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I want to tell you a love story.

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But it doesn't have a happy ending.

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Once upon a time,[br]I was a stubborn five-year-old

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who decided to become a marine biologist.

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Thirty-four years, 400 scuba dives[br]and one PhD later,

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I'm still completely[br]enamored with the ocean.

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I spent a decade working[br]with fishing communities

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in the Caribbean,

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counting fish, interviewing fishermen,

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redesigning fishing gear[br]and developing policy.

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I've been helping to figure out[br]what sustainable management can look like

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for places where food security,[br]jobs and cultures

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all depend on the sea.

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In the midst of all this, I fell in love.

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With a fish.

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There are over 500 fish species[br]that live on Caribbean reefs,

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but the ones I just[br]can't get out of my head

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are parrotfish.

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Parrotfish live on coral reefs[br]all over the world,

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there are 100 species,

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they can grow well over a meter long

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and weigh over 20 kilograms,

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but that's the boring stuff.

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I want to tell you five[br]incredible things about these fish.

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First, they have a mouth[br]like a parrot's beak,

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which is strong enough to bite coral,

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although mostly they're after algae.

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They are the lawn mowers of the reef.

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This is key, because many reefs[br]are overgrown with algae

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due to nutrient pollution[br]from sewage and fertilizer

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that runs off of land.

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And there just aren't enough[br]herbivores like parrotfish

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left out on the reefs

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to mow it all down.

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OK, second amazing thing.

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After all that eating,[br]they poop fine white sand.

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A single parrotfish can produce[br]over 380 kilograms

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of this pulverized coral each year.

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Sometimes, when scuba diving,

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I would look up from my clipboard

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and just see contrails[br]of parrotfish poop raining down.

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So next time you're lounging[br]on a tropical white-sand beach,

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maybe think of parrotfish.

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(Laughter)

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Third, they have so much style.

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Mottled and striped,[br]teal, magenta,

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yellow, orange, polka-dotted,

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parrotfish are a big part[br]of what makes coral reefs so colorful.

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Plus, in true diva style,

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they have multiple wardrobe changes[br]throughout their life.

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A juvenile outfit,

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an intermediate getup,

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and a terminal look.

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Fourth, with this last wardrobe change[br]comes a sex change from female to male,

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termed sequential hermaphroditism.

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These large males then gather[br]harems of females to spawn.

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Heterosexual monogamy[br]is certainly not nature's status quo.

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And parrotfish exemplify[br]some of the beauty

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of diverse reproductive strategies.

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Fifth, and the most incredible,

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sometimes when parrotfish[br]cozy up into a nook in the reef at night,

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they secrete a mucus bubble[br]from a gland in their head

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that envelops their entire body.

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This masks their scent from predators

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and protects them from parasites,

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so they can sleep soundly.

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I mean, how cool is this?

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(Laughter)

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So this is a confession[br]of my love for parrotfish

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in all their flamboyant,

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algae-eating, sand-pooping,[br]sex-changing glory.

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(Laughter)

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But with this love comes heartache.

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Now that groupers and snappers[br]are woefully overfished,

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fishermen are targeting parrotfish.

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Spearfishing took out the large species,

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midnight blue and rainbow parrotfish[br]are now exceedingly rare,

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and nets and traps are scooping up[br]the smaller species.

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As both a marine biologist[br]and a single person,

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I can tell you,

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there aren't that many fish in the sea.

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(Laughter)

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And then, there's my love for their home,

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the coral reef,

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which was once as vibrant[br]as Caribbean cultures,

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as colorful as the architecture,

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and as bustling as carnival.

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Because of climate change,

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on top of overfishing and pollution,

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coral reefs may be gone within 30 years.

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An entire ecosystem erased.

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This is devastating,

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because hundreds of millions[br]of people around the world

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depend on reefs[br]for their nutrition and income.

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Let that sink in.

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A little bit of good news

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is that places like Belize, Barbuda[br]and Bonaire are protecting these VIPs --

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Very Important Parrotfish.

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Also, more and more places[br]are establishing protected areas

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that protect the entire ecosystem.

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These are critical efforts,[br]but it's not enough.

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As I stand here today,

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only 2.2 percent[br]of the ocean is protected.

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Meanwhile, 90 percent of the large fish,

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and 80 percent[br]of the coral on Caribbean reefs,

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is already gone.

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We're in the midst[br]of the sixth mass extinction.

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And we, humans, are causing it.

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We also have the solutions.

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Reverse climate change and overfishing,

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protect half the ocean

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and stop pollution running from land.

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But these are massive undertakings

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requiring systemic changes,

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and we're really taking our sweet time[br]getting around to it.

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Each of us can contribute, though.

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With our votes, our voices,[br]our food choices,

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our skills and our dollars.

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We must overhaul both corporate practices

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and government policies.

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We must transform culture.

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Building community around solutions

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is the most important thing.

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I am never going to give up

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working to protect and restore[br]this magnificent planet.

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Every bit of habitat we preserve,

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every tenth of a degree[br]of warming we prevent,

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really does matter.

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Thankfully, I'm not motivated by hope,

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but rather a desire to be useful.

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Because I don't know[br]how to give an honest talk

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about my beloved parrotfish[br]and coral reefs

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that has a happy ending.

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Thank you.

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(Applause)