A Bahamian Lens on Marine Conservation
The Moore Charitable Foundation’s affiliate, The Moore Bahamas Foundation, collaborates with conservation organizations in the Bahamasto increase stewardship and knowledge of marine protections through research, education, and local projects. In the second part of our Medium series on ocean conservation, read about how Tarran Simms, grants and partnerships consultant for The Moore BahamasFoundation, uses a community-based approach for his work with grantees to preserve critical marine areas in the Bahamas.
MCF: Can you paint a picture of marine conservation in your region? Has the Bahamas participated in any marine conservation actions of note?
Simms: The Bahamas has participated in several marine conservation actions of note over many decades. In 1959, the government of the Bahamas designated 176 square miles of land and seas in Exuma as a Marine Protected Area (MPA). This was the first land and sea park designated in the region. In 1993, the Bahamas banned long-line fishing, quite possibly the single most consequential action taken by the Bahamas for protecting its fisheries from overfishing and industrial fishing.
The Bahamas also created the first shark sanctuary in the Atlantic Ocean in 2011. Over 40 shark species reside in its 630,000 square kilometers marine area, making it the shark diving capital of the world. The Bahamas Spiny Lobster become the first Caribbean fishery to win the certification of the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) program in 2018. And on April 12 of this year, the Bahamas signed on to the United Nations Convention on Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (known as the “BBNJ Agreement”).
MCF: What are the biggest challenges facing marine conservation in the Bahamas today, and how do you think we can best address these challenges?
Simms: There are several challenges facing marine conservation in the Bahamas. These challenges include limited technical and financial capacity to protect 100,000 nautical miles, uninformed public opinion, limited local expertise in marine conservation, and the prohibitive research permitting system. This last one in particular has caused some international non-profit research institutions to leave the Bahamas, including those who were doing important work on protecting coral reefs.
However, there are ways to address these issues. One solution is creating more academic and career pathways in marine conservation to encourage more locally led research. Another solution is implementing holistic public campaigns that are inclusive of local communities to encourage more communities of conservation rather than conservation work being conducted in a community. Strengthening the University of The Bahamas Small Island Sustainability Program to create a center of excellence for all marine conservation issues for the region and developing a strong community of marine conservation academics can aid in government lobbying for a better research permitting process and other ways to address challenges to marine conservation.
MCF: Can you share the results or a success story that illustrate the effectiveness of an initiative you are funding?
Simms: In 2022, The Moore Bahamas Foundation began supporting research being conducted by marine researchers working in tandem with local crab fishermen. The project focused on a new methodology of removing stone crab claws to increase survival rate of the species after the claw would’ve been removed. The project included working with fishermen to find viable solutions to decrease the mortality rate of stone crabs. This is a great example of a local community working hand-in-hand with marine scientists for a better and more sustainable future.
Another success story is the Windsor Marine Scholarship. This scholarship affords high school students the opportunity to attend the only functioning high school marine science program in the Bahamas where students are immersed into marine conservation and actively work on marine science projects. These students have a high chance of studying marine science and/or conservation at the tertiary level.
MCF: How important is collaboration with other organizations, governments, and stakeholders in marine conservation strategy? Can you provide an example of a successful collaborative project?
Simms: It is highly important for cross-sectoral collaboration from the private, public, and NGO sectors. Marine conservation work is multi-dimensional and takes research, political will, policy, and communication for it to be effective.
Currently, we are preparing to enter a collaborative funding initiative with Builders Initiative, and Sean Connery Foundation with The Nature Conservancy and RARE, for projects focusing on empowering communities to conserve their fisheries. We are working on developing a collaboration with the two organizations so that both projects can be successful.
MCF: Are there any innovative approaches or best practices in marine conservation that you have found particularly effective in your region?
Simms: While it may sound cliché, the best approaches in archipelagic nations like that Bahamas are community-based approaches. For example, the protection of mangroves was pushed by fly fishing guides who understood that healthy mangroves lead to good fly fishing, therefore they advocated for legislation to protects flats in the Bahamas. Additionally, in the Bahamas, innovative monitoring technology currently is being tested in MPAs. This technology can be a viable solution to MPA implementation and enforcement.
Some approaches are rather simple. Nassau Grouper is a species that is commercially extinct everywhere except the Bahamas. Successful conservation of Nassau Grouper is as simple as not fishing for them during their spawning season. If you can just solve that, this is a completely sustainable fishery with current fishing techniques.
Many marine conservation problems are far more easily solved than one might think and just require a little cooperation between government institutions and the non-profit sector. Take fish traps, for example. If these are lost at sea after a hurricane, they continue to kill fish for years. All it takes is to mandate — and enforce — biodegradable fastenings, such as hemp rope, for the fish traps so they will break apart after three or four weeks.
