We are exploring the deep waters in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands on the Okeanos Explorer...
as part of the Atlantic Seafloor Partnership for Integrated Research and Exploration, also known as the ASPIRE campaign.
The deep-sea habitats around Puerto Rico are one of the most unexplored habitats.
Any exploration that is carried out in these waters is really baseline information that will be useful
for further explorations and for possible management strategies for the island.
Management is protecting and conserving an ecosystem or it can be a fish species, in order to restore or sustain that ecosystem or fish population.
When managing an area, you hope that if it's effectively managed, that you increase the diversity of that area.
So today we're diving to the northeast of Mona Island, which is a small little island sandwiched between the Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.
This is a marine protected area.
The main marine resources being managed in Puerto Rico are mainly the fisheries.
These are the finfish, like snappers and groupers. Also, lobsters and conch.
Fisheries could be managed through closures or through annual catches.
However, right now, deep-sea habitats are really not included, but now through the Okeanos Explorer and what we're seeing through this expedition
is that many of these commercially important fishes are using these deep-sea habitats as homes.
This is a great picture of a queen snapper. This is a new record depth for this species of fish.
It was only thought to go to about 450 meters, and we just saw it at 539.
We hope that these deep-sea habitats will also be included in management and protection.
Do you fish this area, Ricardo?
This is Ricardo Luego, he's a fisherman from the west coast of Puerto Rico, from the Bocaron Fishing Association.
What do you usually target when you're fishing?
Snappers, that's what I do. You got the grouper, but right now it's closed. It's closed six months a year.
There definitely needs to be a balance between protection and sustenance and survivorship of many of these fishermen
because these fishermen do live off of these marine resources and you cannot take that all away.
You have to be able to manage protection with these fishermen surviving and their livelihoods.
So in addition to assessing biological diversity, Okeanos Explorer is also exploring some possible geohazards around the island.
In this region, there was a landslide that possibly could have caused the earthquake and tsunami of 1918, along the west and north coast of Puerto Rico.
People lost their lives due to the earthquake and also to the tsunami.
This expedition helps create awareness of geohazards. We can monitor these geohazards for future reference.
There is definitely a strong connection between the people and the sea in Puerto Rico.
So what's great about these expeditions is the live streaming, because this helps the local people relate to the ocean on a real personal level
and now see that there are fish and there are corals and there are sponges that live really deep in the waters of Puerto Rico.
Building awareness is probably the first step in creating really effective management.
Puerto Ricans are very proud of their country and culture.
We need to protect and conserve the marine resources of Puerto Rico.