Beyond the Reef International

Formed in 2018 as a response to the devastating damage caused to the marine ecosystem by hurricanes irma and maria, Beyond the Reef has established itself as the most productive environmental organization in the territory to date.

This abandoned gear such as nets, traps and pots not only attract, trap, entangle and potentially kill marine life, but they also often smother fragile marine environments such as coral Reef. Beyond the Reef has been hard at work cleaning miles of coastline from these deadly nets as well as any other hurricane debris or plastics that we encounter along the way that pose a threat to the marine environment. Additionally, we have begun our second season of cetacean field research, discovering the importance of the bvi waters to the annual humpback migration route through utilizing hydroacoustics, visual fluke identifications, and boat transects to systematically study several aspects of their behaviors and presence within the waters.

We have created 3 large-scale artificial reefs out of hurricane damaged vessels that have gone on to become marine protected areas. We have taken the responsibility of monitoring and treating stony coral tissue loss disease within the territory which has been prevalent in this part of the caribbean for the past several years. We have initiated a shark research program as the bvi is a shark sanctuary with no baseline data. And lastly we have dedicated much of the past 2 years to identifying and clearing "ghost fishing" gear out of the waters and coastline. Ghost fishing gear refers to derelict, abandoned or lost fishing gear in the marine environment that continues to trap fish and animals for years and years after they were originally set for use. (continues below)