History

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In 1994 the Zoologische Gesellschaft Frankfurt (1858), the Senckenbergische Naturforschende Gesellschaft (1817) and other international conservation organizations along with Honduran institutions led by the German scientist and author Gunther Koehler, PhD., created the "Utila Conservation Project".

The aim of the project was to protect and study the endemic and endangered Utila Spiny-tailed iguana, Ctenosaura bakeri. So, in 1997 the joint efforts bore fruits and the Iguana Research & Breeding Station was built.

25 years later, the Iguana Research & Breeding Station, now in care of the Bay Islands Foundation, a private non-profit organization, which is legally recognized by the Honduran government, stands as the leading nature research and conservation project of Honduras. Together, with our board members, dedicated staff, scientific advisors and exemplary team of volunteers, the Bay Islands Foundation continues to fulfill the goals set more than a decade ago.

The Bay Islands Foundation (FIB) is an organization legally recognized by the State of Honduras as a non-profit non-governmental organization, with legal status No. 1606-2008, born in 2008 after the need to establish the Iguana Research & Breeding Station (IRBS) in an autonomous entity. The history of the IRBS dates back to 1997, when numerous national and international organizations joined forces with the primary objective of protecting the endemic iguana of the island of Utila, Ctenosaura bakeri, a species that is currently on the red list of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN). In order to fulfill its objective, IRBS has focused its efforts on two additional objectives; the investigation of the biology and ecology of the endemic iguana in particular and of natural resources in general; and environmental education in order to forge and transform the consciousness of the local population in order to develop a common language that allows the possibility of reducing social and ecological vulnerability.