NM (Natalia) Hurtado Lopez

I’m currently based in The Bahamas at The Cape Eleuthera Island School. I’m a Colombian marine biologist who started studying coral population and growth to improve coral restoration for my undergraduate and master’s theses. I completed a master’s degree program in marine sciences focused on coral restoration, participated in two internships offered by Wageningen University in The Netherlands (Animal Sciences, Aquaculture and Fisheries Group) and in Bonaire (IMARES – Coral Restoration Foundation Bonaire).

I’ve been involved in many coral projects in Colombia, The Netherlands, Bonaire, Curaçao and Qatar. Now, I’m applying my expertise as Project Manager of the Bahamas Coral Innovation Hub, hoping to help to rehabilitate threatened coral populations by using sexual and asexual propagation to grow and research different coral species. I’ve been actively working in the dive industry since 2009. I’m an experience scientific diver, PADI IDC Staff Instructor and I combine research with Education and outreach in South Eleuthera.