WildAid at work

“The award is a testament to the global community pulling together, recognising our work and lifting us up,” she continues. “In addition to the million pounds, we’re working with the Earthshot team and now have access to a larger, global network and a new community, as well as a platform to support our projects.”

Brosnan, who grew up in Connecticut in the northeast United States, has always spent a lot of time in and around the water, and had a passion for ocean conservation. A stint teaching as a camp counsellor at a marine science camp next led her to active duty in the US Coast Guard in Alaska.

As she explains, “I was drawn to the Coast Guard by accident – I wanted to do marine science at university but an internship in my final year of high school made me realise the publish-or-perish realities that characterise much of a traditional scientist’s career weren’t for me.

“The Coast Guard Academy came to my attention because it has a very strong marine science program, and even over 20 years ago, all career paths in the Coast Guard were open to women. That, along with the humanitarian-based mission of the Coast Guard, and the promise of adventure on the oceans, and I was hooked! It seemed like the best of both worlds at the time, and I was right!”

In the role, Brosnan was introduced to Fishery Law Enforcement and worked with communities whose livelihoods, culture and customs depend on the seas. For 15 years, including four at sea, she enforced fisheries law, eventually serving as the deputy chief of the Coast Guard’s Living Marine Resources enforcement program.

She was also lead manager of the Ending Illegal Fishing Campaign by the Pew Charitable Trusts and founded Exulans, a global consultancy providing compliance and enforcement solutions for ocean conservation to governments, the private sector and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Harnessing all her considerable skills and knowledge, the position at WildAid was a natural progression.

WildAid was founded in 1995 by environmentalist entrepreneurs Steven R Galster and Michael C Mitchell as the Global Survival Network (GSN), an environmental NGO focused on countering wildlife and human trafficking. In 2000, GSN was rebranded as WildAid, with around 60 employees worldwide working with local governments, communities and organisations to protect wildlife and their habitats from threats, including illegal wildlife trafficking, climate change and illegal fishing.

The WildAid Marine Program has 20 years of success tackling shark finning and reducing the consumption of sharks, and now operates in 96 areas in 16 countries. The goal is to scale up operations to 250 sites over the next five years – an ambition now within reach with the support and funding of the Earthshot Prize.

Marine Park Areas (MPAs) are WildAid’s focus, specifically the threats in the forms of poaching and illegal fishing. “The previous goal for the amount of ocean area protected as MPAs was 10 percent by 2020 – the good news is the ocean community didn’t rest there – the aim is now 30 percent by 2030!

“Nearly every single nation on earth has committed to the 30×30 pledge to protect 30 percent of the world’s oceans by 2030. Yet more than 60 percent of MPAs lack effective enforcement, meaning they are nothing more than lines on a map.

“One in five fish is caught illegally,” she continued. “It’s a US$36.5-billion global industry. Enforcing MPAs has a knock-on positive impact – more fish, more predators, a healthy marine ecosystem, carbon sequestration, and fish for the local fishing industry. MPAs provide the space for marine life to thrive,” she says. “When they’re well-protected, they can actually lead to a quadrupling in both ocean life and diversity.”

WildAid works with local partners to supply the resources, training and structure they need to address the threats unique to their region. The blueprint provides a comprehensive road map as well as the tools to support local organisations and communities effectively manage a thriving marine ecosystem.

“We analyse their complete law enforcement system, help them develop standardised operating procedures, and arm them with the tools and the equipment to collect data to control and catch illegal fishers,” says Brosnan.

“It takes a year or so to learn the dynamics of a location and what works. We’re committed for the long-term – we’re there until they don’t need us anymore. Our goal is to provide the training, the operation manuals and the customised programs they need to become self-sufficient.”

One of the many WildAid Marine success stories is the Galápagos Marine Reserve (GMR). Located off the coast of Ecuador, the Galápagos Islands are home to nearly 3,000 marine species, 20 percent of which are unique to this marine ecosystem that also supports the breeding grounds of various migratory marine species, including 34 shark species as well as humpback whales, sea turtles, giant manta rays and endangered hammerhead sharks.

Around 25,000 people inhabit the islands and depend on a thriving ocean to support the economy via tourism and small-scale fishing. The Galápagos Marine Reserve was created in 1998 in response to declining marine populations, but it was still vulnerable to fleets of illegal fishing boats. In 2009 alone, 12,000 sharks were poached for their fins, and the sea cucumber population, a delicacy in demand from Asian markets, was decimated.

In 2002, WildAid Marine partnered with the Ecuadorian Ministry of Environment and the Galápagos National Park to develop a comprehensive Marine Protection System Plan for the 133,000-square-kilometre (51,000-square-mile) reserve. “We helped train and certify rangers and MPA managers; procure satellite vessel monitoring systems (VMS and AIS) that can survey 100 percent of the reserve; and established patrolling strategies to cover the most threatened areas. Key sea cucumber and spiny lobster fisheries are now monitored to check population changes and ensure sustainable fishing.”

Another initiative was the brokering of a landmark alliance between the Galápagos National Park and the Ecuadorian Navy to conduct joint patrols within the reserve, which has been a successful deterrent to illegal fishing and poaching of threatened species. They have also facilitated joint training among Ecuadorian Navy lawyers and enforcement officials to ensure the successful prosecution of environmental crimes and establish a legal database to track cases.

In 2022, with its local partners, WildAid launched the Galápagos Conservation Fund to create sustainable, long-term financing for enforcement operations in the Galápagos Marine Reserve. “The fund serves as a model that can be replicated globally,” says Brosnan. “Today, the health of its numerous endemic species, its current status as the site of the densest shark population in the world, and the initial recovery of shark populations in some of its most depleted areas all show that the reserve’s protection system is working.”

In Mexico, Cuba, the Bahamas, Palau, the Philippines, Indonesia, Gabon and Tanzania, equally effective programs have been implemented to tackle specific local threats. In each case, WildAid engages with partners such as local fishing cooperatives, NGOs, government agencies and academic institutions to ensure scientific rigour is applied and followed.

“In each region, we supply what is needed. We find the experts and work with them, with a bias on pragmatism – what works, what’s simple to maintain, and what’s financially sustainable. It’s impossible to achieve perfection, but we aim for a system that’s robust enough to give nature a place to thrive.”

Crucial to successful messaging in each region is conducting campaigns that feature local celebrities and identities with global reach. WildAid has benefited from the pro-bono services of ambassadors of the stature of Sir Richard Branson, Leonardo DiCaprio, Harrison Ford, Kate Hudson and Jackie Chan, who have been the faces of public awareness campaigns devised for each program, which targets specific markets.

In September 2023, WildAid launched a marine campaign in China starring the pianist Lang Lang, hailed by The New York Times as the “hottest classical music artist on the planet” and ranked among the world’s 100 most influential people by Time magazine.

Lang Lang has been a WildAid Ambassador for more than 12 years and is a vocal advocate for wildlife conservation in all its forms. With the support of partners, the China Green Carbon Foundation and the First Institute of Oceanography of the Ministry of Natural Resources (FIO), the initiative was launched in a multimedia campaign highlighting the beauty and importance of conserving biodiversity in China’s waters.

With the tagline “Play your Part in the Ocean’s Symphony”, and with the soundtrack of Lang Lang’s song ‘Stay’, the campaign introduced Chinese audiences to the country’s rich heritage of marine life – whale sharks, sea turtles, dolphins and spotted seals – and the importance of MPAs in conservation.

Speaking at the event, Lang Lang urged fans to play their part in protecting oceans by “taking simple steps, such as refusing to consume endangered wildlife such as sea turtles, reporting illegal wildlife trade, and reducing the use of single-use plastics.”

The campaign also invited fans to recreate Lang Lang’s song ‘Stay’ via social media platforms Weibo and TikTok. “When you’re communicating, you need people to listen,” explains Brosnan. “And we’ve found celebrity ambassadors really achieve that cut-through.”

Next on the list of priorities for WildAid Marine is the plight of coral reefs – or more specifically, the coral reefs most likely to survive climate change. “In Palau, there are corals that are surviving and thriving in high-temperature water lagoons; they’ve evolved to cope with the conditions.

“We’re going to focus our next stage of expansion on reefs and blue-carbon habitats such as mangroves and seagrass, which are marine-life nurseries and have a role in carbon sequestration. We have in-country partners ready to expand, and are looking at expanding into more regions within current countries, such as the Misool Marine Reserve in Indonesia, a 1,220-square-kilometre MPA patrolled 24 hours a day by local rangers.

“Since 2019 in the Bahamas, WildAid Marine has been working with the Marine Action Partnership (MPAP) for Sustainable Fisheries, a multiagency initiative to enhance collaboration to improve marine patrols, surveillance, investigation and public outreach. In October 2022 that long-term cooperation was solidified in a historic memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed by WildAid, the Bahamas Ministry of National Security, the Bahamas Department of Marine Resources, the Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF), the Bahamas National Trust, TNC and other stakeholders. The partnership relies on cross-border collaboration with the US on enforcing laws. When it began, there was a feeling of hopelessness. Now, there are multiple cases of illegal fishers that have been captured by customs and border patrols and issued with harsh fines.

“In Cuba, we have a MoU with the National Center for Protected Areas. In Yucatán, Mexico, we work with a fishing cooperative that’s leading conservation efforts. Then in Zanzibar, Tanzania, we have a great partner in a local NGO that works closely with the fishing community.”

Despite the statistics that show our oceans and coastal waterways are under threat from climate change, over-exploitation, human development and illegal fishing, and the need for urgent action in so many regions, Brosnan says she’s neither overwhelmed nor disillusioned.

“There is reason for hope – I’m lucky to see so many stories of real impact and change, and understand there are multiple viable pathways to thriving oceans. I’m an eternal optimist, and optimism versus feeling defeated is very important in finding what we can do to make a difference.

“Prince William put it perfectly when he said we’re at a critical tipping point in this decade, and we share an urgent optimism to address these big issues. We both have young children, and share the same degree of urgency for a better world for ourselves and our children.”

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