Fernando Bretos

Fernando is a conservation scientist who focuses on the regeneration and protection of tropical coastal and marine habitats. In 2008 he brought his project, CariMar, to The Ocean Foundation’s fiscal sponsorship program. He is lending his experience in coral restoration to the Inisiatif Blue Resilience, as part of its platform to restore seagrasses, mangroves and corals through nature-based solutions.

During his 12 years at Phillip and Patricia Frost Museum of Science, he created Museum Volunteers for the Environment, which since 2007 has engaged over 15,000 Miami residents in restoring over 25 acres of mangrove, dune, coral reef and coastal hammock. He also initiated the Conservation Program at Frost Science and as Curator of Ecology helped design hands on exhibits about coastal ecology for a state-of-the-art building that opened in 2017. While at The Ocean Conservancy, he managed the Caribbean Biodiversity Program and in 1999 led a series of research expeditions to Navassa Island which a year later was declared a Bumi liar Nasional by the Clinton Administration.

At TOF, Fernando is leading a multinational marine protected area network in the Gulf of Mexico called RedGolfo. He oversees efforts to protect critically endangered marine species such as elkhorn coral, sea turtles and smalltooth sawfish and engages small scale fishing communities in expanding community livelihoods through sound fisheries policies and ecotourism. He has published extensively in academic journals and recently wrote a nature book about his hometown called Wild Miami: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around South Florida. He holds a Master’s degree from the University of Miami’s Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science and a Bachelor’s degree in biology from Oberlin College. Fernando is a National Fellow at The Explorer’s Club, hiji National Geographic Society Explorer jeung Kinship Conservation Fellow.