Lucy Kay
Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST)
Lucy is the Marine Protected Area Project (MPA) Officer at the Community of Arran Seabed Trust (COAST). She has a wealth of experience working on community-led marine management and is an expert scientific diver. Lucy's role at COAST involves managing all of the research that goes on within the South Arran MPA, including studies conducted by COAST, visiting Masters and PhD students, and collaborations with government assessors.
From working with Lucy I learn the importance of good data storage and management for successful research and MPA management. Due to the variety of research studies that are conducted in the South Arran MPA for different purposes, Lucy is left with a lot of data at the disposal of COAST. However, without proper data labelling and storage information collected can be gradually lost and no longer useful. For a small community-led charity keeping good quality data stores is essential so that they can look back on what research has been conducted in the past and build from this into the future, instead of repeating work that has already been done but lost due to poor data management. Additionally, good data management allows for the build-up of long time series of information, showing changes in the marine environment over many years and the long-term benefits of marine conservation.
Laura Fernandes de Barros Marangoni
Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute
Dr Laura Marangoni is a postdoctoral research fellow at the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute and an expert in coral physiology. She studies how different species of corals respond to pressing anthropogenic pressures including: the rising frequency and intensity of marine heatwaves, marine plastic pollution and nutrients runoff.
Beyond trying to understand the pressures that coral reefs face, Dr Laura is actively seeking methods through which science can make corals more resilient to bleaching. Specifically, she focuses on the development of coral antioxidants and superfoods to enhance their strength and health.
This research is incredibly important as with predicted future temperature rises globally the majority of coral reefs globally are threatened. Even if all the necessary urgent action to address climate change is taken within the next 10 years, the level of warming caused by our current and past activities still puts coral reefs at risk of extinction. In the face of such challenges methods for supporting coral survival may well be our last hope for saving these important ecosystems.
Read more about Laura's research here!
Luis Bernal and Jean Carlos Blanco
Reef Restoration Panama
Luis and Jean Carlos are employees of the NGO Reef Restoration Panama (Reef2Reef). Funded in 2018, this NGO works to restore coral reefs in the marine area of Portobelo National Park in Panama. Reef2Reef collaborates with researchers, university students and scuba diving operators bringing together various actors who have an interest and can support coral reef restoration.
Luis and Jean Carlos are experts in coral nurseries, having built numerous coral nursery structures where they have grown hundreds of colonies of Acropora corals. They are now working to transplant these corals from the nursery back onto surrounding reefs, repopulating the heavily depleted reefs in the Portobelo National Park.
Learn more about coral reef restoration in Panama here!
Javier Rodriguez
Misión Tiburón
Javier is an expert in wetland forest engineering, having spent a decade working specifically on mangrove restoration efforts along the south pacific coast of Costa Rica. He is in charge of the mangrove restoration initiatives at Mision Tiburon, currently leading a team of 30 workers in a project to restore previously deforested sections of a mangrove forest near the town of Golfito.
From working with Javier I learnt the importance of trailing different methodologies to find the best approach for a specific local situation. Due to his wealth of experience in working on mangrove restoration, Javier has learnt what approaches do and do not work well based on the type of reforestation that is needed, the available workforce, time and budget. Additionally, for Javier the social component of environmental restoration is just as important as the environmental component. He has hired people local to Golfito to work on the restoration project and regularly takes time to teach them about how the success of the project will benefit future generations living in their town. He believes that in this way restoration efforts can continue to be successful after the project timeline and funding runs out, as local people will continue to support and protect the restored areas due to the information that he provided them with.
