Poor buoy scouts!

LAST WEEK'S anchor damage of reefs by two visiting pleasure yachts highlights an inconsistency in environmental management in Barbados. Like a recurring decimal, the question returns: if one believes a certain action will result in environmental damage, why are measures not taken to prevent the action?

There are numerous laws in Barbados, all of which cannot be enforced with the same vigour by the same group of people. And, the same 1 200 members of the Police Force cannot be expected to be intimately familiar with all those rules. However, in the case of the marine environment, the police and Coast Guard are fresh out of the classroom learning about new marine laws which Parliament passed last year and which came into effect last November. Therefore, in the same way a policeman would throw more than a curious glance at a vehicle parked on Broad Street, the Coast Guard vessel patrolling the West Coast should have been more than curious about two
vessels ­ the only two ­ with their anchors in the water. The others were tied to mooring buoys.

There were 32 mooring buoys on the West Coast at the end of 1998. Each cost about $1 500, with a maintenance cost  averaging $600. The effort was a joint one among many parties that included the Professional Association of Dive Operators. Its members on the West Coast agreed to maintain two or three buoys each. However, these buoys are strong enough to accommodate only small vessels,
not yachts the size of the Blue Leopard or the Virginian.

Sir Charles Williams, recognising the need for appropriate facilities for such yachts, offered to pay for ten berths. But the issue is far more complicated. First, liability insurance. Who pays if the mooring breaks and Sir Anthony Bamford's US$45 million yacht becomes grounded? Mooring around reefs also gives rise to oil and unburned gas polluting coastal waters and yet damaging reefs. Still under consideration by the Ministry of the Environment is a comprehensive study on expansion of conservation areas on the West Coast and whether there should be additional mooring sites.

Though the parties involved would have preferred not to be in the spotlight, the publicity on them heightened awareness of the public in the marine environment and in those involved in tourism, including the police, the Coast Guard and customs, among others.

Polio vaccine from Green Monkey

THE Barbados Green Monkey which has become well-known around the world is not indigenous to Barbados. It originated from Senegal and Gambia in West Africa and was brought to Barbados over 350 years as a gift for the first settlers, it is believed.

From the gift of a few primates. today's population has mushroomed to between 5 000 and 10 000. In their book The Green Monkey of Barbados, Jean Baulu and Julia Horrocks say that since the advent of electricity and kerosene, gullies and ravines which were once cleared for firewood are now densely wooded, providing excellent cover for the primates to live and breed. They have the same tastes as Barbadians and therefore raid the fields for the crops and fruits planted.

As early as 1679 monkeys were deemed pests and there was a bounty of five shillings for each head delivered to the church warden.
In 1975 the Barbados Government reintroduced a bounty which stands at $15 per tail taken to the Ministry of Agriculture. The Barbados Primate Research Centre pays $50 for each living, unharmed animal. Each captured monkey undergoes a series of blood tests. All, being disease-free, are exported to European and North American zoos ,and to laboratories for the production and testing of the polio vaccine.

Canadians helping with the Jamaica ackee

JAMAICA is getting help from the Canadian government in increasing its indigenous ackee exports to the United States, Canada and Europe. The Canadian International Development Agency is providing US$73 333 (BDS$146 666) toward the agro-industrial project intended to improve the competitiveness of the Jamaican fruit. The ackee-processing industry is estimated to provide foreign exchange
earnings to Jamaica of US$8 million to $12 million annually (BDS$16 million to $24 million). (CANA)

69 incinerators for garbage

BRITAIN'S Environment Agency says that up to 69 large incinerators may be needed to dispose of the country's garbage now growing at three per cent a year. However, it said if a new disposal plan were to be "recycling-led" it would reduce the number of incinerators required to 21. That's based on assumptions that Britons could recycle and compost 42 per cent of its waste by 2020.

Environmentalists say the agency was underestimating the recycling potential and foresee protests when planning applications are made, because of fears of pollution emissions from these plants. Britain currently operates 11 incinerators.

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