Guardians of the Reef - Spanish with Subtitles

by Media Balance

With the ban on SCUBA lobster fishing imminent, the residents of La Moskitia, Honduras, are poised to transition to a safe, sustainable, economically secure future in a fishery employing artisanal fishing practices.

Sustainable Fishing practices in La Mosquitia Honduras

by iLCP

Produced by iLCP Footage and editing by Tamino Castro Images by Cristina G. Mittermeier and Mikael Castro Special Consideration to the Center for Marine Ecology for support

The Moskitio people, an ethnic group living on the Mosquitio Coast, have made their living primarily as diving lobster fishermen. By diving, we mean scuba diving. As the lobster have been depleted near-shore, lobster divers have been forced to move offshore, necessitating deeper, longer dives to ensure their catch. These lobster divers are engaged in the most dangerous job in the fishery world. Many are killed or paralyzed as a result of the bends, as they are driven to dive deeper and more often in order to make a decent living.

Meanwhile, due in part to over harvesting, and in part to concern for these divers’ safety, the diving lobster fishery in this area will end next February. So, the question is “what to do?” The Center for Marine Ecology, working with the international Global Fish Alliance, is using this closure as an opportunity to implement a livelihoods transition plan to establish sustainable fisheries and no-take zones in the Honduran region of the Mesoamerican Reef. Several interesting projects make up this plan. A group of approximately 300 soon-to-be former Moskitio lobster divers will begin an artisanal lobster fishery program using casita cubanas - lobster refuges that provide shelter for the lobsters, aggregating them in one place so they are easier to collect.

I am a guardian of the reef

by iLCP

Punta Gorda Fisherman

by iLCP

Flathead Wild Intro

by Epicocity and iLCP Multimedia

Scouting Mission: Great Bear Rainforest RAVE

by iLCP

Cristina speaks for a threatened landscape and way of life.

Having Just returned from the June scouting trip for the Great Bear Rainforest RAVE, Cristina Speaks for a threatened landscape and way of life.

Large tankers plan to travel through fragile ecosystems on the BC coast in the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR). While a major oil spill is a leading concern, just the presence of these tankers disrupts the ecosystem on which the First Nations rely as well as many species which call the GBR home.

Photography: Cristina Mittermeier Video: Jenny Nichols

Flathead Wild Revisited

by EP Films and iLCP Multimedia

Great Bear Rainforest RAVE

by iLCP Multimedia Jenny Nichols

The Multimedia produced for the press conference for the Great Bear Rainforest RAVE in Vancouver October 16, 2010.

The Multimedia produced for the press conference for the Great Bear Rainforest RAVE in Vancouver October 16, 2010.

Flathead Wild Film

by iLCP Multimedia and Epicocity Project

Follow the International League of Conservation Photographers for a R.A.V.E. in the Flathead River Valley in Southeastern British Columbia. The goal of these Rapid Assessment Visual Expeditions is to capture compelling media to support an existing conservation effort. Here, in one of the most pristine river valleys on the planet, a proposed open pit coal mine would disrupt a critical habitat migration corridor and pollute the headwaters of Glacier National Park in the US.

NPR Interview With Cristina Mittermeier

by NPR

Like the title says...

Bioko RAVE Multimedia, English Version

by Cristina Mittermeier, Kathy Moran and Jenny Nichols

Travel with Joel Sartore, Christian Ziegler, Tim Laman, and Ian Nichols to Bioko, an island off the coast of Equatorial Guinea in West Africa.

Four renowned conservation photographers have brought back a disturbing yet hopeful portrait of the biodiversity, threats and efforts to conserve the small West African island of Bioko in Equatorial Guinea. Despite having a significant system of protected areas, the small West African nation has been unable to stave off the relentless hunting of wildlife, and especially primates, for human consumption, which is leading to the demise of some species.

The photographers are members of the iLCP, an organization that includes some of the most acclaimed photographers of our generation and whose mission is to further environmental and cultural conservation through ethical photography. RAVE, a trademarked initiative of the iLCP that stands for Rapid Assessment Visual Expedition, aims to address the challenges of modern conservation, which often demands an immediate supply of images, words and research to answer threats of imminent disruption to focus the attention from international media.