MarAlliance

Marine wildlife thriving throughout the world’s tropical seas with community support and inspiring people to conservation action by achieving the following goals:
1. Increase knowledge of large threatened tropical marine wildlife.
2. Train and build capacity of key stakeholders in activities that support large threatened tropical marine wildlife conservation and the communities that depend on them.
3. Improve understanding, sensibilities, perceptions, attitudes and behaviors towards large threatened tropical marine wildlife conservation through communication, education and participation.
4. Create lasting partnerships, build alliances and offer memorable experiences conducive to large threatened tropical marine species conservation.

To improves the understanding and conservation of threatened marine species and their habitats, we create new knowledge by monitoring the abundance and characteristics of species in key sites. We train local fishermen to help us at sea and engage our local communities to obtain information on sightings of important species. We share this knowledge in different formats with many different audiences, from the youngest audiences in pre-schools all the way to politicians and other decision-makers. Through this, we hope to inspire a sense of wonder about the ocean, to promote sustainable tourism and to foster the effectiveness of marine protected areas.
More specifically, our work focuses on:
- Science for Management and Conservation: Working with stakeholders, from fishers and other NGOs to government institutions, we identify the science needed to support management and conservation efforts and build local scientific capacities while undertaking research and long-term monitoring.
- Effectiveness of Marine Protected Areas: We identify and recommend potential marine sites for protection and work with the managers, staff and a cohort of fishers from different protected areas in five countries to integrate protective measures for large fish.
- Fostering Behavioral Change: We consider that understanding the drivers of fishing and marine resource use is key to identifying management and conservation strategies. Using a host of survey approaches, from structured to semi-structured, retrospective to pre/post as well as online surveys, we collect multi-faceted data on a range of fronts. Results from these surveys are returned to stakeholders to tailor outreach, improve tourism management efforts for species, protected areas, and wildlife, and have supported legislative reform.
- Building Collaborations and Networks: We build social capital for marine wildlife conservation by linking the various skillsets held by partners through well-defined collaborations and networks. With these we are able to better understand, manage and protect the migratory marine species we work with and increase conservation impact.
- Developing Stakeholder Skills: Creating a large cohort of marine wildlife stakeholders who can understand and conduct scientific research and monitoring is critical to sustaining conservation. Students, fishers and partners take part in short- and long-term marine courses, learning how to develop hypotheses, collect, analyze and interpret field data. We further build partner skills in strategic planning, conservation and messaging, and advanced data analyses.
- Engaging the Public for Conservation: We work with all sectors of society to inform, educate and enthuse them with appreciation for the sea. MarAlliance helps identify and foster the talents of the next generation of marine scientists and decision-makers by introducing students to marine science and sharks. We inform the public and engage them through events, activities and social media

Our team has over 155 years of collective experience in marine research, monitoring, fisheries, capacity training, education, outreach, communication and policy support. We are nimble, preemptive and responsive, which helps us to meet the challenges of continuously changing fields of research and conservation.

Our team works collaboratively with partners from the fishing, tourism, government, non-profit, academic, and private sectors to assess, conserve, and restore populations of threatened marine wildlife.

Within the scope of our mission, we conduct baseline assessments, establish monitoring programs, characterize target species’ spatial ecology and population demographics, assess artisanal fisheries, and examine the effectiveness of marine protected areas. Capacity building of partners and targeted and public outreach and education cut across all projects.

We focus on projects with an identified need most often based on requests from our partners or communities. We share our approach and work from the start with fishers and their communities, who ultimately are best placed to effect changes that impact marine wildlife. Integrating fishers in research is critical, as they bring complementary skills and knowledge built on years of experience.

We simultaneously engage with donors, partners and decision and policymakers to generate political will and support for our key threatened species. Reciprocal learning, engagement, skills-building and an open mindset are key to long-term, locally based, adaptive and innovative conservation - all essential building blocks of our organization.

With 21 years of country-based experience working with large fish, turtles, fisheries, and the tourism sector starting in Belize, our work with large iconic marine wildlife began here. Since then we have expanded our work to Honduras, Panama, Mexico, Guatemala, Cabo Verde and Micronesia. Our goal for the next five years is to strengthen our research and conservation work and deepen our relationships with key stakeholders in these countries. Here are some of our recent accomplishments.

Belize:
• Deep sea fisheries program expanded with novel findings for several species of sharks and finfish
• Skills exchange with our Belizean fisher colleagues in Micronesia, Honduras, Mexico and Panama
• Completion of marine megafauna monitoring nationally
• Reached over 1500 students in the MAR kids educational program
• Co-founded the National Shark Advisory Committee (NSAC)

Honduras:
• Completed the baseline for large marine wildlife throughout the Bay Islands, completed sawfish surveys with traditional fishers
• Engaged over 2,340 students and 68 teachers in educational program
• Held first regional fisher and partner meeting to assess status and actions for marine megafauna

Mexico:
• Completed the marine megafauna baseline for multiple sites throughout Quintana Roo
• Conducted a trade in skills between Belize and Mexican fishers
• Monitoring skills training and peer to peer exchange between Belize and Mexican and Mexican, Honduran and Panamanian fishers

Panama:
• Completed baseline monitoring in five sites
• Conducted surveys with fishers throughout both sides of the country to assess the historical populations and current status of critically endangered sawfish
• Initiated our educational program in primary schools reaching over 3000 students and their teachers
• Organized a fisher exchange between artisanal fishers from Mexico and Belize with fishers in the Guna Yala Comarca
• Trained 30 local traditional fishers, university students, and biologists in standardized fisheries-independent monitoring methods

Guatemala:
• Completed first fisheries independent baseline for sharks, rays and turtles along Guatemala’s Caribbean coast
• Trained 7 NGO biologists and Government partners and 15 fishers in marine megafauna monitoring techniques
• Conducted two peer to peer exchanges for training between Guatemala and Belize
• Completed historical fisher and perception surveys and fisheries dependent landings project

Cabo Verde:
• Completed first fisheries independent baseline for sharks, rays and turtles throughout Cabo Verde’s Eastern Islands
• Completed fisher’s historical surveys
• Trained 9 traditional fishers in fisheries independent monitoring techniques for sharks and rays
• Engaged 460 students in the educational program

Federated States of Micronesia
• Creation of a physical market by fishers to sell and distribute more sustainably sourced seafood and compliance with fisheries regulations