anniversary—there were many reasons to celebrate!
During the 2016 festival, children and adults alike participated in a variety of activities aimed at environmental education and conservation messaging: kids learned about their local marine protected area and what not to do at the beach (e.g. don’t litter, don’t step on coral); they recited poetry that they had written—each playing a different marine creature; they played a game of untangling plastic sea turtles from nets (whoever could do it fastest won) to demonstrate the importance of releasing bycaught sea turtles from fishing nets; and they fished for paper fish with magnets (points were deducted if they caught juvenile fish, sea turtles, or marine mammals) to demonstrate the importance of selective fishing.
We were so impressed by the festival. Not only did the kids learn a lot but they were also genuinely excited to be there. It was clear that they look forward to the event every year, and we were grateful to be there.
Isle of Youth, Isle of Change: the future of Cocodrilo
While Cocodrilo is off the beaten track for tourists now, more tourists are likely to eventually arrive with the opening of U.S.-Cuba relations. National and international tourists have started to trickle in to the area with the opening of Cocodrilo’s first casa particular (a privately owned guesthouse). Inevitably, the questions arise about the changes that will come to the community as additional capacity is added.
Will Cocodrilo be ready for the tourism rush when it hits? How can the community implement responsible tourism—where locals benefit economically while the impacts to the coastal and marine environments are managed and reduced?
While these questions remain unanswered, CubaMar and The Ocean Foundation are working with community leaders to develop sustainable tourism options that have positive impacts on the environment, the community, and the economy. It is hoped that development will proceed at a pace that can be managed well, and that large-scale tourism’s attendant problems of wastewater, energy demand, and trash can be avoided. We are working on a documentary through Conservation Media Group’s Blue Initiative Grant (http://www.conservationmediagroup.org/grantee/cubamar) called “Isle of Youth, Isle of Change” that will celebrate Cocodrilo’s relationship with the sea and will situate Cocodrilo and Cuba in conversations about tourism and coastal habitat protection efforts.
The Isle of Youth is a beautiful place, with beautiful beaches and wild protected areas. The people of Cocodrilo celebrate their local marine life at the festival they have embraced as their own. The community now has the opportunity to play the leading role in steering a future that supports the community and the resources on which it depends.
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