The Green Page - October 3, 2001

Publication: Daily Nation
Paper Section And Page: 15A
Paper Date: Wed, Oct 3, 2001
 Byline: Compiled by Terry Ally

Page sponsored by Texaco Caribbean Limited  
   

Care our coral, or else

A WARNING from the authorities to local dive tour operators: stop damaging coral reefs or face prosecution. The warning has come from the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU).

"We cannot prosecute foreign yachts and ignore local boaters," acting deputy director of the CZMU Angie Brathwaite said. "We know who the offenders are and sooner or later we will catch them. We have alerted the Coast Guard and once we catch them in the act we will prosecute them," she added.

Brathwaite said they have already warned a number of operators against whom they have received complaints about the boaters dropping anchor on and damaging reefs. The complaints have come from tourists, divers, and other dive tour operators.

"The number of the offenders are in the minority, but they have to understand that their actions will hit them in their pocket. An anchor may do a small amount of damage one time but five boats dropping anchor 365 days a year amount to a lot of damage," she said.

Brathwaite said they could either drop anchor in sand channels or do a drift drive. Boaters are expected to tie up on mooring buoys. However, a number of these have become loose and floated away, and Brathwaite said some of the dive shops are to be blamed for this state of affairs because they reneged on their agreement to service the buoys. The buoys were installed by the Government and the dive shops, which are out there on a daily basis, agreed to ensure that the moorings were properly maintained.

Under new marine laws, persons found guilty of damage to coral reefs face a penalty of $300 per square metre or a prison term of up to five years or both.

André Miller of the Marine Research section of the CZMU agreed that the culprits are confined to just a minority.

"We have come a long way and there has been a vast improvement, but there are just these few bad apples who we do not want to spoil the whole barrel," he said.

The unit will be hosting an all-day coastal ecology workshop for all dive operators later this year which will enhance the dive tourism product.

"We don't just want operators taking divers out but also telling them the story of the reef's ecosystem and explaining the various types of reefs in Barbados so that there can be a holistic dive experience," he added.

Media talks tourism with experts

LIBERATOR and defender of the travelling public American author Peter Greenberg leads a distinguished list of speakers for the first Caribbean Media Exchange on Sustainable Tourism which opens in Ocho Rios at the weekend. The Los Angeles-based Greenberg, author of the recently published Travel Detective, is the travel editor of NBC's Today Show and chief correspondent for the Discovery Network's Travel Channel. He also is editor at large for National Geographic Traveller magazine.

To be held at Beaches Grande Sport resort (October 6 to 10), the media conference will discuss the impact of the September 11 attacks on the region's economy, among other pressing tourism issues. It has attracted key representatives of the world's multi-billion dollar tourism industry. Other speakers include the acting president of the Barbados Tourism Authority, Oliver Jordan; president of the Caribbean Hotel Association, Ralph Taylor; Gordon "Butch" Stewart, chairman of Sandals Resorts; Allen Chastanet, Air Jamaica's senior vice-president of marketing and sales; Mimi Whitefield of the Miami Herald; and Danielle Benjamin of the United Nations Development Programme. The innovative media symposium is an initiative of Air Jamaica, the Washington DC-based Counterpart International, its Barbados affiliate Counterpart Caribbean, the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, its parent body the Caribbean Hotel Association, the Caribbean Broadcasting Union and Great Places in the Caribbean.

Sewerage experts to give talk on project

PEOPLE who are likely to be affected by the construction of the West Coast Sewerage Project will learn more about the project tomorrow. That is when the management team explains the various components of the project which stretches from Shermans in St Lucy to Fontabelle, St Michael. Two aspects are expected to be discussed. They are the collection system and the treatment plant. Stakeholders will learn about the environmental and social impacts, to what extent life and business will or can be disrupted and what the authorities plan to do to reduce the impact on them. Projected impacts will include traffic disruption, noise and dust, damage to or loss of mature trees, location of pumping stations and their impact on nearby land and property holders, temporary loss of use of property, impact on tourism, potential disruption of water, gas, and telephone service in the event of damage to the utilities during excavation.