https://oceanexpert.org/expert/33249

ORCID : 0000-0003-0068-1953

Ph.D.

Research
Natural Resource Management
Other

Biological Oceanography, Marine Ecology

For the last 40 years  I have focused my efforts on conserving coral reefs around the world.  I spent many years watching the changes to Caribbean reefs, conducting research to answer pertinent questions on why the corals were dying, studying the impacts of hurricane damage, coral diseases, bleaching and coral predators, and looking for signs of recovery.  At NOAA, on the Coral Reef Conservation Program, and was responsible for a number of key policy and legislative changes, and also worked to raise awareness about important reef issues. As the Chief Scientists for Living Oceans Foundation, I developed and implemented a Global Reef Expedition.  For six years, I dove on reefs around the world, surveying more than 1500 coral reefs in 26 countries.  Our goal was to identify some of the gems worth protecting, identify the threats affecting reefs and tangible actions to combat these threats, learn what makes a reef resilient to climate change, and improve capacity for management responses.  I started my own NGO, Coral Reef CPR, to work more closely with communities, governments, non-government organizations, students, tourists and businesses in putting the lessons we learned to work.  Through Coral Reef CPR, we have developed a Rescue a Reef Program, where recreational divers help us with our research and work to combat biological stressors such as crown of thorns starfish.  We educate and train students, visitors and communities about reefs, the threats and what they can do to address these threats.  Our goal is to produce the next generation of Reef Guardians, turning them into citizen scientists that work to conserve the world’s reefs.  Our main emphasis is to come up with a low tech solution to restore reefs that can be implemented around the world for a low cost, targeting developing island nations that don’t have the resources or capacity to undertake the high tech solutions being proposed to save reefs.  I developed simple, highly efficient and highly effective techniques to grow corals, using corals that are rescued from locations where they would otherwise die, and create large coral nurseries that are turned over to the communities and resorts that manage the local reefs.  I am now outplanting the corals on damaged reefs and also restoring reef habitats that were devastated by the recent coral bleaching events. 

Caribbean Sea
Indian Ocean
South Pacific Ocean

Coral restoration specialist
Dive Master
Small boat operator
Coral reef research and monitoring 

English

ResearchGate