Changing Tides in the Caribbean Sea: Supporting the Integration of Fisheries into Agroecology and Island Food Systems Work
Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz is an independent writer and researcher exploring food, the environment, science and policy in Puerto Rico and beyond. For over ten years he has been working with farmers, fishers, grassroots organizations, academic and governmental institutions in applied research projects and capacity-building strategies that support climate adaptation and public health outcomes.
“My professional career objective is to reify a truth I have known since a young age: that I am a writer,” Luis shares. “I want to center my writing and science communication as my main work. Not as a side hustle, not as a hobby, but as a career.”
Supported by a 2025 Switzer Leadership grant, Luis will create a bilingual book telling the stories of Caribbean small-scale fisherfolk, highlighting the role of fishers in achieving just, sovereign, and sustainable food systems under a changing climate.
Hosted by the Caribbean Agroecology Institute, this project aims to integrate the role of fisheries and small-scale fisherfolk into sustainable food systems discourses, and provide actionable insights for conservation, policy, and food systems transformation in Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean.
This grant will allow me to produce a piece of creative and scientific work that expands my portfolio as a writer and science communicator, [and] bridges the land-sea gap in Caribbean agroecology and food systems narratives.
Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz
The Caribbean Agroecology Institute (CAI) is a regional organization founded in 2015 that promotes just and sustainable agri-food systems grounded in agroecology, food sovereignty, and community self-determination. Its work addresses interconnected crises—climate change, biodiversity loss, and inequality—by challenging the dominant agro-industrial model responsible for ecological harm and social injustice.
Resilient fisheries are key to Caribbean food security
Caribbean food systems face profound sustainability challenges due to fragile supply chains, high dependence on imports, and because of extractive models rooted in plantation and neocolonial legacies (1–4). In Puerto Rico, an unincorporated territory of the US, more than 80% of its food is imported. While the Caribbean contributes little to global greenhouse gas emissions, it is at the forefront of climate change impacts (5,6). Puerto Rico, like other neighboring islands in the region, is experiencing stronger hurricanes, prolonged droughts, higher daily and nocturnal temperatures, and the degradation of coral reefs and coastal ecosystems because of rising ocean temperatures and acidification.
These impacts are compounded by structural inequities that disproportionately affect vulnerable populations, including farmers and fisherfolk (7–11). Both groups are key agents in safeguarding local food security, providing nutritious and culturally-appropriate foods to satisfy local diets. Yet under these compounding pressures, farming and fishing have become increasingly difficult.
Since the devastating impact of Hurricane Maria in 2017, which decimated local agriculture and fisheries, multiple initiatives have emerged to support Puerto Rico’s food system and its main actors. These include financing for sustainable practices and technologies, advocacy to ensure the inclusion of small-scale producers in government programs, and the integration of food sovereignty into local narratives. Much of those grassroots actions are rooted in agroecological and climate justice approaches that center social-ecological wellbeing. Nonetheless, they have been primarily focused on land-based food production and procurement. Despite their central role in coastal economies, local diets, and Puerto Rican culture, small-scale fisheries remain largely invisible in research, policy, and practice, which tend to privilege land-based food production (12–14).
Fisherfolk, however, hold deep ecological knowledge essential for conservation and the design of climate-adapted interventions that can sustain resilient fisheries (12–14). Bridging the divide between land and sea is therefore essential to transform Puerto Rico’s food system into one that is resilient, just, and adapted to climate change.
Science communications bridge the gap
Fisherfolk and farmers experience climate impacts directly given their reliance and embeddedness on natural resources and both groups express the desire to adapt and mitigate these effects. It is therefore essential to make their efforts visible, amplifying their reach and garnering support. This project responds directly to that gap through a science communication initiative that documents and elevates fisherfolk knowledge, community-based adaptation, and farmer–fisher collaborations.
This work will allow me to concretize a goal I have as a public scholar: [resolving the] overlooking of fisheries and seafood in food systems and agroecology narratives.
Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz
This bilingual book and digital story map will publish narratives focused on fisherfolk-led conservation, fisher–farmer collaborations, and fisher–scientist partnerships, as well as community-based efforts to sustain fisheries under climate change. Specifically, they will highlight the work of the Fishers Association of Culebra (fisherfolk wellbeing and advocacy), Conservación ConCiencia (fisher–scientist conservation partnerships), SAMAR Vieques (community-driven fishing schools), the Puerto Rico Institute for Agroecology (farmer–fisher collaborations), and other grassroots efforts bridging the land-sea gap, while giving visibility to women fishers.
Guided by CAI’s participatory research tradition, the project will ensure that fisherfolk and partners are not passive subjects but co-creators. Interviewees will help shape the framing of their stories, review drafts, and influence final outputs. Compensation will be provided for their time and intellectual contributions. This approach ensures equitable distribution of project benefits and positions fisherfolk as active agents of knowledge and change.
By centering narratives of resilience and innovation from coastal communities, the project will not only elevate the visibility of small-scale fisheries but also provide lessons learned and actionable insights for conservation, policy, and food systems transformation in Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean.
This bilingual narrative multimedia science communication project will integrate the role of fisheries and small-scale fisherfolk into sustainable food systems discourses, with a focus on environmental justice and conservation. It will elevate the visibility of the successes and challenges of small-scale fisheries and provide actionable insights for conservation, policy, and food systems transformation in Puerto Rico and the broader Caribbean.
The project will also support Luis’ professional growth as a writer and science communicator, allowing him to work from his home of Puerto Rico and speak to broader Caribbean realities that intersect climate change adaptation, environmental conservation, and neocolonial dynamics.
References
Content and references for this story are excerpted from the original grant proposal created by CAI and Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz.
1. Polanco VG, Rodríguez-Cruz L. Decolonizing the Caribbean Diet: J Agric Food Syst Community Dev. 2019;9(B):25-30. doi:10.5304/jafscd.2019.09B.004
2. Rodríguez-Cruz LA, Moore M, Niles MT. Puerto Rican Farmers’ Obstacles Toward Recovery and Adaptation Strategies After Hurricane Maria: A Mixed-Methods Approach to Understanding Adaptive Capacity. Front Sustain Food Syst. 2021;5:662918. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.662918
3. Bonilla Y. The coloniality of disaster: Race, empire, and the temporal logics of emergency in Puerto Rico, USA. Polit Geogr. 2020;78:102181. doi:10.1016/j.polgeo.2020.102181
4. Santiago Torres M, Román Meléndez E, Rodríguez Ayuso I, Ríos Vázquez Z. Seguridad alimentaria en Puerto Rico. Puerto Rico Institute of Statistics; 2019.
5. Carabine, Elizabeth. The IPCC’s Fifth Assessment Report: What’s in It for Small Island Developing States? Climate & Development Knowledge Network and Overseas Development Institute; 2014. Accessed April 13, 2018. https://cdkn.org/sites/default/files/files/IPCC-AR5-Whats-in-it-for-SIDS_WEB.pdf
6. IPCC. IPCC, 2022: Climate Change 2022: Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability.; 2022.
7. Rodríguez-Cruz LA, Álvarez-Berríos N, Niles MT. Social-ecological interactions in a disaster context: Puerto Rican farmer households’ food security after Hurricane Maria. Environ Res Lett. Published online March 22, 2022. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ac6004
8. Rodríguez-Cruz LA, Niles MT. Awareness of climate change’s impacts and motivation to adapt are not enough to drive action: A look of Puerto Rican farmers after Hurricane Maria. PLOS ONE. 2021;16(1):e0244512. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0244512
9. Marrero A, Lόpez-Cepero A, Borges-Méndez R, Mattei J. Narrating agricultural resilience after Hurricane María: how smallholder farmers in Puerto Rico leverage self-sufficiency and collaborative agency in a climate-vulnerable food system. Agric Hum Values. Published online September 16, 2021. doi:10.1007/s10460-021-10267-1
10. Gómez-Andújar NX, Woodill AJ, Villegas C, Watson JR. Scarcity induces conflict in Puerto Rican fisheries. Environ Res Lett. 2024;19(12):124001. doi:10.1088/1748-9326/ad8809
11. Seara T, Pollnac R, Jakubowski K. Impacts of Natural Disasters on Subjective Vulnerability to Climate Change: A Study of Puerto Rican Fishers’ Perceptions after Hurricanes Irma & Maria. Coast Manag. 2020;48(5):418-435. doi:10.1080/08920753.2020.1795969
12. Agar J, Shivlani M, Fleming C, Solis D. Small-scale fishers’ perceptions about the performance of seasonal closures in the commonwealth of Puerto Rico. Ocean Coast Manag. 2019;175:33-42. doi:10.1016/j.ocecoaman.2019.03.025
13. Agar JJ, Shivlani M, Matos-Caraballo D. The Aftermath of Hurricane María on Puerto Rican Small-Scale Fisheries. Coast Manag. 2020;48(5):378-397. doi:10.1080/08920753.2020.1795967
14. Gómez-Andújar NX, Gerkey D, Conway F, Watson JR. Social cohesion and self-governance arrangements among small-scale fisheries in Puerto Rico. Front Mar Sci. 2022;9. doi:10.3389/fmars.2022.966309
