Building a Bright and Prosperous FutureWhere Nature and People Thrive

CARIBBEAN DIVISION | THE WORLD WE DEPEND ON DEPENDS ON US

Puerto Rico means rich port, a reference to the wealth that once departed from the port of San Juan Bautista for Spain. However, the true riches of Puerto Rico are woven into the landscape in a spec-tacular array of beaches, mangroves, rainforests, coral reefs and thousands of wildlife species. Like all islands in the Caribbean, the fishing and tourism industries serve as lifelines for Puerto Rico’s families, communities and local economies. The health and productivity of the resources that support fishing and tourism are vital to the wellbeing and prosperity of Puerto Ricans. The Nature Conservancy established an on-island presence in Puerto Rico in 2011, follow-

ing a comprehensive assessment of its terrestrial, marine and freshwater systems that confirmed the diversity and impor-tance of these resources and the critical need to protect them. The Conservancy works closely with local government and stakeholders in Puerto Rico to protect the resources its nearly 4 million residents rely on every day and to build a future where nature and people can thrive.

Protecting Marine Habitat toSafeguard Nature and Livelihoods Puerto Rico has some of the Caribbean’s most expansive coral reef systems, with about 2,000 square miles of shallow reefs surrounding the coastline. These reefs

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Fishing boats along Playa Crashboat in Aguadilla © Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

are key to the fishing and tourism indus-tries in Puerto Rico, but they have fallen into alarming decline due to overfishing, pollution and the impacts of climate change such as ocean warming and acid-ification. The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) rates 93 percent of Puerto Rico’s reefs as threatened, with 84 percent at high risk. These once-magnificent natural treasures are now some of the most vulnerable reefs in the Caribbean, which jeopardizes the health and wellbeing of nature and people. Since 2011, the Conservancy has helped lead two major initiatives to protect Puerto Rico’s marine environment and coral reefs—the Caribbean Regional

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Ocean Partnership (CROP) and the Carib-bean Challenge Initiative (CCI).

The CROP was launched in 2012, with funding from the NOAA and implemen-tation support from the Conservancy and partners. Its goal is to improve collaborative management of marine and coastal environments between Caribbean governments and create mechanisms for more effective use of resources. Through the CROP, the governments of Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands use coastal and marine spatial planning, a science-based tool put into place with coordination from the Conservancy. Spatial planning is used to analyze current and anticipated uses of resources to maximize their benefit to people while maintaining or restoring healthy habitat, including coral reefs. In 2012, the Conservancy helped forge this partnership between Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands to allow for pro-active, mutually beneficial management of shared resources, with agreed-upon areas designated for responsible fishing, tourism activities and development in addition to no-use zones assessed as particularly vulnerable.

The CCI is a historic marine conservation movement launched in 2008 with the support of the Conservancy. It joins coun-tries and territories across the Caribbean in a commitment to protect and man-age at least 20 percent of their marine environments by 2020. Puerto Rico

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joined the CCI in 2012 and, today, nearly 27 percent of Puerto Rico’s nearshore environment is protected under govern-ment decree. The Conservancy, with tools like coastal and marine spatial planning, helps local government determine the highest priority areas for protection and create management plans for sustainable use—in addition to providing expertise on enforcing protections through policy and community involvement. Since joining the CCI, Puerto Rico has established new fisheries laws to prevent practices that degrade reefs and other habitat; improved communications between government and fishing communities; and is evaluating potential renewable finance tools that will support long-term protected area management.

Giving Communities andStakeholders a VoiceThroughout our work in Puerto Rico, the Conservancy emphasizes active involve-ment of local stakeholders and collabo-ration between governments and com-munities. For example, the government declared a network of protected areas in Cabo Rojo, a popular tourist destination along the coast. In order to bring about strong support of the declaration by the community, the Conservancy helped implement a participatory marine zoning and planning process that incorporat-ed input from those that rely on fishing and tourism for their livelihoods. As a result of this approach, the community

THIS PAGE clockwise Playa Flamenco, a popular tourist destination in Culebra © © Puerto Rico Department of Naturaland Environmental Resources; A green mango hummingbird, a species endemic to Puerto Rico © Allan J. Sander

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ultimately requested the Conservancy’s help in protecting a local shark and ray nursery. Through stakeholder input, the Conservancy was also able to identify key barriers to effective management in the Cabo Rojo Coral Priority Region, such as the need for mooring buoys and addi-tional fishing regulations, and to put into motion steps that would fill these gaps.

Consume Pesca Responsable is another collaborative, community-based initiative the Conservancy is launching in Puerto Rico. Building on the success of a sim-ilar program in the U.S. Virgin Islands, Consume Pesca Responsable is designed to promote awareness among consumers, including tourists, and restaurants about the importance of eating and selling sustainably caught seafood. It educates fishers, consumers and restaurants about what species are good choices in terms of protecting reef and marine health and what species should be avoided because they are overharvested or particularly important for maintaining reef ecosys-tems. Restaurants volunteer to be part of Consume Pesca Responsable and commit to abide by sustainable seafood practices, which helps consumers make informed choices and provides fishers with a market for their reef-responsible catch. Several restaurants are serving as pilots in the launching phase, as the community becomes more involved and the project gains momentum.

The Conservancy helpsimplement marine planning and management tools that maximize benefit to nature, people and local economies

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Part of working within communities is sharing our expertise with those who can benefit from it most. The Conservancy partners with the NOAA’s Coral Reef Conservation Program (CRCP) in Puerto Rico to train hundreds of commercial fishers on up-to-date regulations andusing data entry to track catch accu-rately. Through CRCP, the Conservancy has also interviewed stakeholders from the fishing and tourism industries to help resource managers understand the range and intensity of coastal and marine activities in Culebra, another popular tourism destination. Areas were mapped to document biological and ecological relevance along with fishing, tourism and transportation use. Using these maps, a geodatabase of the marine environment was created to identify and address hu-man stressors on coral habitat.

Enhancing Resource Management through TechnologyAlong with spatial mapping and building

THIS PAGE left to right Fishers on Playa Crashboat in Aguadilla; Bluffs and lush plant life along the coast of Playuela in Cabo Rojo © Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources

geodatabases, the Conservancy is using other innovative technologies to make data collection more valuable as a con-servation tool. In Puerto Rico, fisheries and marine area data has traditionally been recorded on paper and shared manually, which is time-consuming and prone to error. New mobile technology is now available that allows fishers to quickly and easily collect their harvest data and transmit it to fisheries managers, allowing for more informed management decisions. The Conservancy and local government agencies are working with a company that specializes in this technol-ogy to implement prototypes with several commercial fisheries.

Through the CROP, a Caribbean Marine Planner data portal (caribbean-mp.org) was created that puts state-of-the-art mapping and visualization tools into the hands of government, industry, protected area managers and community leaders. Users can analyze marine resources and

evaluate the impact of different types of use to make decisions that offer the best benefit balance to people, the economy and nature. Because the challenges that Puerto Rico faces are seen across the Caribbean, this data portal is a tool that can be scaled up and used throughout the region for enhanced decision making and accelerated conservation.

Through the CROP, CCI and on-the-ground work with local fishers and com-munities, the Conservancy has made great strides in preserving the ocean, coasts and coral reefs that make Puerto Rico the rich and magnificent place that it is. We will continue building on this success with our collaborative, forward-thinking approach, to protect Puerto Rico’s resources and biodiversity and create a bright future for nature and people.

CONTACT The Nature Conservancy in the Caribbeannature.org/caribbean

Lisa Lord PriceDirector of Development lprice@tnc.org • 307-690-0920

Francisco Núñez HenríquezDirector, Greater Antilles Programfnunez@tnc.org • 809-541-7666 x113

OUR MISSION: TO CONSERVE THE LANDS AND WATERS ON WHICH ALL LIFE DEPENDS

@caribbeanTNC

@nature_caribbean

The Conservancy shares expertise with hundreds of fishers and stakeholders to

strengthen livelihoodsand protect resources