Abstract

The Bahamas is an archipelagic country, characterized by seven hundred islands and cays situated in the North Atlantic Ocean with shallow banks, flats and coral reefs surrounding every major island. As such a country, The Bahamas has developed a strong dependence on these ecosystems and the services they provide (Kramer et al. 2013). Bahamian livelihoods are directly dependent on coral reefs in particular from the revenue generated through tourism, the country’s number one industry, facilitated by visitors returning year after year to swim, snorkel and dive on The Bahamas’ beautiful coral reefs to the marine animals that provide food for their families and income to their households (Comte & Pendleton 2018). However, with this dependence on these crucial ecosystems comes the impact to coral reefs caused by improper and overuse of these ecosystem services such as overfishing and destruction through improper anchoring, poor fishing techniques and dredging (Obura et al. 2019). These impacts compounded with global factors such as climate change are leading to the rapid decline of coral reefs. It is therefore imperative that local stakeholders understand not only their impact but also how their actions can help preserve and lead to sustaining healthy coral reefs for generations to come to continue to utilize these services (Comte & Pendleton 2018). The Bahamas Coral Innovation Hub (BCIH), based at The Cape Eleuthera Institute in South Eleuthera, was created with the goal to not only restore Bahamian coral reefs but to also educate and inform local Bahamians about coral reef conversation and get them directly involved in coral restoration efforts. With this goal in mind The BCIH sought to engage with the local community in South Eleuthera by directly involving them in the coral restoration efforts at the BCIH, teaching them about coral reefs, their significance, threats and how their efforts can help. The BCIH worked with ninth grade students from Deep Creek Middle School to achieve this goal.