A Bahamian conservationist hopes to share her great love for the ocean and her desire to protect it with Bermudians tomorrow.

Being less than a week old when she had her first dip in the sea, Casuarina McKinney-Lambert has had a passion for everything involving oceans since she can remember.

It lead her to attend the United World College of the Atlantic in Wales and later pursue a biology and environmental science and policy degree from Duke University in North Carolina.

While in university, Ms McKinney-Lambert spent two summers in the 1990s researching coral disease and coral bleaching at the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences.

At the time, the institute was known by a different name, the Bermuda Biological Station for Research.

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She said: “I did see evidence of coral bleaching and coral disease at that time, but these threats to reef health have increased dramatically in Bermuda, the Bahamas and around the world in the years since then due to global warming.

“Another thing that stood out to me in Bermuda was the beautiful, healthy reefs and high coral cover.”

Ms McKinney-Lambert later became the executive director of the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation, a position she still holds to this day.

“BREEF’s successful multipronged approach to protecting the marine environment is centred around grass-roots programmes in education, outreach, research and policy,” a statement read.

Ms McKinney-Lambert will be giving a lecture on coral reef restoration and protection at the BUEI on Saturday August 27. She will be giving the lecture virtually from her home in Eleuthera, The Bahamas.

BUEI CEO Karla Lacey said: “It is our hope that Ms McKinney-Lambert’s talk provides an opportunity for more conversation around the importance of reef conservation and restoration.”

Ms McKinney-Lambert’s lecture will begin at 4pm in the Tradewinds Auditorium. Tickets are $15 for members and $20 for non-members.