Adriana Hernández Alvarez is one of Conservation Nation’s 2023 conservationist grant winners. Because she was born in a small coastal city, she has a longstanding love of the shore, and her conservation work is focused around beaches, water, and the animals that call the area home.
Adriana has a BS in biology from Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana-Xochimilco at Mexico City and an MS in Marine Ecology from Centro de Investigación Científica y de Educación Superior de Ensenada. In her career, she has worked at the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California Sur Birds Lab and Pronatura Noroeste, an environmental conservation organization. Now, she is a co-leader of the community-based coastal conservation project called Cuidando al Playero rojizo y al Pejerrey, which is dedicated to the relationship between shorebirds and the Gulf grunion fish — just like her Conservation Nation project.
Conservation of the Pacific Red Knot and its Habitat
Adriana’s project focuses on the conservation of the red knot, an endangered shorebird experiencing population decline in Canada, the United States, and Mexico. One red knot subspecies, the pacific red knot, migrates down the pacific coast each year. While in Mexico, the bird feeds on the eggs of an endemic fish, the Gulf grunion. This is a vital food source for the pacific red knot — but human disturbances and environmental issues threaten this process.
Adriana’s project has four goals:
- To increase the knowledge of pacific red knots and Gulf grunions among local and visitors to the Golfo de Santa Clara beach in Sonora, Mexico.
- To reduce human disturbance in the area where the fish breed and the birds feed by delimiting at least 30,000 square meters of water
- To teach and inspire local youth about the fish and birds, from introductory bird-watching workshops to twice-monthly bird-watching programs on the beach
- And to reduce plastic pollution in the community, from providing informational workshops, to actively helping the community recycle plastic, to removing ghost fishing nets in the water.
By the end of 2024, Adriana plans to have educated the community, formed bird-watching groups, helped remove plastic waste, and provided a safe haven for migrating pacific red knots and local Gulf grunions to thrive.
