Beata Ridge Expedition 2024
In December 2022, countries of the world have reached the agreement during COP15 to protect 30% of their lands and marine territories by 2023. This challenge, known as the 30×30 objective, aims to protect our natural environments and to ensure a sustainable exploitation of natural ecosystems, in a world that has seen a million of wild species getting threatened by extinction. In order to fulfill these objectives, governments and experts from all scientific fields mobilize to define key areas where biodiversity protection needs to be reenforced. This unprecedented challenge in wildlife conservation sees inspiring projects coming to reality. The Beata Ridge Expedition is one of these projects.
The Beata Ridge is an underwater sea mounts chain located in the Caribbean Sea, between the waters of Colombia and Dominican Republic. The topography of these geological formations and the oceanic current dynamic of the area makes the Beata Ridge an exceptional source of biodiversity for the region. As oceanic currents strike the sea mounts, nutrient rich waters from the seabed gets propulsed in the water column towards the surface, feeding an entire ecosystem and food chain through from the benthos to the pelagic zone.
In 2022, after realizing the importance of the Beata Ridge for marine biodiversity, governments from Colombia and Dominican Republic signed a joint declaration to create a new marine protected area around the Beata Ridge, sending a strong message to the world about their commitment to protect our natural legacy.
To realize this achievement, an unprecedented expedition was commissioned by the Dominican Ministry of Environment to realize an in depth study of the area in order to gather data around the biological diversity of marine species over the sea mount chain. In February 2024, an incredible team of Caribbean and worldwide organizations, led by the Caribbean Cetacean Society (CCS), has conducted a series of 4 expeditions over the ridge, putting together specialists, politics, and ocean advocates from the whole region, all committed to protect these waters. During their transects offshore, the team members were using key scientific methods such as photo identification & acoustic listening for cetaceans, BRUVs (Baited Remote Underwater Video systems) to monitor sharks, and eDNA (Environmental DNA) sampling to track genetic evidences of any marine animals that might have passed in these waters.
The expedition was a great success, allowing the team to identify 6 species of cetaceans, 3 species of sharks and more than 10 species of sea birds. But beyond the scientific data, this expedition was an incredible success on the social aspect, assembling more than 40 men and women from all ages and nationalities, all there to witness and preserve the stunning biodiversity of the Beata Ridge. By joining forces, people can achieve great successes and this project proves it once more.
I have been lucky enough to follow this expedition and this team to put together a short movie highlighting the ins and outs of this project and its importance for the Caribbean and our oceans. By showing to the public the adventure of this team, I hope to bring my humble contribution to this fantastic cause.
