Article by Deb Carson
Jorge A. Angulo-Valdes, Ph.D., a visiting assistant professor of Marine Science at Eckerd College, is a respected global voice for ecology, conservation, socioeconomics and sea life through his work as a marine biologist. He realized his calling at age 11, reading Jules Verne’s “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” as a boy in Cuba. Dr. Angulo has taught and mentored thousands of students from Havana to Canada, Gainesville to St. Petersburg. He hopes Verne’s book will inspire his students to study the sea and its mysteries.
Angulo worked for the University of Havana’s Center for Marine Research (CMS) after getting his BS in 1995. “It is the most important marine research facility in Cuba, where I worked for 20 years. As a trainee I was sent to DalhousieUniversity in Halifax, Canada, where I earned masters and doctoral degrees. Returning to Havana and CMS, I held a faculty position and became the center’s director. There I initiated relationships with American institutions including Eckerd. In 2014 an Eckerd delegation visited Havana – mostly marine science professors. They came to CMS and we began exploring collaborations. We have since been able to send Eckerd students to CMS, but regulations still prohibit bringing students to the U.S. from Havana.”
“In 2015 my wife, also a marine scientist working on manatees, received a full scholarship to study at the University of
Florida where I began working in UF’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment. When my contract term was expiring, I happened to visit friends at Eckerd where I learned of the position I now have which began in 2018. Eckerd was exactly where I wanted to be.” His published research on sharks is known worldwide. “The science always expands to include people in the equation – their interactions with the planet. We marine scientists need the vision brought forth by sociology, conservation, and ecology. Eckerd shares an interest in all these areas, which is why it is the perfect place to bring these things together.”
It all begins with education and respect for nature. We must take this thinking out into the community; into our world.”
Angulo is an advocate for sustainability and protecting the planet. “We are all very lucky living in such a beautiful place. But we’ve got to be careful. Oceans are changing. We have to find a way to slow down, to give Earth a chance to catch up. More respectful to nature. Understand and comprehend that our resources are fragile and finite. In protecting and providing a safe home for sharks, for sea life, we provide a safe home for ourselves.” Angulo passionately argues that respect is where we should start, but not where we end. “We must learn to give up high consumption of goods, decreasing dependence on fossil fuel generating less lead and other pollutants, less use of plastics, especially microplastics.”
Worse than a Hollywood horror movie, it’s shriek-worthy to hear Angulo say, “There are trillions of pounds of plastics in the ocean – and it all comes back to us! In our water, our food, it’s all part of a cycle.” We are eating plastics continually – not just seeing it washing up on our shores. Eckerd, always a few steps ahead, is working to reduce plastics across campus and studying interactions between microplastic and marine organisms. Funded by NOAA, the effort is led by faculty members Sjiuda and Bollier.
Angulo is currently working with recreational fishermen in Cuba and here on safe practices that don’t overfish and tax the marine ecology. “If we don’t protect the quality of our habitat, populations in nurseries, flats and sea grass beds will be negatively affected. Also, very important, we must reach out to countries in the Caribbean – there is a connection for us in Florida.
“Due to Cuba’s low coastal development, scientists are using it as a model to research tarpon and bonefish habitat. Comparing Florida’s developed coastlines to Cuba’s we’re finding that we must be vigilant and continually work to restore quality of habitat. Nature does not respect politics. Politics shouldn’t interfere or we’ll be paying the price. The key is collaboration.”
To become a better steward of the Earth, Angulo suggests reading, visiting natural history museums, listening to scientists, watching PBS, googling resources of scientific information – NASA, NIH, read “Astrophysics for People in a Hurry” by Neil DeGrasse Tyson. Then put that knowledge to work.
“Take action by simply talking and sharing what you’ve learned. Advocate for nature and the respect of it.”