The Branson Centre is propelling small businesses into the big time...

Entrepreneur: Andrew Ross

Seascape Caribbean
"...ours is the first and only private firm providing propagative coral restoration services in the Caribbean..."
 
Meet the Maker:
Born in Canada, Andrew Ross moved to Jamaica in 1997. Coming from working on the Great Barrier Reef he was disappointed by the poor condition of the country’s coral reefs and shocked by the rarity of fish. He spent three years working as Scientific Officer at the Montego Bay Marine Park, and studying marine biology and coral restoration, where he developed a high-productivity way to grow and propagate coral for restoration. The best way to plant large amounts of coral seemed to him to be privately, so he has turned his passion into a business. That business’s coral and coastal ecosystem restoration services are helping to restore valuable ecosystem services in the Caribbean and keep tourists coming back.
 
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Andrew Ross
The golden opportunity:
The amount of coral that covers the seafloor in the Caribbean has fallen from around 40% in the late 1970s to just 0.015% today.

Much of the beach erosion we see today is caused by the lack of these corals, leaving beaches with no protection from waves. With no coral to live in fish regeneration rates, and thus productivities, are reduced.

Andrew decided to study restoration through his concern over the continuing decline of these corals and thanks to his research he has developed ways to restore them. His company Seascape Caribbean is helping to regrow the corals, their reefs and their services.
The business in a nutshell:
Seascape Caribbean launched two and a half years ago. The primary focus is to develop financially sustainable (for both the company and client) coral restoration sites and programmes through:
  • Direct tourism: use in live-coral snorkelling parks and coral gardens for tourists. This includes training local coral maintenance gardeners and snorkelling guides.
  • Indirect tourism: support through coastal protection and beach restoration, focusing on restoration of live corals and also artificial reefs, mangroves and seagrasses.
  • Fisheries enhancement through habitat restoration, replacement and harvest management.
Customers are mostly seaside hotels who want to ensure their guests have the best snorkelling and diving experiences, protect their bathing area or restore their sandy beach.

I want to see the vivid reef that I read about and my professors talk of with tears in their eyes.
  - Andrew Ross  

How it's helping the community:
Long, white, beautiful beaches and clear blue seas filled with colourful, diverse and majestic fish. These are two things that make tourists flock to the Caribbean.

But erosion to Caribbean reefs means both are in danger. Restoration not only provides valuable ecosystem services but also coastal protection, beach restoration, fisheries enhancement, and helping to sustain a beautiful reef for all to enjoy.

It also provides hope: hope that the reef is not dead, that beach loss is reversible and that fisheries may again provide more than subsistence livelihoods. Seascape aims to help restore the Caribbean’s coastal ecosystems. It is helping maintain the tourism industry that is hugely important in supporting local communities in Jamaica, and the wider Caribbean.

The future looks bright:
An improved Caribbean coastline and preservation if not resurrection of these endangered corals; that’s Andrew’s ambition.

He wants to work with government ministries, fishermen’s organisations and non-governmental organisations. He aims to restore “high-value” locations around the Caribbean, with an immediate focus on the Jamaican north coast.

Fast facts:
  • Current number of employees: One
  • Expected number of employees in three years’ time: Five to seven
  • Current annual turnover: $40,000 US
  • Expected annual turnover in three years’ time: $1,000,000 (US)
  • Investment to date: University of West Indies, Discovery Bay Marine Laboratory, Doctor’s Cave Beach Club, small donors and personal funds
  • Location of headquarters: Montego Bay, Jamaica
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