Coral Restoration at Xcalak

National Marine Park, Mexico

In March 2013, the Leadership Learning Community was hired by the MAR Leadership

Program (MAR-L) to evaluate their program. The evaluation team conducted site visits to

spend time with fellows and the people who work with them daily to learn firsthand about

the challenges, achievements and impact of their conservation projects.

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Name of Fellow:

Gabriela Nava

City, Country:

Chetumal, Mexico

MAR-L Cohort Year:

2011

Project:

Creation of Acropora palmata

Coral nurseries at Xcalak National

Marine Park.

Key wins:

Introduced an Acropora palmata coral nursery at Xcalak National Marine Park

Quintana Roo.

Engaging communities by training fishers and therefore creating economic

alternatives at Xcalak National Marine Park.

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The coral reef is a garden of life and rebirth. Its

structure provides habitats for fish, and its strong

roots protect the land from destructive natural

storms. The Acropora palmata, grown in Gaby’s

coral nurseries is considered to be one of the most

important reef building corals in the Caribbean.

Working to save the environment for both the coral

and local fishers, Gaby is leaving a lasting legacy for

coral nursery models in her home country Mexico

and for the conservation field by building a

sustainable network of committed fishers,

community members, rangers and fellow MAR

Leaders to carry the project forward.

I. Chapter 1: The Story of Place

We met Gaby and her partner, Miguel Garcia Salgado, on an early, warm February morning in Chetumal, the

capital of the Mexican state of Quintana Roo. With warm smiles and anticipation for the day’s events, we load

into Gaby and Miguel’s large passenger van packed with oxygen tanks and other dive gear. We will make the

three hour drive from Chetumal to Xcalak National Marine Park, which lays exactly on the other side of the

crescent shaped Bay of Chetumal. Every now and then the road rises and turns and we catch a quick glimpse of

the Bacalar Lagoon. Then we drive for hours down a flat sliver of road that cuts a straight path through the dense

green foliage that rises five feet high on either side of us. And we delight in the smells of taco stands serving

delicious cochinita pibil. Gaby and Miguel make this drive often and recall past adventures of the drive. On one

occasion they came across a beautiful black jaguar in the middle of the road, but as quick as it had appeared, it

disappeared out of sight.

Gaby’s Acropora palmata coral nursery site is housed at Xcalak National Marine Park. The park itself is made up of

crystal blue Caribbean waters, white sand, and a thriving wildlife. Declared as a site of national importance for

coral reefs in 2000, the flora and fauna in Xcalak are abundant. Stand still for a few minutes and it is very likely

you’ll catch a glimpse of a white egret or other wild birds up in the tree tops. The town of Xcalak is a small and

tranquil fishing village of brightly colored buildings with a population of about 400. Once in a while you may hear

a motorcycle pass or school children kicking around a soccer ball, but for the most part, the rhythmic ocean waves

crashing onto the shore make up the sights and sounds in Xcalak.

Coral reefs, which cover just 2% of the ocean floor, support 25% of ocean life and feed over a billion people. 1 The Acropora palmata or Elkhorn coral is considered to be one of the most important reef building corals in the

1 Vance, Eric, “Can coral nurseries bring reefs back from the Brink?”http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=coral-nurseries-bring-reefs-back-from-brink&print=true

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Caribbean. The species itself is complex, orange brownish in color and has many branches that create habitats for lobsters, parrot fish, snapper and shrimp. The Elkhorn coral grows very fast; however, it is also highly delicate and susceptible to disease and water temperature changes. As Gaby says, “The Acropora like to be near the waves; it’s better for them to be in moving waters.”

II. Chapter 2: The Story of Gaby

MAR-L fellow Gaby Nava exudes kindness and sincerity. She has an open, warm smile and authenticity that puts

us immediately at ease. As a child in Veracruz, Gaby fell in love with the ocean spending much of her childhood

playing in the waves and swimming. She was excited when a school guidance counselor told her about Marine

Biology. When she became a Marine Biologist and learned to dive, Gaby became passionate about the coral

reefs.

As a biologist in Veracruz, Gaby was called in when ships ran aground causing serious damage to the reef. She

had firsthand experience with the lack of interagency coordination in response to these accidents. The lack of

coordination meant that data was not effectively collected and shared. There has been a lack of effective

enforcement to hold the shipping industry accountable. The shipping companies do not pay for the damages

they cause or the cost of restoration. It will take government

agencies, the army, and NGOs working together to create stronger

penalties and enforcement that in turn will create strong

disincentives for ships to get too close to shore, and shift some of the

costs to shipping companies.

Gaby and her partner Miguel were frustrated by the damage to the

coral and began to discuss the need for an organization devoted to

protecting coral. Together they started a non-profit organization,

Oceanus, A.C., in 2007 to focus on coral reef conservation through

research, monitoring and restoration. Oceanus is also a member of

Alianza Kanan Kay a fisheries management collaboration working to

create a network of fishing refuges in Quintana Roo.

III. Chapter 3: The Story of the Project

As we make the trek from Chetumal to Xcalak, we ask Gaby about the coral nurseries. Over the three hours, Gaby

is endlessly enthusiastic as she draws maps for us on the back of car seats, tells stories, and answers our

questions patiently and thoroughly. Gaby and Miguel are working in three protected areas where they have

started coral rehabilitation nurseries, which are being successfully replanted. The process has been successfully

refined through trial and error as they learn about the optimal conditions for growing the coral in order to design

implement and monitor coral rehabilitation sites and nurseries. Her MAR-L project was to work with the local

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community to restore four reef sites (500 m2) by increasing the coverage of Acropora palmata coral through the

establishment of 10 coral nurseries and the transplanting of 4000 new corals.

As we pull into Xcalak National Marine Park, we are met by

the athletic and fit Maricarmen Garcia who by the time we

arrive at noon has already gone for a five-mile run and put in

a full morning as Executive Director of the park. Also on

hand is Oscar Salazar, a sturdy, muscular, quiet fisherman

and leader of the Tourist Cooperative of Bahia Blanca, who

will take us out in his boat to see the coral nurseries. Oscar is

concerned that it will be too choppy to snorkel and that we

might not have good visibility, but we climb aboard the white

boat with its bright blue canopy and head out to investigate.

Gaby explains that there are three nurseries placed within a

20-foot area. She points to an area where the waves build up

into whitecaps as the ocean floor drops off. That will be a

good place for transplanting the corals, but the currents are

too strong for the nurseries where the temperatures and

currents need to be just right. Two nurseries are thriving and

will soon be replanted, but the coral in the third nursery is

dying. Sometimes the smallest changes can make a difference.

We are in luck. The water in the nursery area is calm enough for snorkeling. The young corals are the color of

sand, and at first it is hard to see where they are set in a grid of PCV tubes. They have begun to branch out, which

Gaby explains is a good thing. Beautifully colored small fish dart in and around the nurseries and the larger

colorful coral reefs close by. As we surface and rejoin Oscar in the boat, Gaby tells us that Oscar helps care for

the coral. He has learned to dive and Gaby’s admiration is evident as she says, “He knows more about the fish

and coral in this area than the biologists. When there is a problem with the fish or the coral he knows before the

researchers do.” Gaby is trying to raise funds to pay Oscar and other community members for their stewardship

of the coral.

The goal of the MAR-L program is to support

innovative projects that can be replicated and

brought to scale in order to significantly impact the

health of MAR. Plans for replicating this project are

well underway. It is interesting, Gaby says, “Now we

are taking this model to other national parks. For

example when we arrived to Sian Ka’an the first time,

we told them about the coral nurseries in Xcalak.

They said they really wanted to do it also.” Still, the

nurseries need care, and for her project to scale

requires the involvement of a lot of people helping

with the planting and tending the coral beds. Gaby

“Now we are taking this model

to other national parks. For

example when we arrived to

Sian Ka’an the first time, we told

them about the coral nurseries

in Xcalak. They said they really

wanted to do it also.”

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and Miguel are constantly on the road traveling across the Mexican states of Quintana Roo and Veracruz. “We

travel a lot, we spend few days in our house, and last year we stayed about a month in our house,” Gaby tells us.

Even though they love the work and Gaby assures us that it is a lot of fun, she knows they need to recruit more

help from the local community, so she is doing educational programs and showing local people how the coral is

planted. She also has worked with local fishermen to teach them about the coral and hopes this can become an

important alternative livelihood for people in the community while freeing her and Miguel to start new nurseries

in other locations.

IV. Chapter 4: The Story of MAR-L in Gaby’s Life

Through the MAR-L program Gaby was able to attend the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at

the University of Miami, one of the foremost research centers for coral reef restoration in the world, where she

trained with Diego Lirman. As a result of her attendance, the University of Miami will be supporting Gaby in the

execution of a number of her project‘s components. This helped Gaby to develop the technical expertise and

‘know how’ she needed to refine and adapt the process for her successful nurseries in Xcalak. She is becoming

recognized as an authority for her innovation in coral restoration, and on July 9-13, 2012, used her individual

training funds to attend and present at the International Coral Reef Symposium in Cairns, Australia. She presented

her coral restoration project and also gave a talk about the MAR Leadership program. Reflecting on this

experience she says, “Being able to participate in the different conferences and have access to results of recent

research has been a great learning experience.… To participate and give presentations in front of the world’s top

coral reef researchers and to receive feedback from them has helped me grow personally.”

Gaby is thoughtful about the ways in which MAR-L has developed her leadership and contributed to the success

of the project. She is reflective about becoming more confident and able to talk to and win people to her project

as a result of the program. It’s hard to believe that she has not always been the self-assured advocate, innovator

and entrepreneur that she is today. She dismisses this high praise and laughs good naturedly as she describes

earlier days when she was shy to speak at conferences or ask for money. She proudly describes her recent

funding pitch that she thinks will be productive.

Over a delicious lunch of coconut breaded lion fish with mango sauce, the team has a chance to ask Maricarmen,

Oscar, Miguel and the rangers how they have seen Gaby’s leadership develop since her participation in MAR.

They had all experienced and gave testimony to her growing persuasiveness and the contagiousness of her

passion for the coral. Gaby was excited to get this feedback, “I was surprised to hear from the Xcalak rangers that

they have been appreciating the project. I never asked them directly. It gives me a lot of ideas to get them more

involved.”

The MAR-L network has also been important for Gaby. Gaby knew of Maricarmen and had seen her before, but

they had not really worked together before Gaby’s MAR-L fellowship. By housing her project at Maricarmen’s

park, the Executive Director is able to support Gaby’s project with the park’s resources. The rangers who have

become fans of the project knock on doors in the community to help turn out volunteers for educational

programs about the coral restoration project.

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Gaby is building local sustainability for her project in Xcalak. In addition to doing fundraising to pay local

volunteers, Gaby is experimenting with business models to support the restoration. For $25, donors can sponsor

one coral and will receive a picture of the coral, and the name of the donor will be painted on the tubing. She is

exploring the possibility of funding the restoration as an eco-tourist venture where tourists would pay to help

with restoration. The current location is too far from the large resort areas; therefore, an eco-tour operator

wanted Gaby to start a coral nursery closer to one of the resorts. She didn’t think the conditions would be right

for the coral but given its potential as an educational tourist opportunity, she thought she’d give it a try. Even

though the coral did not survive, as Gaby had expected, she was undaunted by this and happy to have tried it and

gathered more data about successful growing conditions.

Like other MAR-L fellows, Gaby embodies action learning. She is an innovator at heart and wholeheartedly

embraces experimentation as well as the opportunity to learn from both the successes and failures. She is

stockpiling the information about the current conditions and water temperatures that support successful

reforestation. There is little doubt that Gaby will bring all of the leadership skills and resources of her MAR-L

fellow to new nurseries, supported by innovative models of community and financial support.