Volume 76
Effectiveness of Community-Based Education and Fisher Training Programs to Sensitize Local Populations in Southern Haiti about Endangered Marine Megafauna and Marine Ecosystems.
Authors
Aquino, J., F. Barbier, C. Calixte, C. Joseph, C. Pressoir, M. Samedi, and C. Vail Download PDF Open PDF in BrowserOther Information
Date: November, 2023
Event: Proceedings of the Seventy-Sixth Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute
City: Nassau
Country: The Bahamas
Abstract
As an island, much of Haiti’s natural heritage is found in the surrounding ocean. The country’s waters are home to a diversity of marine megafauna including endangered marine mammals, sharks, sea turtles and stingrays, especially along the southern coastline. These ecologically significant species are important for keeping marine ecosystems healthy. This includes the transportation of nutrients between and within habitats, carbon sequestration and positively influencing the productivity of marine ecosystems through their long-distance migrations, feeding and even their mortality (Hammerschlag, et al., 2019). These top predators keep the ecosystems in balance by controlling populations of smaller predators and herbivores (García-Barón, et al., 2020). Marine megafaunas also have an ecological, societal and economic value (Mazzoldi, et al., 2019).