Meet the 2018 Ocean Heroes

Meet the 2018 Ocean Hero Award Winners—they are Captain Earl David Junior and Michael Heusner. The men were recognized over the weekend by OCEANA in Belize for their individual contributions to ocean conservation. David Junior has lived and worked in the South Water Caye Marine Reserve as a seaman, captain and fisherman and has advocated for the sustainable use and development of Belize’s marine resources, among other causes. Heusner is no stranger to the world of conservation and has been in the industry for four decades. In 2009, he was the lead advocate for the protection of three sports fishing species which have had lucrative economic benefits in the fly fishing sector. Here’s a clip of the 2018 ocean heroes:

Earl David Jr.

Earl David Jr., Ocean Hero 2018

“I never really thought about it as a hero; I just do what I had to do and get on with it but I guess it was a good thing. And I just hope that when it comes to conservation and taking care of the ocean other people will be passionate as I am and let’s try and keep this thing for the grandchildren, at least, so they can experience some of this.”

“The sports fishing sector, the flats fly fishing sector in Belize are generating quite a large sum of money to this country. If you look at the commercial sector, there is somewhere around twenty-six million dollars a year; the sport fishing sector is over fifty-one million U.S. dollars a year.”

Amanda Acosta

Amanda Acosta, Executive Director, Belize Audubon Society

“When it comes to sport fishing, he was in the forefront of that industry, the fly fishing and his river lodge; they were kind of trailblazers in the beginning and he realized the importance of the fisheries in his industry and so he was an advocate for the protection of the three species.”