Coastal & Marine Conservation

To conservationist Ayana Elizabeth Johnson, getting coastal communities involved in plans to protect their waters is critical for protecting the planet's oceans. In an interview with Yale Environment 360, she talks about her work in one Caribbean island and how it shows how such a strategy can get results.

Coral reefs are one of the most biodiverse and spectacular ecosystems on earth. However, recent global estimates indicatethat approximately 34% of coral reefs have been destroyed or are declining. Coral reefs are threatened by climate change, pollution, overfishing and often a combination of factors.

Tony Haymet, former director of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, has heard hundreds of ocean cleanup plans. Late at night, over many beers, he's come up with a few dozen of his own. None of them, he says, has seemed likely to work. That includes this spring's offerings. A Dutch engineering student, Boyan Slat, envisions a contraption with massive booms that would sweep debris into a huge funnel. Songwriter and music producer Pharrell Williams wants to fund the monumental cost of any cleanup by turning recycled ocean plastic into yarn and then clothes.

Editor's Note: The Robert and Patricia Switzer Foundation helped fund Jennifer O'Leary's early work with the Kenya Wildlife Service through a Leadership Grant. You can read more about this project in our Featured Fellow piece, "Translating Science Into Action: the Mombasa Marine Park, Kenya." From Jennifer:

In June 2013, I had the opportunity to organize a collaborative research project with a number of partner organizations and some scallop fishermen. This project has been some of the most rewarding work I have done to date because it brings a diverse group of people to the table who are all genuinely interested in sustaining the state's scallop resource and would like to better understand how small-scale closed areas might be an effective management tool to help do so.

The Hurricane Island Foundation has announced the hiring of Caitlin Cleaver as the new science and research coordinator for the Hurricane Island Field Research Station. Cleaver had worked as a marine programs associate at the Island Institute. She joins the Hurricane Island Foundation on March 17.

In the Stanford marshmallow experiment, arguably the most famous study ever conducted on the concept of delayed gratification, children were offered a choice between receiving one small treat (like a marshmallow) immediately or receiving two treats later (like, 15 minutes later). In the years since, the ability to choose deferred rewards over smaller immediate rewards has been associated with numerous positives such as enhanced self-esteem, academic excellence, and physical fitness.