Bertarelli Summer2024 FINAL - Flipbook - Page 59
CO M M UNIC AT IO N
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species removal, or marine debris removal. And they
are like, “So no guns in Somalia or Malaysia and chasing the fish bombers?” They miss the point: The point
is not to put our guys back in conflict. It’s to help them,
after years of being in conflict, transition out and continue to serve and do something good for the planet.
What we share is a belief in
serving the planet and making
the world a better place.
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Can you tell us if other Caribbean countries are getting
involved in the work you are doing, using Antigua and
Barbuda as a model?
Challenger: Yes, for example, Anguilla, St. Lucia, St.
Vincent, and a number of others have been inspired by
the work that’s happening, not just because it’s happening in our region, but it is also Caribbean people
doing the work.
A silver lining of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020
was that we had to really stop relying on people coming from overseas. Luckily for my organization, we
had this local conservation capacity and our work
never stopped.
We also offer regional exchanges. For example,
recently members of the St. Lucia National Trust came
over to help with our Antiguan racer snake census.
Jeannot: Something I’ve been thinking about is the
importance of failure. We’re so focused on successes
and being able to tell a story where you win or you
achieve something and you’ve done something very
important. And it is important to share those wins. But
to get to that point, you need to fail many times. And
these failures aren’t showcased enough.
There’s so much you can learn from failure and
failing repeatedly. In science, we often only publish
research where we achieve something or find something new. But what happens when you try something
and it doesn’t work and there is no new result? Often,
these studies don’t get published but there might be
other young researchers that are interested in trying the same thing and of course, they end up failing,
too, because they had no idea someone had already
tried it and failed. And that’s such a waste of time and
resources. We need to be able to showcase our failures,
because what we’re trying to achieve is so important.
Can you tell us about your work with scientists and
the knowledge exchange that you have with scientists?
Ritterhoff: We always have a scientific partner when we
go on a mission, but beyond just teaching them something or sharing something, we try to build community.
I am reminded of a turtle researcher we worked with.
He wrote me a letter to say thank you, and he talked
about how he teaches STEM at a university and the
kids don’t listen to him, and he writes papers that he
thinks no one reads, and he said that we reminded him
as to why he got into conservation in the first place.
What we share is a belief in serving the planet and making the world a better place, but also we want to give
people a sense of belonging to something bigger than
themselves. Give people a mission for good, and it is
intoxicating.
Can you share any unique ways or ideas to get the word
out about the projects you and other conservationists
are doing?
Ritterhoff: Every time we deploy we bring a camera
crew. If you don’t document it, it didn’t happen. And
our story is unique enough, we can usually get eyeballs.
But about every two years or so I get a call from
someone who wants to do a TV show about Force Blue
because it sounds sexy: Special Operations veterans
doing marine conservation work! But then I start to tell
them what we actually do: coral outplanting, invasive
StEvEn BailEy is the vice president of Biological Programs
at the Frost Museum. He joined the Frost Museum after four
decades at the New England Aquarium as an aquarist and curator
of fishes.
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