Jacob TindallMeeting conservation heroes
At 11, Jacob met Jamal Galves and Dr. Buddy Powell — the same age Jamal was when he first met Buddy.
On June 6, 2024, Jacob went to Clearwater Marine Aquarium for Echoes of the Ocean, a speaker night called “Superheroes of Manatee Conservation.” He was 11. He met people whose work he had studied: Jamal Galves, Dr. James “Buddy” Powell, and Tanya Ward.
That age is part of why the night mattered. CMA’s Belize program story says Jamal was also 11 when he first met Dr. Powell at a dock in Belize and asked to join the manatee team. Hearing that from the people who lived it made the path feel close enough to reach. During the same CMA camp stretch, Jamal invited Jacob to join Belize manatee work.
Who they are
Jamal Galves coordinates CMA Research Institute’s Belize manatee conservation program. CMA’s own story is that he was 11 when he asked to help Dr. Powell’s field team in Belize, then grew into a research biologist and educator. He is also a National Geographic Explorer.
Dr. James “Buddy” Powell spent more than fifty years studying and protecting manatees, later serving as CMA’s chief zoological officer and executive director of the research institute. He died in July 2025. CMA named its manatee rehabilitation center in his honor.
Tanya Ward is CMA’s manatee rehabilitation manager. She helps rescued manatees through second-stage care — the stretch between hospital treatment and a possible return to the wild.
In November 2025, Jacob returned to CMA for a Celebration of Life for Dr. Powell, spent time with Nicholas the dolphin, and wrote a thank-you to Jamal and Buddy for the Belize assessments.
The expeditions that invitation opened are Belize 2025 and Belize 2026.