Above, Flamingos at Las Terrazas, a small community and nature reserve in the municipality of Candelaria, Artemisa Province, Cuba. Photos courtesy of Gwen Thomas.

Gwen Thomas of Richardson is the Chapter Coordinator for the Texas Society for Ecological Restoration. She recently returned from an educational trip to Cuba.

May 4, 2015

By Gwen Michele Thomas 

In March, I boarded a plane with 19 university students on a 10-day educational study trip to Cuba.  As we made the 45-minute flight between Miami and Havana, below us many non-human species were riding ocean and air currents northwards to arrive at their destination in the United States. For me and my traveling companions, getting on the plane with visa in hand was an easy crossing. For those traveling below us, this crossing is far more complicated.  

Right, Gwen Thomas. Below, view of Havana from across the bay at San Carlos de la Cabana (Fort of Saint Charles).

As the largest island in the Caribbean, Cuba, located at the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, is the breeding and stop-over grounds for many migratory species that end up in Texas and other parts of the United States. Its relative isolation over the past 50 years has enabled its coastal and terrestrial ecosystems to remain comparatively well preserved, allowing for the protection of endemic species as well as for those who spend time in both Cuba and the United States.  

Large populations of migratory birds reside in both countries including:  vireos, woodpeckers, warblers, herons and an assortment of raptors such as Sharp-shinned and Swainson’s hawks. Additionally, Cuba’s coastal underwater shelves, coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves provide habitat and breeding grounds for marine species such as the green and hawksbill sea turtles, sharks, manatees and fish species, including snapper, grouper and Atlantic bluefin tuna. The Cuban coastal waters are also the breeding grounds for microbes and tiny larvae, offspring of fish and lobster, which float on the currents and on which our Gulf Coast fisheries depend.  Thus, we are inextricably linked to our neighbors across the Gulf by the many aquatic and avian species that ply the air and sea currents of the Gulf of Mexico between Cuba and the United States with no regard for international boundaries. 

From the Gulf Coast fisheries and coastal tourism to pollinating plants, seed dispersal, consuming insects and feeding our spirits, the quality of our lives, both here and in Cuba, depend on the health of these ecosystems, the species they suport, and their ability to migrate between our two countries. Protecting and restoring their habitat is critical to the livelihood of these species. Many obstacles that threaten habitat and safe passage such as agricultural run-off, coastal and inland development and oil drilling, to name a few, abound within both countries. The ability to effectively communicate and collaborate with our counterparts across the Gulf to ensure adequate monitoring and regulation of potential and real threats to these migratory species is paramount.

Above, Las Terrazas is home to a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, one of Fidel Castro's early reforestation projects that began in 1968. Below, The blue sea dazzles in Matanzas Province.

With the thaw in U.S.-Cuban relations, we, as American scientists, environmentalists and citizens, particularly those of us with a stake in the Gulf Coast region, must find ways to develop linkages with our counterparts in Cuba to protect the future of the systems on which we depend.  We need new, collaborative ways to study, assess and monitor changes in habitats. We need to support our Cuban counterparts in accessing up to date information and resources and in developing a voice where their concerns can be heard nationally and internationally. Some of this has started, despite being hampered by long-standing embargo and political differences. It would, however, behoove those of us with direct access to the Gulf of Mexico to reach out and to start developing mechanisms for greater international cooperation to ensure that all these species can safely cross international boundaries. Their lives depend on it, as do ours.


Gwen Thomas is the Chapter Coordinator for the Texas Society for Ecological Restoration. She also works as a consultant in natural resource management. She has lived and worked throughout Central America focusing on environmental policy issues and in Nepal looking at issues of agriculture and women's empowerment. Thomas resides in Richardson and can be reached at GMThomas29@fastmail.fm.

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