A Ranger’s View: Tanzania’s first managed marine protected area seeks balance as the pandemic drags on

Educator and ranger Ali Chagga knows the marine life of Chumbe Island like the back of his hand · Photo: Chumbe Island Coral Park

Marine protected areas give the ocean time and space to heal, allowing species to rebound and stressed corals to gain resilience · Photo: Chumbe Island Coral Park

Hermit crab scuttling along the beach on Chumbe Island · Photo: Oskar Henriksson

As with many small operations, the pandemic has presented struggles for the Chumbe MPA, which depends on income from sustainable tourism · Photo: Markus Meissl

Local community members are invited to Chumbe Island to learn from the rangers about why protecting the ocean is vital · Photo: Chumbe Island Coral Park

The Chumbe MPA has sustainability at its heart, powering its electricity with solar energy and harvesting rainwater from the bungalows’ roofs · Photo: Chumbe Island Coral Park

Contributors

Hannah Hindley

Wilderness Guide, Writer & Conservationist

Hannah Hindley is a wilderness guide, writer, and conservationist currently working for Marine Conservation Institute in Northern California. Hindley graduated from Harvard University with degrees in English & American Literature & Language and Organismic & Evolutionary Biology. Her writing bridges the space between those studies, exploring our human relationship with a changing planet. She holds her MFA in Creative Nonfiction from the University of Arizona. She is the recipient of the Barry Lopez Prize in nonfiction, the Ellen Meloy Desert Writers Award, the Waterston Desert Writing Prize, the Thomas Wood Award in Journalism, the New Conrads Prize in fiction, the Bill Waller Award for Nonfiction, and a Carson Scholarship in science communication. Current projects for Hannah include early-stage outreach efforts for restoring sea otters to Northern California’s estuarine ecosystems, cultivating community interest in mapping conservation projects via the Marine Protection Atlas, and telling rich and personal stories about the expanding Blue Park network that unites the world’s best-protected marine reserves.

Marine Conservation Institute

Nonprofit

Marine Conservation Institute uses science-based strategies to safeguard marine wildlife and revitalize our ocean by advocating for critical ecosystems, tracking and reporting global marine protection progress (MPAtlas.org), and strengthening effective conservation through Blue Parks.

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