Changing Seas

[ethereal music] Narrator: Known as the Island of Enchantment, Puerto Rico's lush rainforests give way to the striking waters of the Caribbean Sea.

But what truly makes La Isla del Encanto remarkable is its culture, steeped in the arts, shaped by history, and sustained by a deep sense of community.

[playing conga drums] Then, in 2017, islanders faced an unprecedented challenge when Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit just two weeks apart.

With the electric grid destroyed, 3.4 million residents were left without power in the longest blackout in U.S.

history.

Carlos: El impacto del huracn Mara fue... fue trgico.

Miguel: Hurricane Maria, I remember pain, sadness, destruction.

People were totally unprepared for that kind of event.

Narrator: The storms triggered an island-wide crisis, contributing to almost 3,000 deaths and exposing major vulnerabilities in the island's infrastructure.

In the aftermath, tragedy gave way to recovery.

Raimundo: Part of Maria really shaped what do we need to be sustainable and beyond resilient.

Narrator: One sector forever altered was commercial fishing.

Since the storms, fishers, with the help of marine conservationists, have taken an active role in shaping a stronger, more sustainable Puerto Rico.

Carlos: Nadie...nadie esperaba el impacto de este huracn en relacin a lo que fue nuestras vidas, compaeros, venta.

La pesca comercial.

Y fue bien duro, pero nos pudimos levantar poco a poco.

Como un refrn que yo siempre digo y lo comparto: "Seguimos como el elefante.

"El elefante, a paso lento, pero aplastante".

Narrator: In what ways are fishermen rebuilding differently after the storms?

And how are they working with marine scientists to create greater food security in an uncertain future?

[music] [music continues] Announcer: Major funding for this program was provided by the Batchelor Foundation-- encouraging people to preserve and protect America's underwater resources.

Additional funding was provided by the Parrot Family Endowment for Environmental Education.

[music] Narrator: On Puerto Rico's southeastern shore lies a quiet fishing community in Naguabo.

Here, fishermen from the local fishing association, or "villa pesquera," dive offshore and return with catch to sell at their fresh fish market.

La villa pesquera es una punta de lanza en esta comunidad de afuera de Naguabo.

Por qu?

Porque en esta villa han habido muchas familias de lo que es la cultura naguabea y de otras reas que siempre han establecido este enlace con lo que es la villa.

Y hemos establecido tambin muchos enlaces con lo que es la comunidad, con lo que son los pescadores, y las personas que viven en la misma.

Narrator: Across Puerto Rico, more than 40 active villas pesqueras represent nearly 1,200 commercial fishers.

Supported by the Puerto Rican government, these fishing associations provide critical infrastructure.

Boat launches, docks, gear lockers, fish markets, and, in some cases, restaurants help fishermen sustain their livelihoods and contribute to their community.

Bueno, aqu el pblico va y viene.

Viene el pescador, viene el cliente, viene el visitante, y a todos se trata por igual, todo el mundo bien chvere, cooperando mucho la gente.

Y vienen muchos clientes y...y chvere.

La pesca aqu es fresquecita, ve?

Como que es de ah.

Narrator: These fishing associations are more than just workplaces.

They are traditional community hubs where connection and cooperation take precedence.

We're part of the community.

There's no question about that.

Our membership are members of the community.

We are able to work as a family.

We help each other.

I have a problem, they help me.

Somebody has a problem, they help each other.

So that is a part of the value added of being a member of the association.

Narrator: Commercial fishers and their communities were put to the test when Hurricane Maria wreaked havoc in 2017.

Realmente, pues cuando Mara perdimos mucho, perdimos todo lo que tenamos en los frzer.

Perdimos todo, y pues... Fue una escuela.

Nosotros estuvimos alrededor de 8 o 10 meses sin poder trabajar.

No haba hielo, no haba combustible para las embarcaciones.

Cuando todo fue normalizando, no tenamos a quin venderle el pescado.

No haban restaurantes, no haba nada.

Mara nos destruy.

Hurricane Maria was a game-changer for us.

You know, everything is before and after Maria.

We have had a few hurricanes before, but nothing like Maria.

So we were back to square one and realizing what we had done before is not working now.

Narrator: When the hurricanes hit, marine conservationist Raimundo Espinoza was just beginning to engage local fishermen through his recently established non-profit Conservacin ConCiencia.

Raimundo: At first, I wanted to be working on the environment, and it was very, very clear at the moment.

But Hurricane Maria changed that very quickly.

It didn't feel right to ask people to do conservation projects when, because of that catastrophe of the hurricanes, folks weren't able to feed their families.

It took a very big change in the organization that we needed to make sure people that are working with us are doing OK, are doing well, are able to thrive, because it's not real collaboration if you're not on equal ground.

[music] Narrator: With this new perspective, Raimundo set out to help fishers get back to work while aiding in hurricane cleanup.

Partnering with the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, he created a program that would pay fishers to tackle a major marine challenge: abandoned or lost fishing traps, known as "ghost gear."

It's one of the highest threats to marine biodiversity in the ocean.

Nobody's cleaning up the seafloor, and so commercial fishing divers are... for conch and lobster, that's the area that they're swimming, and they're observing, and so they are able to identify where derelict fishing gear is located so we can then come together and remove that gear, bringing it back to shore, preventing any further wildlife to be trapped and killed.

And that's been one of the largest removals in the entire Caribbean of derelict fishing gear.

[music] Narrator: Over the past 8 years, fishermen across Puerto Rico, with the support of Conservacin ConCiencia have removed more than 128 tons of deadly ghost gear from the sea.

The effort has also enabled fishers to reinvest their earnings into their local communities.

Following this early success, Raimundo took on another post-storm challenge voiced by commercial fishers.

Without reliable power for freezers and ice makers, they couldn't operate.

They had no way of keeping their catch from spoiling.

And so, in partnership with the Hispanic Federation, Conservacin ConCiencia tried to solve the problem by installing a solar power system for the villa pesquera in Naguabo.

Raimundo: It became the first fishing association in all of Puerto Rico that was able to operate on solar systems, and so it was a pilot project.

We weren't sure if it was gonna work, and it worked so well that we installed it in 4 more fishing associations.

[music] Narrator: On the southwestern side of the island, in the vibrant and colorful seaside town of Boquern, the villa pesquera also lost power during Hurricane Maria.

They would have been left in the dark again after Hurricane Fiona in 2022, if not for the solar system installed after the first storm.

The Fiona winds moved back the power pole and, because of that, you will see all the wires down, so there's a significant damage to all the wires.

So, we tried to put the power back, you know, to the company, and the cost is so high that basically it's very difficult to provide power to us.

Narrator: As a result, the fishing association is unlikely to be connected to the traditional power grid ever again.

Ricardo: Without the panels, the solar panel and the battery, we would not be able to operate.

This is the backbone of our operation because we don't have access to power.

[music] Narrator: Over a 7-year period, Conservacin ConCiencia helped fishermen install solar systems in 20 fishing associations across Puerto Rico.

The most recent system, installed in 2025 at the villa pesquera in Loza, marked a major step in getting their fish market back up and running.

Bueno, el sistema solar... Sinceramente, me siento y estoy bien agradecido que vino ese proyecto para ah.

Porque hay veces que se va la luz aqu, y estamos a veces un da o dos sin luz.

Pero ya, gracias al seor, se est arreglando ese problema ya.

[Indistinct singing] Narrator: Loza's fishing association sits at the heart of Puerto Rico's Afro-Caribbean culture.

[music] Through its restaurant, art, and community activities, it keeps traditions alive and shares them with visitors.

Aqu en Loza, por ser un pueblo de costa, pues obviamente la pesca se convirti no solamente en una tradicin, era un medio de vida.

Y entonces, muchos de los artesanos de aqu, de Loza eran pescadores.

Y siempre ha habido esa... esa mezcla de lo cultural, de lo tradicional, con la movida de la pesca.

Estamos diversificando todo tipo de actividad cultural en nuestra zona.

Es altamente beneficioso.

Y hasta ahora hemos visto que ha sido... los resultados han sido positivos.

Narrator: Villas pesqueras, like Loza, are woven into the fabric of their communities.

Sustaining operations after increasingly severe storms isn't just about commercial fishing.

It's about keeping the village alive.

With a changing climate, hurricanes are expected to grow stronger, making resilience a matter of survival.

Raimundo: Solar power systems are a critical piece when we're speaking about climate resiliency.

They're not gonna stop the storms.

They're gonna help us live through them.

So, it's a way to continue adapting to a coming reality.

Solar systems in fisheries associations are helping us address food security as well.

It also helps us become more independent in how we rely on our own businesses.

And so, that's part of the work to address climate resiliency.

[music] Narrator: Over the years, Conservacin ConCiencia's partnerships with the fishermen have deepened, paving the way for new conservation projects.

In Catao, an urban fishing village that combines commercial fishing and sport and recreational fishing charters, Raimundo has built hard-won trust with the fishers, including early critic of marine conservation organizations Rodolfo Abrams.

[music] Rai no es el tpico bilogo que te encuentras por ah, que llega con... con una mentalidad de que: "Esto es lo que es, esto es lo que yo s, "esto es lo correcto, "as se hacen las cosas".

No.

Realmente pues... Te deja trabajar y te deja... que te desenvuelvas en lo que t sabes hacer.

Realmente, pues yo lo que s hacer es pescar.

Raimundo: I feel that respect and the way that we are able to communicate are critical when speaking with the fishery sector because it's a sector that in Puerto Rico has been marginalized.

It's a sector that hasn't been listened to.

And so, you really need to be able to build trust, be transparent, and make sure that, if you are asking for collaboration, make sure you're giving what you're also receiving.

[music] Narrator: Relationships built over years are now yielding major wins for scalloped hammerhead sharks.

In 2018, Jaime Gonzalez, a fisherman from Catao, shared something remarkable with Raimundo-- the location of a nearby hammerhead nursery he had fished for 30 years.

By revealing it, Jaime risked his own livelihood, trusting that the information would be used to protect the sharks, not to close the waters local fishers depend on.

Esos tiburones estn en un rea que llamamos Boca Vieja.

Vienen estas hembras, paren, ellos se cran ah.

No tienen tantos depredadores, por eso ellos pueden llegar a ese tamao, pueden llegar a crecer.

Y cuando llegan a ese tamao, ellos regresan al abismo de donde... de donde la madre vino y...y regresan a su casa.

Narrator: As a result of this shared knowledge, Conservacin ConCiencia partnered with Florida-based Mote Marine Laboratory and Florida International University to work directly with the fishers.

Catao fishermen are now paid to help catch, tag, and release the hammerhead pups while gathering crucial data.

Together, they are working to create Puerto Rico's first shark refuge.

Raimundo: The way we monitor for the scalloped hammerhead sharks in the Boca Vieja Bay is that we have 3 to 4 rods in the water.

We bait them with local bait fish, and we have the whole area in a grid, and so we do randomized fishing for one hour in each grid site.

Narrator: Once a juvenile hammerhead is caught, it's brought aboard and swiftly tagged with an identifying number.

Fragile and critically endangered, these tiny scalloped hammerheads are handled with care and released quickly back into the bay.

Over 9 years, more than 600 young-of-the-year and juvenile scalloped hammerheads have been tagged and safely released.

DNA sampled from earlier juveniles has already provided a critical insight into the species.

Researchers at the Predator Ecology and Conservation Lab at Florida International University determined that the hammerheads in Boca Vieja form a distinct population, separate from the broader Caribbean population of the species.

This makes the Puerto Rican scalloped hammerhead uniquely endemic and underscores the urgency to protect them from overfishing.

If you bring that population to extinction, there's not gonna be a supply of sharks from other populations towards those islands.

So that's kind of like the core of finding a new population.

If you don't take care of them, nothing will replace them if they're gone.

So it's one of those species that, if we don't act quickly, we can lose it within our lifetimes.

[music] Narrator: After years of hard work, Conservacin ConCiencia and the Catao fishers are on the verge of securing government protections for the hammerheads in the bay.

They have proposed a shark refuge to be co-managed with the Catao Fishing Association.

Raimundo: This is a major credit to their capacity and their knowledge.

And this is all coming from collaboration.

Not only could it be Puerto Rico's first shark refuge, it's opportunities not just for the fishers, for protected areas, for more research.

This is also gonna protect fisheries' resources as well.

[music] Narrator: Another project aimed at sustaining local fisheries is thriving at the villa pesquera in Naguabo, where Raimundo has partnered with the fishers and Florida Atlantic University's Queen Conch Lab.

Together, they've built the Naguabo Queen Conch Hatchery, a pioneering fisher-operated facility focused on restoring queen conch through aquaculture.

Carrucho es una de las pesqueras ms... que son de...de demanda en... por lo menos en esta rea y en todo Puerto Rico.

Es una de las especies que se... ms que se consumen, ms la gente pide, ms la gente busca.

Narrator: These conch used to be harvested by diving in shallow waters.

But over the decades, fishers have had to travel farther and farther offshore to find them.

When Hurricane Maria destroyed nearshore seagrass habitats, it forced divers even deeper.

Today, they work at 60 to 90 feet, knocking conch along the seafloor.

Raimundo: Knocking conch is when you have the little hammer, the piqueta, and you break the shell and put the knife in the conch to sever its connection to the shell, and they're able to take out the meat.

So that meat, they put in their dive bag, and they leave the shell behind.

Narrator: As part of harvesting, fishers check each conch for an egg mass.

Traditionally, conchs with egg masses are left to reproduce.

But now, some eggs are collected for the hatchery during specific times of the year.

Raimundo: I always say that the work at the Naguabo Aquaculture Center starts with the fishers, because they're the ones that bring in the conch eggs.

We train the fishers to collect part of the egg masses, then bring them back to the center.

Then we begin the process of incubating those egg masses.

[music] Narrator: Back at the hatchery, the wild-collected egg masses are incubated, and the larvae raised into juvenile conchs.

These young conchs will be grown to a size suitable for release, boosting survival and helping rebuild the fishery.

Raimundo: The juvenile conch that are right now at the Naguabo Aquaculture Center are conch that were brought in as eggs by the fishers that the staff raised as larvae, and through their metamorphose-- when they metamorphose into little conch, into the conch that you see today-- those were all raised and produced at the Naguabo Aquaculture Center.

Narrator: While the hatchery has successfully raised conch from wild-caught eggs, Raimundo remains focused on the bigger picture-- increasing knowledge of the species and engaging more fishers directly in fisheries management.

Queen conch aquaculture is not a silver bullet.

We are not gonna save queen conch from the Naguabo Aquaculture Center, but we can help facilitate action that can save queen conch.

Los pescadores, este... han sentido un buen "feeling", sabe?

Una...una buena adrenalina.

Positiva.

Para colaborar con lo que es el vivero de carrucho.

Porque ellos se han sentido parte de la colaboracin genuina que estamos haciendo con lo del vivero de carruchos.

Un compromiso que... que lo llevan en la sangre, y verlos en ese... en ese escenario positivo y alegre, y contento con lo que estamos haciendo es bien positivo tanto para ellos y la comunidad.

[music] Narrator: Since Hurricane Maria's devastation, fishing associations across Puerto Rico have not just rebuilt, they've transformed.

With support from Conservacin ConCiencia and others, collaborative projects rooted in trust, respect, and transparency have helped fishers and their communities turn survival into tangible victories.

Miguel: The salvation is not individual.

It's a team effort.

We need to see that our differences are not that great as sometimes we think.

We all are in the same boat.

We are not on different boats.

We are in the same boat at the same time.

Nobody is coming to save us, we have to save ourselves, and you can see that.

It's not that we are talking about it, it's happening.

Realmente, muchas veces no se le da la importancia creo que ni aqu ni en algunas partes del mundo, no se le da la importancia al agricultor y al pescador.

Pero cuando pasan estos eventos realmente somos los nicos que podemos alimentar al pueblo.

Y yo creo que, pues... por lo menos aqu en la villa, pues... aprendimos bastante y, pues, ya estamos sintindonos "ready".

En el caso de un prximo evento, pues... yo creo que en varias semanas ya podemos estar trabajando y llevando alimento al pueblo.

Yo creo que...que.. no se puede perder la fe.

Y el futuro...el futuro de... El futuro de muchas comunidades costeras es lo que est en juego.

Necesitamos llevar esto al nivel que se tiene que llevar.

Y esa es nuestra meta.

[music] [music] [music] [music fades] Announcer: Major funding for this program was provided by the Batchelor Foundation-- encouraging people to preserve and protect America's underwater resources.

Additional funding was provided by the Parrot Family Endowment for Environmental Education.

[gentle music]