*Tax deductible in the US. Eligible for employer matching to reduce participant cost.
25% due upon booking
MarAlliance invites you to immerse yourself in a once-in-a-lifetime experience on Lighthouse Reef Atoll’s Half Moon Caye in Belize. Join our team of marine biologists, guides and fishers for an unforgettable week, helping to research sharks, rays and turtles (marine megafauna). During this trip, you will experience the life of a tropical marine field biologist while helping us collect invaluable data on populations, abundance, density and habitat preference of a range of species of sharks, rays, turtles and large predatory fish such as snappers and groupers.
We will train you to be directly involved in each aspect of our fieldwork, in which you will experience an unparalleled underwater world. Snorkel surveys will bring you one on one with the Caribbean’s most exhilarating marine animals, including turtles, groupers, stingrays, and sharks. You will learn how to set longlines and Baited Remote Underwater Videos, with hands-on work tagging and measuring sharks, rays and turtles.
We are excited to have the opportunity to share our findings with you and the field work will be complemented by presentations by our research team during the course of the week.
Marine megafauna, notably sharks and rays (elasmobranchs), are predators that play a vital role in maintaining healthy and functional marine ecosystems. Overfishing, coupled with a life history of slow growth, late maturity and low reproductive rates, make them vulnerable to overexploitation and in dire need of management to halt further decline. Much more research is needed on elasmobranch diversity, abundance and distribution, exploitation levels and value, habitat use, and movement throughout their life cycles, particularly near tropical countries such as Belize.
MarAlliance is a dynamic NGO whose staff collectively has more than 100 years of experience with marine megafauna. Working with the government and other stakeholders we seek to promote thriving populations of sharks, rays, turtles and piscivorous fish by undertaking annual monitoring of populations, age and growth, and assessing the effectiveness of marine protected areas (MPAs).
While Belize still possesses much of the habitat considered essential for sharks and rays, their local populations are rapidly being damaged by overfishing and uncontrolled development in their nursery habitats. The overfishing of sharks, for example, can lead to an overabundance of secondary consumers and a scarcity of prey, both symptoms of ecosystem imbalance.
MPAs are a key means of stemming the decline of commercial fish species and Belize boasts 14 of them, seven of which are World Heritage Sites. Conservation targets urge governments to set aside 10% of the world’s seas under MPA management by 2020. This has made the need to assess MPAs’ effectiveness all the more urgent yet their benefits for highly mobile species have yet to be fully understood.
We focus our efforts at Lighthouse Reef Atoll, Belize’s most remote coral reef site, which encompasses two high-profile MPAs: The Blue Hole Natural Monument and Half Moon Caye Natural Monument.
Lodging
Transfers
Meals
Other
MarAlliance es una organización internacional sin ánimo de lucro registrada en EE.UU., Belice, Panamá y Cabo Verde, cuyo objetivo es explorar, facilitar e inspirar cambios positivos para la fauna marina amenazada, especialmente tiburones y rayas, sus hábitats críticos y las comunidades humanas dependientes. Nuestra misión es amplia y ambiciosa, y trabajamos en tres idiomas y en siete países de tres regiones. Ante el declive de muchas poblaciones de megafauna marina, estas especies necesitan una voz fuerte, eficaz y con base científica que las represente para ayudar a los socios dependientes a dar forma a las estrategias y acciones de gestión y conservación para invertir el declive.
Buscamos a un becario (6 meses) proactivo, con conocimientos digitales y excelente capacidad de redacción y edición de textos, que apoye la creación de contenidos escritos de alta calidad y recursos multicanal para difundir el trabajo que MarAlliance realiza a través de sus plataformas en línea (sitio web, redes sociales, boletín, entre otras) y fuera de línea, y que interactúe con nuestro público externo para contribuir a nuestros objetivos generales de comunicación y marketing. El Asistente de Comunicación dependerá directamente del Coordinador de Comunicación y Marketing, y trabajará en estrecha colaboración con el resto del equipo para apoyarles en los elementos de comunicación de su trabajo.
Estipendio durante 6 meses.
Español, con fluidez en inglés
Nacionales o residentes de Panamá, Belice, México, Honduras, Guatemala.
Este contrato será a distancia dentro de las zonas horarias de América, flexible, a tiempo completo y desde casa con hasta un 10% de viajes ocasionales locales e internacionales.
Por favor, envíe su currículum, portfolio si lo tiene, y carta de presentación a info@maralliance.org con “MAR-CA_Apellido” en el asunto antes del 21 de marzo, 2024. No se admiten llamadas.
MarAlliance is an international non-profit registered in the US, Belize, Panama and Cabo Verde that aims to explore, enable and inspire positive changes for threatened marine wildlife – notably sharks and rays – their critical habitats and dependent human communities. Our remit is broad and ambitious, and we work in three languages and across seven countries encompassed by three regions. In the face of declines in many populations of marine megafauna, these species need a strong, effective, and science-based voice to represent them to help dependent partners shape management and conservation strategies and action to reverse declines.
We are seeking for a proactive, digitally savvy Paid Intern (6 month) Communications Assistant with excellent writing and copy editing skills, who will support the creation of high-quality written content and multichannel assets to broadcast the work MarAlliance does through its online (website, social media, newsletter, among others) and offline platforms, and engage with our external audiences to contribute to our overall communications and marketing goals. The Communications Assistant will directly report consistently to the Communications and Marketing Coordinator, and work closely with the rest of the team to support them on the communications elements of their work.
Stipend for 6 month.
English, Spanish are mandatory.
Panama, Belize, Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala nationals or residents.
This contract will be remote within the Americas time zones, flexible, full-time and home-based with up to 10% occasional local and international travel.
Please send your resume, portfolio if you have one, and cover letter to info@maralliance.org with “MAR-CA_Last name” in the subject line by 21st of March, 2024. No calls please.
