d’Shan Maycock's Public Profile

About Me

My name is d'Shan Maycock. I am the Education Officer and 'Size Matters' Campaign Manager at Friends of the Environment, a local non-profit in Marsh Harbour, Abaco Bahamas. I am responsible for the coordination of our Education Program and outreach activities. In the last two years, my focus has been working with local fishers to reduce juvenile fishing of lobsters on my island. Through this campaign I have had the opportunity to work with local fishers, exporters, marine resource officers, local and nation environmental NGO's and other national and international key stakeholders.

I have a background in Environmental Science from the University of Maryland Eastern Shore. Recently, I completed a Masters of Communication program with the University of Texas El Paso as part of my training provided by Rare to implement my Pride Campaign to promote sustainable fishing practices.

Prior to joining the Friends of the Environment team in Abaco I worked for the then Ministry of Energy and the Environment as an in house consultant in the office of the Bahamas Environmental Science and Technology (BEST) Commission in Nassau. My responsibilities included reviewing Environmental Impact Assesments and Environmental Management Plans. In this role I  made reccommendations to the government and potential developers on environmental impacts and mitigation strategies.

I am thrilled to be a Rare Conservation Fellow and hope that I can continue to change the way people in my community and country relate to nature!

Educational Credentials

Bachelor of Science in Environmental Science- University of Maryland, Eastern Shore

Masters of Communication- University of Texas, El Paso

I Knew I was a Conservationist When....

I began scuba diving as a teenager. Scuba diving was therapeutic for me and I was always amazed at the beauty of the marine environment and the species that live there. I knew then that I had to help protect such a valuable resource for me and generations to come. This led me to pursue a carreer in this field and I am proud to share with others what I enjoy about our beautiful environment.

My Contributions

Campaign Blog

Huge Spiny Lobster is featured in cultural parade!

 This past weekend we celebrated one of the biggest cultural events in the Bahamas, Junkanoo. This is a parade filled with pulsating musical sounds of goat skin drums, cowbells, whistles, horns and scraping of a grater. The sound is unique and makes you jump to your feet as choreographed dancers move to the beat as they "rush" down the main streets of the town. Huge costumes are built to a theme and are made of card board and pasted with crepe paper that is fringed with beautiful colors.The parade began at 9 pm and lasted until 1 am the next morning... you guessed right, we like to party late in The Bahamas. 

I was so surprised and of course elated to see that one of the groups featured a huge Spiny Lobster as part of their costume. It tells me that the community has connected fishing with part of our culture. Hopefully this means that they are Measuring Up! Enjoy the photos of the parade below.

Posted by DMaycock in Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries Management/Abaco Island on 2012-02-27

Campaign Blog

Funny Quote

In response to finalizing pot luck dishes for an event, one respondent answered: "Still thinking everything Lobster requires so much measuring...."

Our message gets engrained into the thought process of those exposed to the campaign messages. Lol

Posted by DMaycock in Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries Management/Abaco Island on 2011-12-09

Campaign Blog

New Spike Poster Series

This is a new feature to our campaign that we are currently working on. The idea is make our mascot Spike more visible and use him to speak messages that may be difficult for real people to discuss. We will feature this on Facebook, in newspapers and other print media and our website. We are still developing the messages but wanted to get an image created first.

Posted by DMaycock in Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries Management/Abaco Island on 2011-12-07

Campaign Blog

3rd Quarterly Report

This quarter was very quiet with implementation of activities. In mid August Hurricane Irene pounded our shores resulting in delayed timelines and outputs. Fishermen also were affecting by the impacts of Irene. Many of them were not able to venture out and many of them have reported damaged and lost traps on the seafloor. Early in the stages of the campaign, debris from traps and hurricane impacts was identified as direct threats to local spiny lobster populations. Since then many have reported that production has been the worst they've seen in years.

Posted by DMaycock in Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries Management/Abaco Island on 2011-11-14

Campaign Blog

Campaign Mural Coming Soon!

This mural will be painted in the main town area where there is lots of traffic and visibility. Professional artists along with local children will paint this mural on four 4 feet by 8 feet hardy boards.This is a great way for us to get our message out to the general audience to raise awareness of supporting sustainable lobster fishing. Initially we had hoped for this mural to be painted before the season opened on August 1, 2011, but it was delayed due to afternoon rains that we have been experiencing lately.

Stay tuned....

Posted by DMaycock in Campaign for Sustainable Fisheries Management/Abaco Island on 2011-08-15