Thoughts from Dan Whittle. Dan is the Southeast Regional Director for EDF’s Oceans program. He works to reform management of marine fisheries and to protect sensitive coastal areas and essential fish habitats in the southeastern United States and in the northern Caribbean, including Cuba.  

The U.S. and Cuba share many ecological resources, but the countries have different ways of managing them.  Drilling is just one important issue out of many and is covered well in Nick Miroff’s Washington Post article, Cuba’s Undersea Oil Could Help Thaw Trade With U.S.  The U.S. and Cuba should move quickly to facilitate more information exchange among academics, scientists and conservation groups to help both countries do a better job of managing coastal and marine resources.  The sooner we work together, the sooner we’ll see benefits for the people, the environment and the economy in both countries.