Coral Reef Conservation in the Bahamas

“Parents want to give their children the world. At this juncture, at least, we’ve given her a part of the ocean.”

In choppy, turquoise waters off the coast of Clifton Heritage Park on the Bahamian island of New Providence, I snorkeled toward Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, my intrepid guide. (She is, I’m convinced, part mermaid.) A native of nearby Eleuthera, she’s the executive director of the Bahamas Reef Environmental Education Foundation (BREEF), a nonprofit educating locals about protecting and restoring the country’s troubled reefs.

“Follow me!” she called over the waves, flipping her hair behind the collar of her ScubaPro rash guard and holding up her Baywatch-red lifeguard buoy.

Exploring the Coral Nursery in the Bahamas

This realm – filled with beau gregory damselfish, sergeant majors, parrot fish, squirrel fish, and queen angelfish darting below us – is her aquatic classroom, a coral nursery site that hosts 3,000 students a year for enrichment programs. It also serves as a living art gallery and the world’s largest underwater sculpture: Jason deCaires Taylor’s 60-ton “Ocean Atlas,” demonstrating the power and importance of protecting our oceans, and the destination of our be-flippered jaunt.

Adopting Coral: A Meaningful Gift

However, I did not visit solely as a leisure swimmer and curious art lover. I also came to examine the coral propagation unit where my wife and I adopted a staghorn coral polyp for our daughter, Odella, in celebration of her second birthday. This exclusive experience, dubbed “Coral Reefs: A Citizen Science Program,” facilitated by Rosewood Baha Mar, allows visitors like me to actively contribute to the region’s vital sustainability efforts. Additionally, my wife and I had the opportunity to custom-caption a plaque permanently affixed to the coral propagation unit in commemoration of our daughter’s mini coral colony.

Adopting a polyp costs $150, and options include adopting a coral fragment for $350 or an entire coral head for $1,000. Customers can choose to have their coral and tag at BREEF’s Sir Nicholas Nuttall Coral Reef Sculpture Garden or the nearby Andros Great Barrier Reef, the third-largest barrier reef in the world, following those in Australia and Belize. This initiative is particularly popular for Valentine’s Day, anniversaries, and birthdays, according to McKinney-Lambert. With environmental conservation increasingly vital considering my young daughter’s future, I felt thrilled to participate in this opportunity to instill in her an early awareness about protecting the natural world.

“People want to do more than sit on the beach and get sunburned,” McKinney-Lambert said. “They want their kids to be immersed in new experiences, new perspectives, and to engage in giving back.”

The Importance of Coral Reef Conservation

As we swam toward the main sculpture, away from the beach garnished with soggy sargassum seaweed, McKinney-Lambert, who grew up fishing and free-diving, shared her observations on the decline of reefs during her lifetime and the subsequent reduction in fish populations.

The UN’s 2021 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report indicated that even with steep emissions cuts and limiting global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees Celsius, coral reefs would still suffer mass die-offs. The Caribbean has experienced approximately half of its coral die within the past 50 years, with species like elkhorn and staghorn corals declining by 80%. Factors such as climate change, invasive overfishing, pollution, and damaging diseases have devastated vast amounts of healthy coral. This has dire repercussions for ocean biodiversity and the species reliant on these vital habitats. Diminished coral reefs make coastal areas more vulnerable to damage from hurricanes and other severe weather events.

“We need to speed up nature’s recovery,” McKinney-Lambert emphasized.

Catching my bearings in the turbulent water, I glanced below to see “Ocean Atlas” rising from the depths. Modeled after a 13-year-old Bahamian girl, this 5-meter sculpture portrays a crouching figure holding up the ocean’s weight with her right hand, a metaphorical reflection on conservation’s responsibilities. Composed primarily of pH-neutral cement, stainless steel, and basalt, the sculpture acts as an artificial reef supporting coral growth and offering a new habitat for marine life while diverting visitors from natural reefs.

“Brain coral is now growing on her brain,” McKinney-Lambert noted as we hovered over the sculpture. “It’s as if she’s hatched an idea.”

This concept symbolizes a collective responsibility for conservation.

“The future of our oceans and ultimately our planet lies in the hands of the next generation,” McKinney-Lambert added. “I’ve been truly impressed by these young people who are taking action… all of us older individuals will be gone, leaving the responsibility to the youth.”

The empowering message of this sculpture highlights the role of young individuals, like my daughter, in ensuring a sustainable future. BREEF’s programming aims to inspire local Bahamians to engage with the oceans and promote long-term conservation efforts.

Ultimately, engaging in coral reef conservation and providing hands-on experiences in a dynamic marine environment is invaluable. However, there’s a layer of performative nature linked to altruism in such initiatives. When discussing the coral polyp adoption program, a friend shared his skepticism, acknowledging the sweetness of the gesture while expressing doubt about its impact.

Back at Rosewood Baha Mar, it was essential to promote an ocean-loving mindset in our daughter if she was to take an interest in its well-being. Consequently, she participated in the new Experience Wildlife program exclusive to Rosewood Baha Mar through the Baha Bay Sanctuary. She fed green turtles, greeted stingrays and nurse sharks, and enjoyed a touch tank to pet a starfish, sea urchin, horseshoe crab, conch, and sea cucumber. Non-aquatic aspects of the program included feeding tortoises, budgerigar parakeets, and Caribbean flamingos. These interactions fostered a deep appreciation for nature and especially an early fascination with the ocean and its inhabitants, which will undoubtedly resonate with her long after we leave.

Six months from now, when Odella is two and a half, we’ll receive an update on our coral polyp. Over time, the staghorn coral will grow, be trimmed, and eventually out-planted on the reef. Parents aspire to provide their children with the world; for now, we have given her a part of the ocean.