Malibu resident Georgienne Bradley and her nonprofit, the Sea Save Foundation, are working to preserve and protect Cocos Island. The remote island off the coast of Costa Rica is treasured for its marine biodiversity and untouched beauty.
By Paula Kashtan / Special to The Malibu Times
Malibu resident Georgienne Bradley and her nonprofit, the Sea Save Foundation, are diving deep to make a difference in ocean waters. The scientist, ocean conservationist and scuba diver has recently been focused on the preservation of the remote Cocos Island, a place Jacques Cousteau once called “the most beautiful island in the world.”
Located 300 miles off the coast of Costa Rica, Cocos Island provided inspiration for Michael Crichton’s “Jurassic Park” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island.” Well-known for its diverse population of marine animals, Cocos Island is the world’s largest uninhabited island. The only way to get there is via a 36-hour boat ride on one of two boats.
“The entire island is untouched besides a small residence for park guards,” Bradley said. This makes communication to and from the island very difficult, so her most recent project is a blog (cocosislandnews.seasave.org) focused on island activity like poaching, discoveries of new species and shark migratory patterns.
While the blog is new, Bradley’s relationship with the island is not. “I first went there over 20 years ago, and stayed for two weeks,” she said. “At the time there were two park guards, no refrigerator, a generator for a few hours each night and massive spiders. I got there and thought it was a big mistake, but it ended up changing my entire life.”
Bradley was working toward a medical school diploma when she was asked to do a year in a Latin American study for the Cousteau Society. She ended up in Costa Rica, working with the United Nations and the Costa Rican government to stop shark finning. Bradley never made it back to medical school.
The fight against shark finning-a practice that involves cutting the fins off a shark and throwing it back into the ocean to die-has continued to be a part of Bradley’s work. “We recently helped, along with many others, to make the shark fin bill AB 376 into a law,” Nicole DeRosa, Bradley’s assistant, said. Bradley went to Sacramento to speak in support of the bill, and presented in front of the Senate Appropriations Committee. The bill, which bans the sale, trade and possession of shark fins in California, was signed into law Oct. 7 by Governor Jerry Brown.
Bradley is also an accomplished scuba diver. With more than 20,000 dives, she is a member of the Women Divers Hall of Fame. Her relationship with the ocean makes the cause of Cocos Island close to her heart.
“There are a lot of large fish there like sharks, dolphins, turtles, whales and orcas, and it’s one of the few remaining places in the world where you’ll see close to a healthy population of those fish,” Bradley said. Cocos Island is on the prestigious list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites, meaning the island is of value and importance to the entire world. Bradley helped this cause as well, developing a petition to give Cocos Island the vaunted status.
Fighting against poachers can be a full-time job. “Every day there are poachers at the island, and we’re doing our best to work against it,” she said. “It’s one of the few occasions where we’re fighting to save something that’s still healthy, as opposed to recreating something that’s been lost.”
Bradley is also working closer to home with an upcoming children’s project called Kelp and Krayons. It involves using creative individuals in the Malibu and Santa Monica areas to teach children in a hands-on way about their local ecosystem.
“I think to raise awareness about oceans it’s great to start with kids-they engage so easily and are so excited about it,” Bradley said.
A Malibu resident for six years, Bradley is looking to get more involved with her home community.
“Most of our campaigns have been offshore, which feels odd because I come home and there’s nothing we’re doing here,” Bradley said. “To get involved with the local community and share what’s going on is really important to me.”