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For marine biologist, Haitian gangs make work dangerous

Students cross Caracol Bay as they travel on a boat after receiving a snorkeling lesson from marine biologist Jean Wiener, near Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. “We really know that there’s a part, you know, where you can be in a classroom, but it is critically important that people actually get out and touch and see and feel the environment and see what they’re actually studying in the classroom,” Wiener said later from the hotel, where a few security guards patrolled the grounds with rifles. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A fisherman holds a pufferfish caught floating nearby at Caracol Bay near Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. The sea creature is a longtime source of curiosity in Haiti owing to its unusually high toxicity. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Marine biologist Jean Wiener teaches the basics of snorkeling in Caracol Bay near Cap Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. Wiener brought to the beach a group that included game wardens and university students with an interest in the environment. The idea was to get them in the water, make them feel comfortable and learn the basics of snorkeling. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A student takes part in a guided snorkel lesson led by marine biologist Jean Wiener at Caracol Bay near Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

FILE - A man holds his baby boy at a shelter for families displaced by gang violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Dec. 9, 2021. More than 20,000 people fled their homes due to gang violence in 2021 according to UNICEF, with many living in temporary shelters amid extremely unsanitary conditions and the pandemic. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)

FILE - A plane burns after being set on fire by demonstrators protesting increasing violence, at the airport in Les Cayes, Haiti, March 29, 2022. People ran onto the tarmac and torched a small plane owned by a U.S. missionary group. One person died and five others were injured, including four police officers, according to a police official working at the airport. (AP Photo/John Cadafy Noel, File)

FILE - Demonstrators seize an airplane during a protest against insecurity and violence, at the airport in Les Cayes, Haiti, March 29, 2022. People ran onto the tarmac and torched a small plane owned by a U.S. missionary group. One person died and five others were injured, including four police officers, according to a police official working at the airport. (AP Photo/John Cadafy Noel, File)

FILE - G9 coalition gang members ride a motorcycle through the Wharf Jeremy street market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Oct. 6, 2021. While some gangs have turned to kidnapping, like those who captured 17 missionaries and their relatives, Jimmy Cherizier, aka Barbecue, a former policeman who leads the G9 gang coalition, has taken control of the port district, gaining a stranglehold on the country's economy. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd, File)

FILE - Police carry the coffin that contain the remains of slain Haitian President Jovenel Moise at the start of the funeral at his family home in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, July 23, 2021. A squad of gunmen assassinated Moise and wounded his wife in an overnight raid on their Port-au-Prince home on July 7, 2021. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, File)

FILE - A woman and child run past burning barricades during a demonstration against increasing violence in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, March 29, 2022. The protest coincides with the 35th anniversary of Haiti's 1987 Constitution and follows other protests and strikes in recent weeks in the middle of a spike in gang-related kidnappings. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph, File)

Litter and debris blanket the shoreline in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Thursday, March 10, 2022. In several reports released in October, the U.S. signaled that climate change would occupy a central role in security strategy, a shift in strategy that underscores how climatic changes are exacerbating long-standing problems. One of the studies identified Haiti as one of 11 countries that were of “greatest concern.” (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Ronald Pierre makes a handmade fishing net to sell to fellow fishermen, on the shore of Cap-Haitian, Haiti, Saturday, March 12, 2022. A prize winning marine biologist is working to bring together fishermen from Haiti and the Dominican Republic and find a solution that will not only save their livelihoods but also vital marine resources in a region under extreme pressures from climate change. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Fishermen prepare to fish in the waters of Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Friday, March 11, 2022. A day before, a meeting between Haitian and Dominican fishermen where they could air their grievances came the idea of creating a boat registration and a licensing for fisheries so Haitian and Dominican authorities know who is in the water and where they’re going. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Fishermen hold a lobster caught after a day's work, in Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Friday, March 11, 2022. A day earlier, in a nearby bay that spans the border of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, fishermen from both countries recently aired grievances in a rare face-to-face meeting. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

AgroFrontera Executive Director Frederick Payton, second right, speaks with marine biologist Jean Wiener, during a meeting between Haitian and Dominican Republic fishermen in Manzanillo, Dominican Republic, Thursday, March 10, 2022. The meeting, overseen by Dominican naval officers with rifles, was no small feat for Wiener, who has been forced to work on conserving this biologically sensitive region from afar — his house in Bethesda, Maryland — because of rampant violence in Haiti, his homeland. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Oxen stand on a dry patch of the Massacre River also known as the Dajabon River, in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, Thursday, March 10, 2022. Though named for an earlier massacre, it’s mostly known for when Dominican soldiers, under the orders of dictator Rafael Trujillo in 1937, executed thousands of Haitian families and Dominicans of Haitian descent. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A fisherman waits to pull in his net back onto his boat, in Caracol Bay alongside Three Bays National Park, in Cap Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. The roughly 80,000-hectare (19,700-acre) zone carved out of northern Haiti’s overfished Caracol, Limonade and Fort Liberte Bays includes as much as 20 percent of the country’s remaining mangroves, which are now illegal to chop down. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Lindor St-Ville fills a bag with charcoal to sell at market, in Trou-du-Nord, Haiti, Saturday, March 12, 2022. While rural families burn firewood to cook their own meals, they will produce charcoal for sale to pay school fees and other expenses. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A worker rests at a charcoal market in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, March 14, 2022. Even though propane can be a bit cheaper, nobody sees imported gas or other energy sources replacing charcoal anytime soon in Haiti because of cooking traditions and practical realities. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Rosemene Hilaire lights charcoal to cook, at her home in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Monday, March 14, 2022. Nearly all the urban households in Haiti use charcoal to cook every meal. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Luckner Jean prepares a pile of wood in order to make charcoal, in Trou-du-Nord, Haiti, Friday, March 11, 2022. Charcoal vendors in Haiti hack down trees for cooking fuel. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A man walks past abandoned boats along the shore of Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Wednesday, March 9, 2022. In several reports released in October, the U.S. signaled that climate change would occupy a central role in security strategy, a shift in strategy that underscores how climatic changes are exacerbating long-standing problems. One of the studies identified Haiti as one of 11 countries that were of “greatest concern.” (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

Agronomist and horticulturalist Frederick Payton, right, and marine biologist Jean Wiener, left center, cross the Massacre River in order to attend a rare face-to-face meeting between fishermen from Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in Fort-Liberte, Haiti, Thursday, March 10, 2022. It was the first trip for Wiener, leader of Foundation for the Protection of Marine Biodiversity, since November 2021, his absence largely attributed to the violent gangs that have engulfed the Haitian capital in recent years and reached parts of the countryside. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

A fisherman pulls his net back onto his boat in the waters surrounding Cap-Haitien, Haiti, Friday, March 11, 2022. A prize winning marine biologist is working to bring together fishermen from Haiti and the Dominican Republic and find a solution that will not only save their livelihoods but also vital marine resources in a region under extreme pressures from climate change. (AP Photo/Odelyn Joseph)

For marine biologist, Haitian gangs make work dangerous