SCIENCE sciencemag.org 14 FEBRUARY 2020 • VOL 367 ISSUE 6479 749PHOTO: AUSTIN GALLAGHER
contributing millions of dollars to local
economies through dive ecotourism ( 9 ).
The Greater Caribbean region relies
on healthy oceans to drive tourism and
sustain livelihoods. These developing
nations are poised to face mounting pres-
sures for access to fisheries in return for
development, as well as the increasing
impacts of habitat degradation and climate
change. MPA creation and enforcement
are admittedly complex; however, to arrest
the decline of threatened species in the
region, establishing large-scale MPAs in the
Greater Caribbean is both an opportunity
and a necessity.
Austin J. Gallagher^1 *, Diva J. Amon2,3, Tadzio
Bervoets^4 , Oliver N. Shipley^5 , Neil Hammerschlag^6 ,
David W. Sims7, 8(^1) Beneath the Waves, Herndon, VA 20172, USA.
(^2) Department of Life Sciences, Natural History
Museum, London, UK.^3 SpeSeas, Port of Spain,
Trinidad and Tobago.^4 Dutch Caribbean Nature
Alliance, Kralendijk, Bonaire.^5 School of Marine and
Atmospheric Sciences, Stony Brook University,
Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA.^6 Rosenstiel School
of Marine and Atmospheric Science, University of
Miami, Miami, FL 33146, USA.^7 Marine Biological
Association of the UK, Plymouth, PL1 2PB, UK.
(^8) University of Southampton, Southampton, SO14
3ZH, UK.
*Corresponding author.
Email: [email protected]
REFERENCES AND NOTES
- D. Juffe-Bignoli et al., “Protected planet report 2014”
(UNEP-WCMC, Cambridge, UK, 2014). - N. Queiroz et al., Nature 572 , 461 (2019).
- C. M. Roberts et al., Science 295 , 1280 (2002).
- C. Smyth, Q. A. Hanich, “Large scale marine protected
areas: Current status and consideration of socio-eco-
nomic dimensions” (Pew Charitable Trusts, Washington,
DC, 2019). - G. Bustamante et al., Aquat. Conserv. Mar. Fresh.
Ecosyst. 24 , 153 (2014). - A. P. Guarderas, S. D. Hacker, J. Lubchenco, Conserv. Biol.
22 , 1630 (2008). - C. A. Ward-Paige et al., PLOS One 8 , e11968 (2010).
- F. Ferretti, R. A. Myers, F. Serena, H. K. Lotze, Conserv.
Biol. 22 , 952 (2008). - A. J. Gallagher, N. Hammerschlag, Curr. Issue. Tourism
14 , 797 (2011).
10.1126/science.abb0650
The Caribbean needs big
marine protected areas
Large-scale marine protected areas (MPAs)
(>100,000 km^2 ) seek to protect and connect
large pelagic ecosystems, enhance ecologi-
cal processes, and promote socioeconomic
benefits including sustainable fisheries ( 1 ).
One of their greatest benefits is the potential
to conserve highly migratory species such as
sharks, which can travel long distances span-
ning multiple national exclusive economic
zones ( 2 ). Despite a growing international
interest among many national govern-
ments, nongovernmental organizations,
and academic and philanthropic communi-
ties to create large-scale MPAs, the Greater
Caribbean, which contains the greatest
diversity of marine biota in the Atlantic
Ocean ( 3 ), has been grossly overlooked.
There are currently 33 large-scale MPAs,
but not one is in the Caribbean Sea ( 4 ).
Although there is a rich history of the estab-
lishment of MPAs in the Greater Caribbean
( 5 ), the majority allow fishing ( 6 ) and do not
take into account the full representation of
ocean habitats and connectivity required
to encompass the space use of migratory
species. Large sharks are overfished in the
region; because they are caught locally
in high numbers, they are sparse across
most of the Greater Caribbean ( 7 ). [The
Mediterranean ocean basin, which is simi-
larly lacking in large-scale MPAs, provides
another glimpse of this trend—there, large
sharks have virtually disappeared due to
fishing pressure ( 8 )]. Fortunately, in certain
countries where commercial longline fishing
has been banned (such as The Bahamas),
shark populations remain strong, therebyEdited by Jennifer SillsLETTERS
Imposter syndrome
threatens diversity
As higher education institutions adopt
admissions and hiring policies that promote
diversity and inclusion, they must also
implement policies to acknowledge and
combat the feelings of self-doubt known
as imposter syndrome. Those with impos-
ter syndrome have an innate fear of being
discovered as a fraud or non-deserving pro-
fessional, despite their demonstrated talent
and achievements ( 1 ). Imposter syndrome
has been found to be more prevalent in high
achievers ( 2 , 3 ), women ( 3 ), and under-
represented racial, ethnic, and religious
minorities ( 4 – 7 ). If institutions and depart-
ments don’t take steps to allay these fears,
the science pipeline could suffer.
At an individual level, imposter syn-
drome can lead to psychological distress,
emotional suffering, and serious men-
tal health disorders, including chronic
dysphoric stress, anxiety, depression,
and drug abuse ( 8 ). In many cases, the
phenomenon manifests as early as high
school or college ( 9 ). Strikingly, in college
students belonging to racial minorities,
mental health problems have been better
predicted by imposter feelings than by
the stress associated with their minority
status ( 10 ). By constantly downplaying
their own accomplishments, those suffer-
ing from imposter syndrome may sabotage
their own career ( 4 ). At the societal level,
imposter syndrome may explain the higher
drop-out rates of women and minorities
from the science, technology, engineering,
and mathematics pipeline ( 3 , 11 ).
To effectively increase diversity, institu-
tions must address imposter syndrome by
increasing the visibility of the problem,Migratory species such as
tiger sharks benefit from large
marine protected areas.Published by AAAS