Monica Urrutia

Community Scientist

In her early life, Monica Urrutia moved from her home in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, to the Garifuna community of Tornabe in Tela. She is a computer technician and has extensive experience working in the tourism sector. As a mother of two, she is inspired to take part in environmental initiatives for the protection and recovery of coastal marine resources. Since 2022, she has been working with CORAL in Tela Bay as a Community Scientist and leading the native fish species aquaculture project.

Monica, being from a family of fishermen, has extensive knowledge of this activity and has developed a great ability to interact with local fishermen, including Garifuna communities. She monitors fishing in the Bay of Tela, which is of great importance to know the state of the resource and to generate strategies for the conservation of coral reefs and the sustainable use of the fishing resource. Monica is also responsible for the native fish farming project, an initiative of the Coral Reef Alliance that is considered a key long term project to establish sustainable economic alternatives for fishing communities.

I hope for your help to explore and protect the wild ocean in ways that will restore the health and, in so doing, secure hope for humankind. Health to the ocean means health for us.

Sylvia Earle