🐠 Don't go to Cozumel

Chinese influencer goes viral cooking a great white shark.

Evening eco-nnectors,

What if every diver planted a coral instead of watching them disappear? Below Dr. German Mendez’s story attempting to save one of the world’s largest barrier reefs.

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.📈 Cool Trends

• 🦋 wildlife corridors.

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♾️ eco-stories

🐠 Dive with purpose

Dr. German Mendez in the Cozumel Coral Reef Restoration Project

“If they build the new pier and build the condos, the Cozumel barrier reef is going to be remembered only in history books, nothing more, it will no longer exist.”

Dr German Mendez first visited Cozumel 40 years ago.

“I was a veterinarian, I lived in Mexico City. I used to take care of animals, I came here to learn to dive, and when I learned, I didn’t go back, I stayed here, I pursued a career in diving.

In the 1990s he began to notice the impact tourism was having on the reef, joining a protest group called Corales Vivos that adamantly fought against a cruise ship terminal being built.

“In 1994 they built that pier and we were marching in the streets with banners telling them not to build the pier because they were going to destroy the corals below, and they told me ‘you’re just a veterinarian, you don’t even know what a coral is.’ So I made the decision to go to the USA to study. I got a master’s degree in marine biology and specialised in corals, and when I returned 80 percent of the corals that I wanted to defend in Puerta Maya had died.”

💩 WTF? news

• 🦈 Chinese influencer goes viral cooking a great white shark.

• 🐋 Washed up sperm whale in Hawaii died due to swallowed fishing gear.

🌏 The Culture Club

📺 What we’re watching: Darwin’s Nightmare

📸 Profile of the week: @cozumelreefrestorationprogram

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📚What we’re reading: Article: Modern day slavery powering the rechargeable battery economy.
🤯 Fun fact we learnt this week: corals are animals.