on land and sea is among the richest in the Caribbean. Many of its coral reefs are healthy and still teeming with abundant populations of big fish not commonly seen elsewhere in the region.  The government is now trying to preserve that natural heritage, and the traditional ways of life that have coexisted with it in places like Playa Florida. Getting communities and fishermen directly involved in that process is critically important.

As we were leaving our meeting in Playa Florida, I met a fishermen who told me he had seven children and all of them wanted to fish for a living.  “Fishing’s what we do. It’s our future,” he said.

I couldn’t agree with him more.

On the surface, the remote, tightly knit village of Playa Florida—on Cuba’s south central coast--hasn’t changed much over the last 50 years.

Most of the town’s 514 inhabitants either fish or depend on fishing for their livelihoods. State-owned shrimp trawlers, many decades old, still ply the rich waters of the Gulf of Ana Maria. And private fishermen use the same small wooden fishing boats their parents and grandparents used to fish for lane snapper and other species in mangrove-fringed lagoons and around nearby keys.  Some of these boats have motors built before the 1959 Cuban Revolution; others are powered only by muscle and wind.

But amid so much continuity, locals say, Playa Florida faces challenges that threaten its economy and way of life.

Hardships

At a recent gathering at the town’s elementary school, one woman said she and her husband were fishing longer and longer hours, but coming home with fewer and fewer fish. Another fisherman said there is less diversity in his catch than in previous years and the fish tended to be smaller. “Some of the big fish are simply gone,” he said.

Local residents who serve as crew on the shrimp boats said they were making less money because shrimp harvests in the Gulf were declining. And finally, many pointed to sea level rise that is eroding shorelines and jeopardizing the town’s bustling summer tourism trade.

Playa Florida is not alone. Fishing communities throughout Cuba are facing similar challenges.

While Cuba boasts some of the Caribbean’s most intact marine ecosystems, for the past several years overfishing has significantly contributed to the decline of once pristine coral reef systems and thriving fish populations. Cuban scientists estimate that more than 40% of commercially important fish species are overfished – posing a major threat to Cuba’s fishing industry, food security and marine biodiversity.

Fighting back with sustainable fishing

The good news is that the Cuban government is taking steps at the national, regional and local levels to make fisheries more sustainable.

For example, earlier this year the Cuban government authorized the use of cooperatives in a range of economic sectors, including fisheries. Well-designed fishery cooperatives in other developing countries have shown to be effective in achieving social, economic and conservation goals. They can work in Cuba too.

In a couple of months, the National Assembly is expected to enact a new fisheries policy that places conservation and sustainability on an equal footing with production. Hopefully, science-based catch limits and measures to reduce illegal fishing will be featured in the new law. Finally, national park officials have proposed several new marine protected areas (MPAs) aimed at conserving coral reefs, sea grass beds and mangrove forests, all of which are important habitats for marine species.

At the regional level, scientists and managers are developing programs along Cuba’s southern coast to better integrate MPAs and fisheries management. This initiative includes a proposal to expand the legendary Gardens of the Queen national marine park, the largest marine park in the Caribbean and an important sanctuary for sharks and other large fish.

At the local level, a new community-based sustainable fisheries initiative called SOS Pesca is designed to give two small fishing communities on Cuba’s southern coast a more direct role in the management of fisheries and protected areas. Playa Florida is one of the project’s two communities, along with Guayabal, a town of 4,200 in Las Tunas province.

The principal goals of SOS Pesca are to conserve critical coastal and marine habitats in and around the two villages through new and expanded protected areas, to end overfishing through more sustainable fishing practices and management approaches, and to identify alternative livelihoods for those who wish to exit the fishery.

Fishermen in both communities will be examining how fishery cooperatives and other tools can be used to improve fishing conditions, increase revenues and sustain healthy fish stocks for future generations. SOS Pesca is supported by a grant from the European Union and is being implemented by the Cuban National Center for Protected Areas, the Italian NGO COSPE, World Wildlife Fund-Netherlands, and a variety of Cuban institutions. EDF is providing scientific support and fisheries expertise to the initiative.

Cuba’s biodiversity on land and sea is among the richest in the Caribbean. Many of its coral reefs are healthy and still teeming with abundant populations of big fish not commonly seen elsewhere in the region.  The government is now trying to preserve that natural heritage, and the traditional ways of life that have coexisted with it in places like Playa Florida. Getting communities and fishermen directly involved in that process is critically important.

As we were leaving our meeting in Playa Florida, I met a fishermen who told me he had seven children and all of them wanted to fish for a living.  “Fishing’s what we do. It’s our future,” he said.

I couldn’t agree with him more.

Dan WhittleImage caption: Fishing boats at Playa Florida.

America's pastime, as played in Cuba.

Jungle_Boy?http://www.flickr.com/photos/jungle_boy/135972777/">flickr

Recently I spoke in Tampa, FL, to a group of Cuban Americans whose goal is to improve relations between the United States and Cuba. They asked me to talk about the profound ecological connection between our two countries, and why our two governments should cooperate on environmental matters.  I began by telling them a story, but not about the environment.

Last winter I had dinner with Jim Bunning, a family friend who was both a United States Senator and a Hall of Fame Major League pitcher. As we ate, Senator Bunning told me about an old Cuban friend of his named Conrado “Connie” Marrero.  Marrero was born in 1911, when William Howard Taft was President of the United States and José Miguel Gómez (a.k.a.  The Shark) was Cuba’s president.

Marrero grew up to become a great pitcher in the Cuban amateur league, when amateur baseball was the name of the game there. He then played professionally in Cuba until 1950, when, at age 38, he was recruited to play in the big leagues for the Washington Senators.

In 1956, Bunning told me, it was Marrero, by then the Detroit Tigers’ pitching coach, who taught him how to throw a slider. Bunning perfected the pitch playing winter league ball in Cuba with Marrero in 1957.

That year, Bunning won 20 games for Detroit (after winning eight in the previous two seasons) and was on his way to the Hall of Fame.  “Connie changed my game,” he said.

A few weeks ago, I met Connie Marrero at his home in Havana. He was almost 102, and though frail, blind, hard of hearing and no longer throwing a slider, Connie was excited to hear news of his old friend.  He reminisced about playing with Bunning and against Joe Dimaggio, Ted Williams and other legends. When I told him that Bunning gave him credit for changing his game, he just smiled.

I told that story in Tampa as a reminder that U.S.--Cuba relations were once as close as the sliver of saltwater that separates the two nations, and should be so again. This is important for both countries, which, despite five decades of political stalemate, share much more than a love of baseball.

In fact, the two countries are tightly linked environmentally -- in ways that no political disagreements can affect. Cuban coastal waters are the spawning grounds for snapper, grouper and other fish that support commercial and recreational fisheries in Florida.  The Havana area is a wintering ground for most of the familiar songbirds that nest along the eastern seaboard of the United States. Finally, Cuban waters in the Gulf of Mexico hold vast oil reserves, and if a major oil spill were ever to occur, currents in the Florida Straits would almost certainly carry oil to American waters and shorelines. 

Thus it is in the interest of both countries, as I reminded my audience, to work together to protect and sustain the common natural connection that nature has given us.

As I was leaving the event in Tampa, a 91-year old Cuban man named Alberto said that my story of Marrero made him feel like a teenager again. Alberto has been working for more than 50 years to bring about a rapprochement between the U.S. and Cuba. It’s time for us to follow his lead and change our game with Cuba. We will all come out winners.

Blog Category for Navigation: Oceans

 

Image by flippinyank/http://www.flickr.com/photos/26326001@N08/3093235732/">Flickr

Recently, the PBS show Nature rebroadcast “Cuba: An Accidental Eden,” a documentary first shown in September 2010. The program provided beautiful images of the island’s largely unspoiled natural environment, as well as interviews with Cuban scientists and environmentalists, who speak proudly of preserving their country’s wildlife and rich biodiversity.

I remember watching the documentary when it first aired, with a group of Cuban marine biologists, fishery scientists and park rangers in a hotel bar in Sarasota, Fla. They had come to a workshop to share research with Mexican and American colleagues and to discuss how we could collaborate to protect marine ecosystems in the Gulf of Mexico and western Caribbean. 

As a Cuban scientist said after the documentary ended, “We may be separated by a wide political gulf, but the Gulf of Mexico brings us close together.”

Truer words could not be spoken. Because of the prevailing currents and Cuba's proximity to the United States, marine and terrestrial ecosystems in the two countries are tightly linked in ways that no political disagreements can affect.

Cuban coastal waters are the spawning grounds for snapper, grouper and other reef fish that are crucial to commercial and recreational fisheries in Florida.  Migratory sharks swim freely across the Gulf’s political boundaries, and American scientists have recently discovered a vast deep water coral ecosystem that may extend from North Carolina to the north coast of Cuba.  Also, the area around Havana is a major wintering ground for most of the familiar songbirds that nest along the eastern seaboard of the United States. 

Lastly, Cuban waters off the Gulf of Mexico hold vast oil reserves, and if a major oil spill were ever to occur, currents in the Florida Straits would almost certainly carry oil to American waters and shorelines. 

Which brings us back to the bar in Sarasota...  

In recent years, the Cuban and U.S. governments have taken important steps to facilitate scientific exchanges and environmental dialogue. That workshop in 2010 is one example – an event made possible only because the U.S. State Department granted travel visas to 20 Cuban experts, none of whom had been here for years.

Since then, collaborations between Cuban and American scientists have grown and important joint research is underway on issues ranging from protecting endangered manatees, sea turtles and other endangered species, to preserving coral reefs through an international network of marine parks. The two governments are also talking about the best way to prevent another oil spill in the Gulf. 

Environmental protection is no accident. It requires good science, careful planning, and strong political will. In the case the U.S. and Cuba, it starts with cooperation.

Blog Category for Navigation: Oceans