The Aqua Rangers Scholarship Program: Training Caribbean Scientific Divers for the Blue Economy

The Caribbean Sea sustains our culture, livelihoods, and climate resilience — but protecting it requires people with the skills and passion to lead. The Aqua Rangers Scholarship Program was created to give CARICOM residents the opportunity to develop those skills, beginning with swimming and snorkeling and progressing all the way to professional and scientific-level diving.

Through structured training, hands-on conservation, and collaboration with regional partners, the program develops a homegrown workforce of divers, conservationists, and scientists ready to support Grenada’s Blue Economy and the wider Caribbean.

Building Skills from the Ground Up

The program begins with accessibility at its core. Many young people in Grenada and across CARICOM still lack access to swimming lessons, even though they live surrounded by the ocean. To address this, Aqua Rangers partners with the national initiative Get Grenada Swimming to ensure every participant develops strong, safe swimming skills.

From there, participants move through a training progression designed to build confidence, skills, and purpose:

1. Snorkeling & Introductory Scuba – opening the door to the underwater world for everyone of all abilities, including adaptive diving.

2. Advanced Certifications – Perfect Buoyancy, Deep, Enriched Air, Search And Recovery, and Rescue Diver, plus specialty training, and leadership preparation.

3. Conservation Diving – applying new skills in coral gardening, seagrass monitoring, biomass evaluation, and reef restoration.

4. Professional-Level Development – achieving Scientific Diver, Divemaster, or Instructor qualifications, making participants employable in the Blue Economy.

Conservation at the Core

Unlike traditional dive training, advancement within Aqua Rangers requires active involvement in conservation projects. Participants don’t just learn how to dive — they learn why it matters. By helping maintain coral nurseries, restoring reefs, collecting seagrass data, and collecting biomass data, participants directly contribute to the health of Grenada’s marine ecosystems and global databases for research.

This model ensures that our divers are not just experienced and technically capable, but also environmentally responsible — divers who see themselves as stewards of the ocean.

A Pathway to Scientific Diving

Graduates who complete the full Aqua Rangers pathway are eligible to apply for the American Academy of Underwater Sciences (AAUS) Scientific Diver Program, the

international standard for research diving. This credential qualifies them to work alongside marine scientists worldwide.

In Grenada, this pathway connects directly to St. George’s University’s Conservation, Wildlife, and Marine Biology Program, and the Windward Islands Research and Education Foundation (WINDREF), creating a local pool of trained scientific divers who can support critical research and restoration work without relying solely on international expertise.

Strengthening the Blue Economy

The Blue Economy is about more than fisheries and tourism — it’s about creating sustainable opportunities that keep ocean health and community wellbeing at the center. The Aqua Rangers Scholarship Program contributes by:

• Creating local dive professionals who can work in tourism, research, or environmental management.

• Developing scientific divers who can support research institutions and NGOs in Grenada and beyond.

• Building environmental literacy among youth, fostering pride and stewardship in local communities.

• Bridging science and society by connecting grassroots training with academic and conservation institutions.

A Model for the Caribbean

What began in Grenada is designed to scale across the region. By welcoming all CARICOM

residents, the program ensures inclusivity and regional collaboration. As more Aqua Rangers graduate, the Caribbean gains a stronger network of trained, conservation-minded professionals ready to lead the next chapter of ocean stewardship.

This commitment has already been recognized at the regional level: Aquanauts Grenada and the Aqua Rangers program were awarded the Caribbean Hotel and Tourism Association’s (CHTA) CHIEF Award for Conservation and Coral Reef Stewardship. Honoring our leadership in marine restoration and sustainable tourism. The Aqua Rangers Scholarship Program builds directly on this foundation — turning proven conservation success into a training pipeline for the next generation of Caribbean ocean leaders. The CHTA selected the Aqua Rangers program because it is reproducible by design. At Aquanauts, we encourage other Small Island Developing States (SIDS) to use our model to further develop the network.

How to Get Involved

The Aqua Rangers Scholarship Program is made possible through the efforts of Aquanauts Grenada, the Geer Family, the support of dive guests, community sponsors, and partner institutions. You can help strengthen this pipeline of future ocean leaders by:

• Every Monday night is a “Jam Night” where you can listen to live music (or join in and play) and if you let us know ahead of time, make your own lionfish jewelry.

  • You can also follow us on our WhatsApp Community “Aqua Explorers” to find out when we are holding a “Jam & Jewelry Night”.

• Attend a “Lionfish Bites & Beats” event at West Indies Brewery, where you can have lionfish tacos, lionfish and chips, listen to live music, and purchase lionfish jewelry. 

• All proceeds from our Lionfish events go to the Aqua Rangers Program.

• Sponsoring a scholarship for a youth participant.

• Collaborating as a research partner to provide hands-on projects for participants.

Together, we can ensure that Grenada — and the wider Caribbean — not only protects its marine environment but thrives because of it.