FERNANDO BRETOS

Conservation scientist with focus on community based solutions to assist coastal communities adapt to climate change. Decades of experience in tropical coastal habitat restoration, marine protected area management, eradication of invasive species and study of marine migratory species. Experienced with international maritime conservation through the Gulf of Mexico Marine Protected Area Network. Practitioner of ocean science diplomacy on a global level. Leads all fundraising and evaluation of projects and publishes findings through peer reviewed scientific publications. Manages staff internally and oversees large field research teams.

Completed major marine research projects such as Proyecto Tres Golfos (2012)and Community-Based Coastal Remediation in the Caribbean’s Two Largest Island Nations (2024)

Author, Wild Miami: Explore the Amazing Nature in and Around South Florida (2023)

Featured character in film IMAX: Cuba (2019)

Produced student filmed film about climate gentrification in Miami called Climate305 (2019)

Produced documentary in about Cuba’s Isle of Youth called Isle of Youth, Isle of Change (2016)

Created Museum Volunteers for the Environment community based habitat restoration project (2007)

• The Explorer’s Club National Fellow (2023)
• National Geographic Society Explorer (2019)
• Yale School of the Environment Justice Equity, Diversity and Sustainability Initiative Featured Expert (2023)
• Green 2.0 Environmental Experts of Color Database (2023)
• President, Board of Directors SECORE International (2023-Present)
• Smithsonian Institution National Museum of Natural History Research Associate (1998-2003)
• Marine Science Graduate Student Organization Department Representative, RSMAS (2003-2005)
• Frost Science Museum New Aquarium Design Team (2010-2018)
• Kinship Conservation Fellow (2011)
• National Audubon Society, Toyota Together Green Fellow (2009)
• Trident Rugby Football Club (former President and Captain)

• Coral Restoration in Cuba. Speaker, Gulf of Mexico Alliance Conference, February 2024, Tampa, Florida
• Gulf of Mexico Marine Protected Area Network. Panelist, International Marine Protected Area Congress, February 2023, Vancouver, Canada
• How Common Threats to Shared Resources Can Overcome Politics, Lead Panelist, American Association for the Advancement of Science Annual Meeting, February 2022, Virtual
• Caribbean Recreational Fishing Panel, Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute Annual Conference, November 2020, Virtual
• Building a Trinational Initiative to Manage Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of Mexico through Science Diplomacy. Lead Panelist, American Association for the Advancement of Science Science Diplomacy 2018 Summit, September 2018, Washington, D.C.
• Invited lecturer, Florida International University Conference and Cuban and Cuban-American Studies, February 2017, Miami, Florida
• State of the Gulf Summit 2017, Panel Speaker, March 2017, Houston, Texas
• Fifteen Years of Research on Green Turtles at Guanahacabibes Peninsula, Oral Presentation, International Sea Turtle Symposium, February 2013, Baltimore, Maryland
• Friendship in Cuba: A Collaborative Trinational Approach, Invited Presenter, March 7th, 2012, The Consultative Group on Biological Diversity, Research, Conservation and Miami, Florida
• Restore America’s Estuaries Annual Conference, The Reclamation Project: Eco-Art Based Coastal Restoration, November, 2010, Galveston, Texas
• Two presentations: Cuba-US-Mexico Working Group in Marine Science and Conservation and Cuban/Mexican Fishers Exchange at Isla de la Juventud, 30th International Sea Turtle Symposium, April 2010, Goa, India
• Present Condition of Coral Reefs and Associated Ecosystems in the Northwest Region of Cuba, Poster Presentation, International Coral Reef Symposium, July 2008, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida
• Cuba U.S. Collaboration in Marine Science Conservation Conference, Presenter, 2007, Cancun, Mexico

• Author of Wild Miami: A Nature Guide to the City of Miami (2023)
• Featured narrator and character in film IMAX: Cuba (2019)
• Produced documentary about ocean conservation in community of Cocodrilo, Cuba entitled Isle of Youth, Isle of Change (2016)
• Funded by The Miami Foundation and NBC Universal, produced student filmed documentary in 2019 about climate gentrification in Miami called Climate305
• Through a grant from Conservation Media Group created documentary in 2017 about Cuba’s Isle of Youth called Isle of Youth, Isle of Change
• Featured in Quest (Discovery Channel) documentary in 1998 conducting radio telemetry on American crocodile (Crocodylys acutus) population at Lago Enriquillo, Dominican Republic

• Community-Based Coastal Remediation in the Insular Caribbean’s Two Largest Island Nations: Cuba and the Dominican Republic, Caribbean Biodiversity Fund Ecosystem Based Adaptation Facility, $1.9 million
• Recreational Fisheries Policy in Cuba, Harte Charitable Foundation, $750,000
• Proyecto Tres Golfos, Dalio Explore Fund at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, $900,000
• Mangrove Restoration at Xcalak Reefs National Park, Oak Hill Fund, $100,000
• Mangrove Restoration at Xcalak Reefs National Park, ERM Foundation, $50,000
• Initiative to Save Caribbean Sawfish, National Geographic Species Conservation Grant $30,000
• Caribbean Habitat Restoration Scorecard, United Nations Environment Program, Caribbean Environment Program, $230,000
• Virginia Key North Point Ecological Restoration, National Fish and Wildlife Foundation/Wells Fargo, $350,000
• Oleta River State Park Ecological Restoration, National Association of Counties, $145,000

• Kinship Conservation Fellow (2011)
• Audubon/Toyota Together Green Fellow (2010)
• U.S.-Brazil Consortium on Marine Policy scholarship recipient (2005)
• Smithsonian Institution Minority Internship (1997)

• Wild Miami: Explore the Amazing Nature in and around South Florida, Morrell, Thomas J., Jones, S., Diaz, B, Bretos, F., Timber Press, 2023
• Fisheries learning exchanges and sea turtle conservation: An effort between Mexico, Cuba and the U.S. to engage Cuban coastal communities in non-consumptive alternative behaviors, Bretos, F., Azanza Ricardo, J., Moncada, F., Peckham, S.H, Angulo, J, Diego, A., Thompson, K., Marine Policy, 68, 1-4, (2016)
• Presence of Sawfishes in the Cuban Archipelago, Figueroa, T, Grubbs, D, Bretos, F, Thompson, K, Pina, F. Engangered Species Research, In Press (2024)
• Strengthening Marine Species Protections in Cuba: A Case Study on the Critically Endangered Smalltooth Sawfish, Koubrak, O., Amargos, F. P., Lemus, J. A. A., Wiley, T., Thompson, K., Martin, T. F., Bretos, F., Gulf and Caribbean Research, 33, 1, 1-6, 2022, https://doi.org/10.18785/gcr.3301.06
• Influence of Sandy Coast Vegetation on the Reproductive Success of Green Turtles at Cuban Nesting Beaches, Guerra, C. C., Ricardo, J. A, Avila, R. B., Bretos, F., Alvarez, P. P., Chelonian Conservation and Biology, 20, 2, 1-6, 2021, https://doi.org/10.2744/CCB-1460.1
• Distribution and status of living colonies of Acropora spp. in the reef crests of a protected marine area of the Carbbean (Jardines de la Reina National Park, Cuba), Hernandez-Fernandez, L., Gonzalez, R., Olivera, Y., Amargos, F. P., Lopez, C. B., Sotolongo, L. B., Bretos, F., Martin, T. F., Cabrera, D. L., Moret, F. S., PeerJ, 7, 1669, 2019, https://doi.org/10.7717/peerj.6470
• Distribution and status of living colonies of Acropora spp in the reef crests of a protected marine area of the Caribbean (Jardines de la Reina National Park, Cuba), Hernandez-Fernandez, L, Gonzalez de Zayas, R, Olivera, Y, Pina Amargós, F, Bustamante, C, Dulce, L, Bretos, F, Figueredo Martin, T, Cabrera, D, Salmon, F, PeerJ, 2019
• Ebb and Flow: Environmental Cooperation Off Cuban Shores, Bretos, F., Red Flag Magazine, 8, 99-105, 2014
• Third International Centro de Investigaciones Marinas Workshop on Sea Turtle Conservation in Cuba, Bretos, F., Azanza, J., Marine Turtle Newsletter, 127, 27-28, 2010
• Natural and human-induced variability in the composition of fish assemblages in the Northwestern Cuban shelf, Gonzalez-Sanson, G., Aguilar-Betancourt, C., Hernandez, I., Cabrera, Y., Suarez-Montes, N., Bretos, F., Guggenheim, D., Revista De Biologia Tropical, 57, 2009
• Second International Guanahacabibes Sea Turtle Conservation Workshop, Bretos, F., Diaz-Fernandez, R., Donnelly, M., Marine Turtle Newsletter, 113, 14-15, 2006
• The Sea Turtles of the Gulf of Mexico, graduate these, University of Miami, Bretos, F., 2005
• Gulf of Mexico Ocean Monitoring System Preliminary Cruise Report, 99-G-10, October 7-29, 1999, Kelly, F.J., Guinasso, N.L., Bretos, F., Texas A&M University, GERG Tech. Rep. 99-033, 1-91, 1999