GC Mission To Jardines De La Reina National Park, Cuba
Global Conservation hosted donors, board members and advisors on a spectacular diving trip to Jardines de la Reina, Cuba with our Partner in Conservation – Avalon – who has implemented the most robust and successful Marine Protection programs in the world.
With Global Conservation’s support, Avalon has been operating a dedicated 100’ Protection and Science Vessel with daily patrols across the entire archipelago to stop illegal fishing and wildlife poaching. Today, Jardines de la Reina is the only fully intact marine national park in the Caribbean, if not all the Americas, retaining biomass and biodiversity similar to over 100 years ago.
A private-public operating model with the Cuban government and Flora Fauna, Avalon runs a world-class diving and sports fishing operation committed to protection and science with conservation user fees providing long-term financial sustainability.
Avalon enabled on-the-water patrolling of nearly 4,000 miles a year, 300+ days a year with 600-900 sightings and 300-400 boats inspected. In 2022, 367 kg of lobster and 124 kg of ciguatoxic fish were seized resulting in $244,000 in fines. This high level of protection is why Jardines de la Reina remains a pristine, intact marine ecosystem today.
Jardines de la Reina “shows the most mature trophic web of the Caribbean, similar to the best-preserved communities of the Central Pacific” (Newman et al., 2006). Surrounding waters are replenished by the strictly-protected marine national park. Today, Jardines de la Reina contributes to 44% of the Cuban total fishing landings (95% of shrimp, 70% of sea cucumber, 40% of fin fish and 17% of lobster (Puga et al. 2018, Hernández-Betancourt et al. 2018, Gerhartz-Muro et al. 2018).
Eighteen times more sharks reside inside the marine reserve than outside (Perera et al., 2018), and predatory fish biomass is within the range that would be expected in the absence of human activities (Valdivia et al., 2017). Jardines de la Reina is the most important nesting zone for hawksbill turtles in Cuba (Moncada et al., 1999).
Preserving Jardines de la Reina has major economic impacts for Cuba – the total economic value of the national park surpasses USD $4 million a year (Figueredo et al. 2014) and the park brings in over USD $12 million in environmental goods and services to Cuba and the local economy (Figueredo et al., 2013).
Global Conservation has contributed funding for the last 5 years, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all tourism operations stopped. Government fishing inspectors are housed free of charge and provided transportation for all patrolling across the archipelago. Without Avalon’s excellent logistics and operations, protection of Jardines de la Reina would not be possible.
The science program has developed clear baselines for species populations and ocean health including fish, mammals and coral reefs. While protecting against illegal fishing, government and private Cuban vessels are permitted to catch lobster during the open season within the national marine park. Otherwise, no fishing is allowed.
About Jardines de la Reina
Jardines de la Reina, sometimes called “Cuba’s Coral Garden”, is one of the last major intact marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Caribbean. This archipelago covers about 684,000 hectares in the Gulf of Ana Maria off the southern coast of Cuba.
This park is a testament to the power of protected areas: since Jardines de la Reina was protected in 1996, fish numbers have increased 30-50%, and it’s the last refuge for critically endangered sharks, groupers and sea turtles in Cuba. In fact, these reefs have ten times as many sharks and groupers as surrounding waters. The survival of these top-level predators is an excellent indicator of reef health, as they can’t thrive without healthy populations of prey.
The national park is also home to other rare forms of life, such as marine mammals, three sea turtle species, queen conchs (a type of large mollusc), and extremely sensitive staghorn and elkhorn corals. The park also contains black corals, which are thought to be among the oldest organisms in the world; some are over 4,000 years old.
Jardines de la Reina is also one of the only complete marine ecosystems with a combination of healthy coral reefs, mangroves, and seagrass to support safe birthing and strong growth of all fish species from spawning to migration. Protecting all three enables resilience and adaptation to climate change, hurricanes, mainland pollution, and overfishing in areas outside the national marine park.
About GC's Marine Protection Program
Global Conservation is working to deploy park and wildlife protection in the world’s most endangered marine national parks and UNESCO World Heritage Sites in developing countries, where we are especially focused on coastal fisheries and intact marine ecosystems. Coastal fisheries provide food, nutrition and livelihoods, particularly in developing countries, where 85% of fishing is done by small-scale fishers operating in coastal waters.
While much work has been invested over the past decades to create new coastal marine protected areas (MPAs), most of these MPAs have little or no actual protection, remaining just “Paper Parks.” Over 90% of coastal MPAs in developing countries lack the critical resources, training and enforcement capacity to successfully protect marine species and precious coral reefs.
We focus all our efforts on protecting coastal and island MPAs using an innovative marine radar and our proven Global Park Defense (GPD) methodology. GPD is a cost-effective protection and community involvement program to stop illegal fishing, enforce regulations, allow wildlife recovery, and encourage positive economic opportunity for communities. It involves 24/7 surveillance, rapid response, SMART patrolling, communications, training and operational support for increasing effectiveness of marine patrolling and law enforcement against illegal fishing and marine poaching.
Every boat and vessel on the sea has a Marine Radar. Every MPA should also. One of our primary sensors is the Marine Monitor (M2) radar system developed by ProtectedSeas. Marine Monitor radar combines low-cost commercial radars used daily on hundreds of thousands of boats, with innovative software that creates a “Virtual Fence” around marine areas and alerts authorities to illegal intrusions in real-time. It also integrates AIS tracking, thermal and RBG video to clearly show marine violations in action.
In 2021, we deployed Global Park Defense in eight global MPAs, as well as six MPAs in California and Hawaii. Our goal is to deploy marine radars and Global Park Defense in over 100 MPAs by 2050. Our supporters include major foundations, family foundations, dive associations, tour operators and governments, all critical to making this scale-up possible.
Our results are telling: More arrests and boat confiscations, deterrence of illegal fishing, and more effective enforcement. Our program helps target patrolling to known illegal activities, as identified using the Marine Monitor and backed up by photos and videos in real-time.
In December 2020, off the coast of Encinitas, California, the city lifeguards running a Marine Monitor caught a charter fishing boat with fifteen clients fishing in the Swami’s State Marine Conservation Area, one of 128 MPAs established in California in 2012 to protect marine resources. Working quickly to interdict the illegal vessel, arrests were made and now the owners are facing large fines, revocation of their charter fishing permit, and possible jailtime.
Paper protection is no protection. Global Conservation is enabling actual protection, desperately needed in our marine environments depleted by overfishing, reef bombing, illegal fishing, wildlife poaching and general
disregard for our marine resources.
Without actual protection, including law enforcement and penalties for illegal fishing in our existing MPAs, the ocean will continue to be destroyed. We’re working to protect some of the world’s most important and endangered MPAs, securing significant government commitments and ensuring that enforcement teams, boats and laws are in place for Global Park Defense to be a true “Force Multiplier” in MPA Protection.
Primary Goals – MPA Protection
Deploy Global Park Defense for Marine: Systems, technology & training, including threat assessment & MPA management planning
Achieve ‘No Take’ MPA protection in core areas
Secure user fees and increased government and NGO support
Support patrol operations (fuel, rations, maintenance)
Become a model for MPAs in the country and region.
With your support, we can scale up MPA Protection to hundreds of endangered Marine Protected Areas in developing countries.