Why Did a Marine Biologist End Up Building a Rum Distillery?
As I looked into the bottom of a 1,500-gallon fermentation tank, I realized that it was far different from the sort of tank I was used to - ones that held sea turtles and fishes. I also realized that the rum in one tank was the answer to helping the animals in the other.
For the past 15 years or so I’ve been volunteering with ocean conservationists on the small Caribbean island of Dominica. I first went to Dominica in 2008 to work on whale watching and ocean education initiatives, but soon discovered many more conservation projects underway, from protecting the endangered sea turtles who nest on Dominica’s black-sand beaches to coral reef health and the impacts of climate change on Dominica’s coastal communities and ecosystems.
What quickly became apparent to me was that this Caribbean nation is hugely reliant on ecotourism dollars for economic opportunity, along with the hope it could also fund marine conservation. But the numbers just didn’t add up. Diver use fees and voluntary contributions don’t go far on a small island that sees relatively few tourists compared to destinations such as the Bahamas, definitely not enough to support a conservation organization trying to patrol nesting beaches across the island and restore vital coral reef habitat.
The small islands of the Eastern Caribbean don’t seem to be on the radar of the major funding agencies. There just isn’t enough funding for the little guys, whose degraded habitats still have a chance to come back. Remote and pristine tracts of the ocean are definitely worth all the money spent on their protection, but so too are areas of the ocean that are more heavily traveled, more “urbanized,” and, in the Caribbean not incidentally former European colonies whose resources were exploited to build today’s industries.
We can do better.
As a marine scientist, it became painfully clear to me that science alone won’t protect ocean wildlife, their habitats, or the coastal communities that rely on them. We need to genuinely care for people too, because - to riff on Maslov’s hierarchy of human needs - people can’t care about things like the health of the ocean until their own basic needs are met for a healthy, safe and economically viable life.
In 2017, Hurricane Maria destroyed nearly everything in Dominica - homes, vehicles, boats, and the lush rainforest that gives Dominica the name “The Nature Island.” Our small band of local ocean protectors were faced with the seemingly insurmountable challenge of how to build back their lives and get back to the conservation work. With the very habitat that drew ecotourism stripped away by Maria, even this source of income was gone. While we worked to recover, I started thinking about better solutions for the future of conservation in Dominica, something rooted in self-sufficiency rather than infrequent or fluctuating grants and donations.
My thoughts went to Dominica’s resources, its sunshine, fertile soil, and abundant rainfall, and… then to banks, and Girl Scout cookies.
I looked into industries that have survived natural disasters, pandemics, and wars, and noticed a consistent pattern. Banks, wineries, breweries, and distilleries seem to survive whatever disaster comes down the pike over hundreds of years. I wasn’t about to start a bank, but there is a long history of rum distilleries operating on Dominica, and those Girl Scout cookies reminded me that non-profit organizations can proactively support a chunk of their costs by producing and selling an in-demand product.
Taking stock of Dominica’s strengths, an island with an agriculture-friendly climate and people with farming skills, the answer was obvious. A rum distillery, making a world class product, that would employ people and support ocean conservation the way we need it to be supported, for the long term.
And that is how Rosalie Bay Distilling was born. RBD supports our mission - protecting ocean life and coastal communities in this small corner of the world, with 100% of all revenue generated going directly into conservation efforts. The entire operation, from providing a market for farmers to pouring every penny of rum profit back into conservation efforts, is designed to help people and wildlife.
RBD is a “farm-to-glass” operation, distilling sugar cane grown by our own network of farmers into a premium craft rum. Our first batch, 40 bottles of unaged rum, was bottled in 2023, but our aged rums will mature along with the wildlife we seek to protect. Sea turtles mature and reproduce slowly, and so does the growth of coral reefs, so we’ll be opening our aged barrels of rum to mark milestones that remind us of the longevity of some of the ocean's most treasured species.
We’re still in development mode at RBD, and we still need some financial support to be fully operational, but all our work aims at sustainability in a world of changing climate. We adhere to the highest standards of environmental and social responsibility. Our distillery is solar-powered, becoming carbon-neutral, and hurricane-resistant. We’re building employment opportunities all along our supply chain, empowering the people most impacted by climate change, and supporting conservation for the long haul.
Stay tuned for more on the Rosalie Bay Distilling story!
