All posts tagged: shark conservation cayman

Miss World Cayman Islands 2018: Kelsie Bodden Be Kind to the Environment

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The newly crowned Miss World Cayman Islands, Kelsie Bodden is embarking on a journey of raising environmental awareness during the Miss World competition held in Sanya, China and the Miss World “Beauty with a Purpose” project.  Kelsie’s personal motto is: ‘Go in to the world and do well, but more importantly, go into the world and do good.’  With this in mind, she is doing just that.  Kelsie is using her reign as Miss World Cayman Islands as a platform to work with local environmental non-profit organisations in the Cayman Islands, as well as within the local community to raise awareness about local environmental issues.  Her passion for the environment expands to her personal blog KelsieBodden.com with an all new series, “BE KIND TO OTHERS & BE KIND TO THE ENVIRONMENT,” In the first blog post of this new series, Kelsie discusses her dedication for protecting the environment and the local environmental organisations she has teamed up with alongside Miss World Cayman Islands.  Here is an excerpt from the blog post, “There is only one …

Welcome To Sharkphoria

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What is Sharkphoria? Sharkphoria is a science based Patreon channel dedicated to creating shark awareness and to share marine biology content through videos. The person behind Sharkphoria and creator of the videos is a marine biologist and shark researcher, Johanna Kohler, based in the Cayman Islands. As part of the non-profit collaboration, Shark Conservation Cayman, Johanna studies the local shark population which is also part of her PhD. Her shark research interests include shark behaviour and ecology, shark reproduction and human-shark conflict mitigation. By becoming a Sharkphoria Patron, anyone can now step into Johanna’s world and join her on the journey to a PhD in shark research as she is not only sharing fun, science based shark video tutorials, but also exclusive insights and first hand experiences. Sharks are one of the most misunderstood creatures.  Many people fear sharks as a result of blockbuster movies and sensationalizing media.  Media, which continues to give sharks a negative reputation, doesn’t help.  According to Johanna, sharks are not something to be feared, but rather respected. What is truly …

Shark Conservation Cayman in a Nutshell

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Who are we? Shark Conservation Cayman is a collaboration between the Department of Environment and Marine Conservation International, supported by the White Tip Conservation Fund from the Cayman Islands Brewery.  Together with a network of volunteers, the team is working towards a better understanding of our local shark populations. Shark Conservation Cayman and fellow collaborators work in Cayman to study and monitor our local sharks and improve conservation management in the Cayman Islands. So how do we do that? In order to protect sharks we need to study and understand their behaviour and life characteristics and use what we’ve learnt to raise awareness in local communities around the importance of sharks to healthy reefs and our Cayman marine environment. Since sharks are highly mobile animals with the whole ocean to roam in, studying them is no easy feat. In Cayman we use multiple, complementary methods one of which is “Acoustic Telemetry”. This means we tag a shark with an acoustic tag. Then, by utilizing a network of receivers located around the three Islands, we pick up …

Meet Our Local Sharks & The People Protecting Them

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The Caribbean is famous for being a paradise, rich in colour, biodiverse coral reefs and an abundance of marine life including sharks.  A healthy population of sharks is an indicator of a healthy reef ecosystem and is valuable not only for our marine environment but also for the tourism industry and our economy.  The Cayman Islands is one of the most popular diving destinations in the world and people travel from all over to experience our world renowned underwater world but also for the opportunity to see a shark(s) on their dive.  A survey in 2011 showed that sharks are worth more alive than dead in Cayman. The economic value of an alive shark was estimated to be about US$54 million per year.  So not only do sharks help keep the balance in the marine environment but also add to our islands economy.  The survey also showed that even if tourists don’t want to see sharks while swimming, they do want to know that there is a healthy shark population in Cayman as it is …

Tipping Point

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My brief take on the global impact of the human-shark relationship. written by Marique Cloete “Your life is inextricably linked to that of a shark whether you choose to accept it as your truth or not.” I recently got a puppy. You may ask what this has to do with Sharks. Not much unless you count the fact that he will soon be donning a shark fin life-vest when we patrol the ocean. A recent incident with puppy however got me onto the subject of my article. The two of us were hunting for coconuts in my garden and at one point I hooked a coconut and pulled it down. I shouted “move!” but Puppy being a puppy and not yet fluent in the English language did not artfully step aside as I expected and nearly got in the way of a crashing coconut. “More humans are killed each year by falling coconuts than by Sharks.” Sound familiar? This little urban legend gained momentum after a publication by a shark expert in 2002 cited “human …

Why Shark Week?

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  Eco Chic Cayman is proud to team up with Shark Conservation Cayman for our second annual “Shark Week.” Last year our collaboration aimed to accompany Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” with real information that is relevant to Cayman and our community. We shared interesting facts about our local sharks and conservation efforts and Cayman loved it. That being said, we are excited to share all new content to celebrate “Shark Week” in Cayman this year. Shark Conservation Cayman’s mission is “To better understand Cayman’s shark populations and to raise awareness of the importance of sharks to healthy reefs and the marine environment”. The research and conservation efforts are supported by the White Tip Conservation Fund from the Cayman Islands Brewery. Read more about the collaboration, between the Cayman Islands Department of Environment and Marine Conservation International, and their work on their brand new website. Each day of the following week, July 22-28, we will feature a new collaborative blog post sharing interesting shark facts, debunked myths about sharks, the latest in local shark conservation initiatives …