With sounds of the surf lapping at the harbor next to La Yola restaurant, I tucked into my curried lobster with gusto. Though dining on an over-fished creature, I didn’t feel the least bit guilty. That’s because I knew that the local fishermen were given lobster houses in exchange for a commitment to restrict their catch: no small fries or pregnant females allowed, and no fishing during lobster-ban season.
These locals have plenty of incentive to help recover the struggling lobster population: they’re making top dollar.
The next night, I sat under an umbrella beside a freshwater swimming pool with a sweet, white-meat fish fillet accompanied by petite peas and a puree of carrots. This invasive species, the lionfish, gobbles up young reef fish, out-competes native species for food, and has no natural predators. In these waters, putting it on the menu, and offering local fishermen a premium price for their catch, is an ingenious way to curb its proliferation.
And this is just the tip of the eco-conscious iceberg at my vacation destination: Punta Cana in the Dominican Republic.
A larger focus of local efforts is improving the health of the coral reef, a star attraction for snorkelers, divers, and other ocean enthusiasts. One species, the staghorn coral, has had 80-90 percent of its population wiped out in the Caribbean.
BYJEANINE BARONE
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