Tres Palmas Marine Reserve (TPMR) has been heavily marketed as one of the top 5 best places for snorkeling in Puerto Rico. Given the reserve’s attractiveness and popularity, the amount of visitors has significantly increased generating new management challenges, which are accentuated by the lack of enforcement at the reserve. Puerto Rico Sea Grant and Amigos de Tres Palmas coordinated an interagency meeting to overview current institutional arrangements and enforcement activities of federal, state, and territorial agencies, with jurisdiction on Tres Palmas Marine Reserve.

Puerto Rico Sea Grant and partners implemented a series of management strategies aimed at the protection and conservation of TPMR and the education of resource users through the involvement of the local community. Given the positive results from these partnerships, two agreements of collaboration were signed where Amigos de Tres Palmas and the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources agreed to work together in co-managing the TPMR.

During September 2017, Puerto Rico was devastated by back-to-back major hurricanes that resulted in the worst natural catastrophe affecting the region in a century. Fishing facilities or “villas pesqueras” including boat ramps and piers were in many cases completely destroyed, boats were lost, gasoline and diesel fuel were nowhere to be found, and there was no electric power. In addition, many fishers’ houses and communities were flooded and/or destroyed by the storm.

Puerto Rico Sea Grant actively assisted fishers by providing guidance about available post-hurricane assistance and benefits from federal, state and private entities. Information about how to request available post-hurricane aid was arranged and disseminated by various means. Field visits to the most affected fishing villages were conducted to supply water filters, battery powered solar lights, and canned food. Damages and needs were documented to facilitate agencies requirements and contacts were established between fishers, government agencies, NGOs, and private industry.

Close to 25 fishing villages were visited, and necessity items were provided to at least 100 fishers. Approximately 60 fishers received new fishing gear, and 2 fishing villages received new freezers from private donations as a result of Puerto Rico Sea Grant damage assessments.

Puerto Rico Sea Grant's coral reef restoration research contributed to enhancing the growing tourism-based economy of Culebra Island by fostering increasing visitors to restored reefs, with visitors mostly attracted to the diversity of fish species and resident sea turtles. Coral reef restoration efforts resulted in significant increases in fish abundance and diversity. In addition to attracting tourists, restoring depleted coral reefs represents additional long-term benefits of increasing shoreline resilience to wave action and helping to rebuild fisheries of species reliant on coral reefs for habitat.