Dr. Stacy Williams - Celebrating women in Caribbean Aquaculture
Could farmed urchins and crabs rescue Puerto Rico’s coral reefs?
Hello Everyone
As you know March is dedicated to Women, and what better way than to highlight the work of women aquaculturists in the Caribbean. We will be having several features across our social media so please check them out.
Thanks to the Fish Site we continue the series “Celebrating Women in Caribbean Aquaculture” with a feature on Dr. Stacy Williams.
What inspired you to start a career in aquaculture?
My career in aquaculture started with my dissertation research. I studied the larval dispersal and settlement of one of the most important urchins in the Caribbean – the long-spined sea urchin (Diadema antillarum)……..READ MORE AT THE LINK BELOW.
Can you summarise your current work?
I am a co-founder and lead scientist of a small non-profit organisation in Puerto Rico called Institute for Socio-Ecological Research (ISER Caribe). At ISER we developed El Centro de Investigación y Restauración de Organismos Marinos (CIROM).
There are two CIROM facilities; one in Ceiba and the other in La Parguera. At each facility we have land-based nurseries and a hatchery for sea urchins, and very soon herbivorous crabs. At these centres we are rearing stony corals and different species of sea urchins for restoration purposes.
My current work focuses on the restoration of coral reefs. At CIROM, we are taking a holistic and ecosystem-based approach to coral restoration. We not only restore corals, but we also restore other ecologically important organisms, such as sea urchins, and soon we will begin restoring herbivorous crabs.
CRFM conference presentation
Stacy also gave a presentation at the recent CRFM anniversary . Please scroll through the playlist until you see Dr. Stacey’s presentation
https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4rLzuuKTRx4r1mc5v-bzMl8Gk4uyqmKg&si=zqiw_BYMFCJor0rG
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