The Reef Resilience Network’s podcast, Reef Exchanges, features conversations between Network team members and experts from around the world. Each episode features an in-depth discussion around a new development in marine science and management. You can listen to episodes below, or where ever you get your podcasts.
The Gathering Storm: Preparing for a Very Strong El Niño
On this episode, we are joined by Julia Rose, Coral Restoration Program Manager for The Nature Conservancy in Hawai’i. Julia talks about her experiences conducting coral bleaching monitoring during the 2015-2016 El Niño and mass coral bleaching event in Hawai’i. She shares the reality of her personal experience monitoring coral reef loss, as well as actions she is taking and where she is finding hope as we prepare for this year’s very strong El Niño. As she invites at the end of the episode, ...
14 Apr 2026
Confirm, Then Act Fast: Encountering Invasive Soft Corals in Puerto Rico
On this episode, we are joined by Daniel Toledo-Rodriguez, master’s student at the University of Puerto Rico, and Dr. Nilda Jimenez from the Puerto Rico Department of Natural and Environmental Resources. Daniel and Nilda talk about their recent work looking into invasive soft coral species that have been found in Puerto Rico’s coral reef ecosystems. From collecting samples and conducting genetic testing to conducting outreach with local dive shops, Daniel and Nilda discuss the actions they’ve...
2 Mar 2026
Just Graze: Restoring Herbivores to Coral Reefs in Saba
Eutrophication, species die-offs, and overfishing herbivorous fish and urchins have led to faster-growing algae in many areas of the Caribbean, preventing corals from recruiting and recovering from disturbances. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Alwin Hylkema, Associate Professor of Coastal Ecosystem Restoration at Van Hall Larenstein University and Wageningen University. Alwin describes his work restoring local sea urchins to the reef, and the potential for combining herbivore restoratio...
23 Feb 2026
Hold it Together: Stabilizing Rubble for Reef Restoration
In this episode, originally recorded for the 2025 Coral Reef Restoration Mentored Online Course, we speak with Suki Leung at the University of Queensland Marine Spatial Ecology Lab. Suki joins course mentors Margaux Hein and Caitlin Lustic to discuss methods and approaches for rubble stabilization in coral reef areas, an often crucial step in preparing an area for coral restoration activities. Many potential restoration sites have been damaged or degraded to the point that they no longer prov...
10 Nov 2025
Monitoring Coral Bleaching with Drones
As a part of Bleaching Awareness Month, led by our partners with the Coral Reef Alliance and International Coral Reef Initiative, we check in with longtime friend of the Network, Dr. Steve Schill. Steve talks with Henry and Annick about the process of going from using a small drone affixed with a digital camera to survey reefs to operating a fixed-wing surveillance drone that can monitor hectares of reef area in a single day’s work. As the frequency and severity of coral bleaching events incr...
28 Oct 2025
Improving Reef Monitoring with MERMAID
Description: In response to the excitement and interest across the Network in MERMAID after our webinar on the topic earlier in 2025, we invited Dr. Emily Darling, Director of Coral Reef Conservation and Co-Founder, MERMAID, back to the network to talk with us a little more about how she developed the MERMAID platform. Emily brings along Shinta Pardede, Marine Science Unit Manager with the Wildlife Conservation Society in Indonesia, who tells us more about her experience using MERMAID in the ...
7 Aug 2025
Trust the Process: Climate Adaptation Planning in The Bahamas
In collaboration with The Nature Conservancy Northern Caribbean Program, the Reef Resilience Network created a process for updating MPA management plans to be Climate-Smart and led implementation of that process with the Bahamas National Trust (BNT). In this episode, we sit down with two BNT staff to learn about their experience. Ellsworth Weir, the Director of Parks, and Alyssa Bastion, a Parks Planner, provide their perspectives of working to prepare their parks for the impacts of cli...
25 Apr 2025
Financing an MPA: The Blue Alliance Approach
Historically, funding for MPAs has often fallen short of what is needed to ensure effective management and successful outcomes. At the same time, governments around the world are increasing their commitments to create and expand protected areas, bringing further attention to the need to secure adequate funding and prevent MPAs from becoming “paper parks.” In this episode, Dr. Angelique Brathwaite (Angie) describes Blue Alliance’s innovative MPA financing model, which supports “reef-posi...
29 Jan 2025
Management Effectiveness for MPAs with Lauren Wenzel
With the Convention on Biological Diversity’s ambitious 30x30 commitment—aiming to increase the coverage of "effectively conserved and managed" areas to 30%—there is renewed attention on the pivotal role marine managers can play in achieving this goal. In this episode, Lauren Wenzel, Director, National Marine Protected Areas Center, US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, discusses whether there is a minimum level of effective management required for an MPA to count towards a coun...
16 Jan 2025
Vertical Connectivity with Camille Kaczmar and Dr. Jessica Bellworthy
Camille Kaczmar and Dr. Jessica Bellworthy, reef experts, explore the vertical connectivity of cold-water coral ecosystems as a potential sanctuary for tropical corals facing warming sea surface temperatures.
10 Oct 2024
Getting Started with MPA Enforcement with Sunny Tellwright
In this episode, Henry Borrebach and Kristen Maize from the Reef Resilience Network are joined by Sunny Tellwright, Program Manager for Ocean Technology & Innovation at Conservation International, to discuss MPA Enforcement.MPA Enforcement, better understood as Monitoring, Control, Surveillance, and Enforcement (MCS&E), can be critical to effective coral reef management efforts, and many members of the Reef Resilience Network have identified enforcement as an area where they need more...
27 Sept 2024
Making the Case for Nature-Based Wastewater Solutions with Rob McDonald
In this episode, Henry Borrebach and Kristen Maize from the Reef Resilience Network are joined by Rob McDonald, Lead Scientist for Nature-based Solutions at The Nature Conservancy, to discuss Nature-based Solutions for managing wastewater pollution. Nature-based Solutions provide an alternative to traditional gray infrastructure by using natural processes to capture and treat contaminated water before discharging it into the ocean or waterways. Wastewater can have negative impacts on co...
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