Yellow Dog Conservation Foundation Awards Grant to Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

Yellow Dog Conservation Foundation Awards Grant to Bonefish & Tarpon Trust

The Yellow Dog Community and Conservation Foundation (YDCCF) has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust (BTT) to establish a mangrove nursery that will support BTT’s efforts to restore ecologically important mangrove habitat in The Bahamas.

“The Out Islands of The Bahamas, including Crooked and Acklins, have been a focal point of YDCCF’s work for several years,” said YDCCF Executive Director Brooks Scott. “Combining our community-focused efforts with the science and restoration work of the Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project will help ensure these remote places can build further resiliency and the habitats that support the livelihoods of residents will be restored and protected.”

The new mangrove nursery was constructed in June and is capable of supporting 10,000 red mangrove propagules annually. The nursery will serve as the hub for future restoration on both Crooked and Acklins–two islands in the Southern Bahamas with extensive bonefish habitat and equally pressing environmental challenges. The mangroves of Crooked and Acklins were severely damaged by Hurricane Joaquin in 2015, and have still not recovered, which has been exacerbated by sea level rise. Until now there has been no nursery infrastructure on these islands and no consistent supply of native seedlings available for restoration, and natural recovery is not occurring.

“Establishing a nursery on Crooked Island is the necessary and foundational step to begin restoration work not just on Crooked Island but throughout the Southern Bahamas,” said Rashema Ingraham, BTT’s Caribbean Program Director. “The nursery will enable BTT to propagate thousands of seedlings, steadily increasing inventory to support future planting efforts and begin building restoration capacity through local training and engagement.”

Since 2020, BTT’s Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project has planted over 110,000 mangroves in collaboration with local fishing guides, students and stakeholders in Grand Bahama and Abaco. This work, conducted in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, has restored critical habitat for bonefish and other flats species, improved coastal resilience and helped foster environmental stewardship among Bahamian communities.