Big blue collective

For the past 3 years each summer i have travelled to the Turks and Caicos islands, and worked alongside marine biologists teaching tourists about conservation and species native to the area.

Turks and Caicos

The Turks and Caicos islands are a British overseas territory consisting of the larger Caicos islands and smaller Turks islands. These two groups of islands in the Lucayan Archipelago of the Atlantic Ocean and northern West Indices. There are over 100 different islands and cays that are named across these two groups. But only 9 are inhabited, which have an estimated population of 30,000 spread across them. Most of the population of Turks and Caicos reside on the island of Providence, which is where Big blue collective is based.

All the islands consist of a wide array of different species, ranging from Rock iguanas (Cyclura carinata), to Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and Lemon shark (Negaprion brevirostris). This has lead to many tourists visiting the area to try and catch a glimpse of these species.

Due to so many tourists visiting the island it has created many problems for wildlife: such as habitat destruction and disturbance. But this has also created many jobs for local people on the island, especially in conservation and educating people about the species on the islands and how they can protect them.

Big Blue collective

Big blue collective are an organisation based in the Turks and Caicos which aim to educate the public on conservation in the area, and what species are there. This is done through regular talks, snorkeling trips, diving trips and cruises, which are open to the public as well as private hire.

To learn more about Big blue collective here is a link to there website: https://bigbluecollective.com/

My reflection

Big blue collective allowed me to further my knowledge in the tourism industry, and how to educate the public on conservation issues. As well as share my own knowledge with tourists on species that inhabit the islands, and further my own understanding of the area. I learnt new skills and furthered my knowledge learning from marine biologists that are employed by the company. As well as learning about boat checks and how boats operate.

This was a great opportunity as it allowed me to further my own knowledge as well as share my interest and passion with other individuals, and hopefully influence others to become interested in conservation and how we can preserve and protect areas like this, and the species that inhabit them. Also, being a young person straight out of university, I can hopefully pass on the message to younger people that attended the talks and were on the tips that conservation is vital to our generation and there own future. So, hopefully I may have aspired some people to pursue a career in conservation or sparked an interest in marine biology.

This opportunity also allowed me to realise a potential carer choice in conservation and running charters, which has really become an interest for me since being employed with Big Blue collective.