Today we’d like to introduce you to Fernando Bretos.
Hi Fernando, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I am a marine biologist and founder of Director of Cresta Coastal Network a non profit organization which assists coastal communities in the Caribbean and South Pacific adapt to climate change and a changing ocean. This work is meaningful to me because I am what I consider a double immigrant. I was born in Colombia to Cuban parents who migrated to the US as orphaned teenagers during the height of the Cuban Revolution in 1960. Working in the Caribbean, especially Cuba, allows me to give back to the region where I came from. As I have almost no family left in Cuba, I have made my own family links through Cuban peers like me.
Through Cresta Coastal Network I work to protect critically endangered coastal habitats and engage remote underserved coastal communities adapt to climate change while expanding community livelihoods. I also work in conservation finance with experience ranging from initiating a marine protected area network with 17 First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest of British Columbia that has become a model Project for Permanence to creating and managing a regional MPA network in the Gulf of Mexico.
During 12 years at Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, I created Museum Volunteers for the Environment, which since 2007 has engaged over 15,000 Miami residents in restoring over 25 acres of mangrove, dune, coral reef and coastal hammock.
I have published extensively in academic journals and recently wrote a nature book about my hometown called Wild Miami: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around South Florida. I hold a Master’s degree from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Oberlin College. I am a National Fellow at The Explorer’s Club, a National Geographic Society Explorer and a Kinship Conservation Fellow.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Not at all. Working in the Caribbean is tricky with so many different languages and jurisdictions. What links the Caribbean is the story of colonialism and the ocean currents that link these island nations’s biodiversity and culture.
Working in Cuba is even harder. I have been interrogated by Cuban agents and once was sent back to the US on the plane I landed on with a military escort.
My work has become harder recently due to the current administration’s crackdown on environmental funding and its threats to countries like Venezuela which constitutes a very scary invasion of a sovereign country.
All of this has made it really hard to fund my work, especially my projects in Cuba which has been subjected to seven decades of economic sanctions.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I am a marine biologist in the Triangle which is interesting in its own right. My work in the Caribbean is 1,000 miles away. I keep coming back to the Triangle because I love it here.
More than a biologist, I am a storyteller. I am proud of my parent’s journey to the US. I am a Latino in ocean conservation which is quite rare yet I strive to engage more hispanic youth to consider careers in ocean conservation, storytelling, environment, etc. I have had a beautiful career and I love to share that with people who look like me. We need more black and brown people in this field.
I am known for writing a lot, appearing in lots of documentaries including an IMAX film and having presented all over the world about ocean conservation and science diplomacy.
Do you any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
Growing up in Sydney and walking around the Sydney Botanic Gardens with my family
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.crestacoats.org
- Instagram: fbretos
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/fbretos/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@FernandoBretos?app=desktop
