May 2012 E-Current

Feature Location: Honduras
2012 Seafood Guide

The 2012 Bay Islands Responsible Seafood Guide is here! Thanks to the support of USAID's Management of Aquatic Resources and Economic Alternatives program, updated seafood campaign materials are now available to the Bay Islands community.

In April, CORAL and our partners presented the revised seafood guide to Honduras' Vice Minister of Tourism, an active advocate of CORAL's regional campaign to protect species at risk. The one-page seafood guide employs a traffic light system (green, yellow, red) to help restaurants, retailers, and consumers make informed choices about the species they buy, sell, and consume. Our network of CORAL Reef Leaders distributes the seafood guides throughout the region and trains participating businesses to steer demand away from species at risk.

Learn more about our projects in Honduras »

Help the Reefs Quick Tip
Later this month, Fiji's cabinet ministers will consider enacting critical legislation that would turn the country's entire EEZ into a shark sanctuary. Show your support for policies that protect shark species by tweeting "I love Fiji Sharks #Fijime."

Learn more about our campaign »

Coral Reefs in the News

Pacific Reef Shark Populations Plummeting, Study Says
Source: CNN

Coral Reefs Are Being Decimated, All for a Few Gaudy Trinkets
Source: Miami New Times

Disappearing Coral Reef Has Offshore and Onshore Impact
Source: WPEC-TV CBS12 News

Police Join Fight
Source: Fiji Times

More News...

Don't want to wait until next month to hear what's happening at CORAL? "Like" us on Facebook or "Follow" us on Twitter for more timely updates on our work, the latest research on coral reefs, and ideas on what you can do to protect these amazing ecosystems. Then, share our news with your network—coral reefs need all the friends they can get!

Students Support CORAL
You're never too young to start protecting reefs! Abby Sheets and Kensey May, two second graders at Longfellow Elementary School in Bozeman, Montana, are CORAL's newest advocates. Through speeches and letters, they galvanized their classmates and neighbors to protect coral reefs, raising $103.63 for CORAL! Click on the link below to read their letter to the editor of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle.
Read Abby and Kensey's Letter to the Editor »

Fiji's Sharks Worth $42 million
A recent study conducted by the Australian Institute of Marine Sciences and the University of Western Australia found yet another reason—actually forty-two million of them—to protect Fiji's sharks. In 2010, Fiji's shark diving industry contributed US $42.2 million (1.4% of the country's GDP) to the national economy and an additional US $4 million directly to Fijian communities through dive tourism-related salaries and local taxes. This confirms that safeguarding Fiji's sharks is critical to both maintaining a healthy marine ecosystem and supporting the livelihoods of many Fijians.
Learn more »

Sea Turtle CSI
Caribbean sea turtles gained a few dozen new protectors this spring. WIDECAST, a nonprofit network of sea turtle conservation experts, offered a Sea Turtle Field Forensics workshop—the newest Coral Reef CSI module—in tandem with their 2012 annual meeting. More than sixty attendees from thirty Caribbean countries learned underwater investigation techniques and practiced gathering evidence in the five-day workshop. For more information on CORAL's CSI initiative, check out the link below.
Learn more »