The Yellow Dog Community and Conservation Foundation has awarded a $20,000 grant to the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust to establish a mangrove nursery that will support BTT’s efforts to restore ecologically important mangrove habitat in the Bahamas. YDCCF is a non-profit foundation focused on preserving, protecting and enhancing the places and communities that matter to anglers. Since 2016, the foundation has invested more than $1.8 million in grants around the world.
“The Out Islands of the Bahamas, including Crooked and Acklins, have been a focal point of YDCCF’s work for several years,” said YDCCF executive director Brooks Scott. “Combining our community-focused efforts with the science and restoration work of the Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project will help ensure these remote places can build further resiliency and the habitats that support the livelihoods of residents will be restored and protected.”
The mangrove nursery was constructed in June and is capable of supporting 10,000 red mangrove propagules annually. The nursery will serve as the hub for future restoration on both Crooked and Acklins — two islands in the southern Bahamas with extensive bonefish habitat and equally pressing environmental challenges. The mangroves of Crooked and Acklins were severely damaged by Hurricane Joaquin in 2015 and have still not recovered, which has been exacerbated by sea-level rise. Until now, there has been no nursery infrastructure on these islands and no consistent supply of native seedlings for restoration, and natural recovery is not occurring.
“Establishing a nursery on Crooked Island is the necessary and foundational step to begin restoration work not just on Crooked Island but throughout the southern Bahamas,” said Rashema Ingraham, BTT’s Caribbean program director. “The nursery will enable BTT to propagate thousands of seedlings, steadily increasing inventory to support future planting efforts and begin building restoration capacity through local training and engagement.”
Since 2020, BTT’s Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project has planted more than 110,000 mangroves in collaboration with local fishing guides, students, and stakeholders in Grand Bahama and Abaco. This work, conducted in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, has restored critical habitat for bonefish and other flats species, improved coastal resilience, and helped foster environmental stewardship among Bahamian communities.
Building on the success of the Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project, BTT co-founded the Bahamas Mangrove Alliance. The coalition has pledged to plant 1 million mangroves by 2026 while also focusing on mangrove protection and conservation at scale across the Bahamas. The establishment of the new nursery on Crooked Island will advance the BMA’s efforts to restore mangroves at a nationwide scale. “Yellow Dog has been a valued partner of Bonefish & Tarpon Trust for many years,” said BTT president and CEO Jim McDuffie. “We appreciate YDCCF’s continued support of our Bahamas Mangrove Restoration Project, which is benefiting the nation’s world-renowned flats fishery and the local communities that steward it.”
