Panama

In 2005, Alexandra was offered an opportunity to work on marine conservation in the Eastern Tropical Pacific. A jewel of marine biodiversity and home to four marine World Heritage Sites, she jumped at the chance to go back into the field and experience not only the realities of conservation in the developing world but also the realities of life in coastal communities that were bearing the brunt of extreme degradation of their marine environments.

Much of the two years she spent in Central America was focused on communities like this one, working to not only educate artisanal fishermen who had seen the almost total devastation of their coastal marine resources within a matter of decades but also explore alternative sustainable livelihoods for them. Living in villages that have no running water, no electricity, no medical clinics, and sometimes no church, the loss of their ability to sustain themselves with the bounty of the sea has been an incalculable tragedy – they have lost not only their source of sustenance and income, but also a trade and understanding of the ocean that has passed from father to son for generations, they have lost a way of life, and their roles as leaders of their communities and providers for their families.