Freedivers, leftover cables and bits of clay: Cuba gets inventive to save its pristine reefs amid US blockade

Blue tangs on a reef in the Bay of Pigs, Cuba. Lack of environmental awareness, invasive species and the climate crisis have long presented a threat to Cuba’s pristine marine ecosystem Photograph: Antonio Cascio/The Guardian

At 8am, scuba divers gather to collect plastic and drinks cans from the sea at Cuba’s Ciénaga de Zapata national park. Amid a power crisis that has virtually paralysed the country’s economy, they use an electric trailer to move to a designated spot. In only a few hours, they have collected five sacks of cans and waste.

Lack of environmental awareness, invasive species and the climate crisis have long threatened the island’s pristine marine ecosystem but as US sanctions and economic scarcity take their toll on the country, scientists and community conservationists are working with even scarcer resources to protect a vital ecosystem for the Caribbean and the world.