Welcome to the Roatan Marine Park’s October
newsletter,
Welcome
to October’s newsletter
With this bad weather, which is seemingly incessant,
it’s doubtful that anyone on the island is enjoying
slow season. The impending quiet time is always daunting
to any business owner, especially with last month’s
continuous wind and rain. Forecasts for the following
weeks do not show improvement, making our Caribbean
island seem far from a tropical paradise. All we can
hope for in the coming month is the return of the tourists
so that business will pick up for all. Though the boats
have been unable to operate in these conditions, the
three of us in the office have been busier than usual
as we are confined to the office when not out visiting
the schools or on other business trips.
Patrols:
Despite the weather, we kept the boat captains and police
busy, and were rewarded with many confiscations in October.
The beginning of the month saw the patrols focusing
on Sandy Bay , resulting in one arrest. A four hour
stake-out ended in the capture of a known poacher that
had speared 11 fish and 19 lobsters. This area of the
Park has always been subjected to poaching and we ask
residents to keep a watchful eye and contact us if you
see anything out of the ordinary.
As mentioned in last month’s newsletter, the patrols
have expanded beyond Sandy Bay West End Marine Park
to include the area between Barefoot Cay and Jonesville.
As stated by Honduran Law, it is illegal to use spearguns
and nets or to collect conch and lobster throughout
the whole of Roatan. This however is very hard to enforce
and the majority of the island goes unchecked. The owners
of Barefoot Cay, Milesse and John Kennedy, have kindly
allowed us to use one of their boats which has enabled
us to patrol the southern shores. This has resulted
in the confiscation of 10 full sets of snorkel gear,
2 spear guns, several gaffs, 3 scuba tanks, and a regulator.
An office is currently being built for the South Side
Chapter by the owners of Barefoot Cay. A meeting will
be called in the coming month in which a board will
be voted in and a management plan devised. We hope to
bring the communities that operate in these waters together
and protect the marine life around these areas.
A recent issue that has come to my knowledge regards
Blue Ocean Reef and their patrol boat; over the past
few weeks, a boat operating around the resort has been
deterring the fishermen of Punta Gorda. We would like
to clarify that this is entirely separate from the activities
of the RMP team, as this area lies beyond the jurisdiction
of the Roatan Marine Park. We have been in contact with
Blue Ocean Reef, who have informed us that they are
providing transportation to the police authorities there,
to assist them in protecting the region from over fishing
and illegal activities.
Replantation:
Over the past few months, we have been growing mangrove
seedlings at the office and were finally able to find
a new home for them. On October 10th, children from
the West End school helped replant over 30 mangrove
seedlings around the Berrinche, as well as clean up
the trash around the area. It is hoped that the new
mangroves will grow and thrive in an area which originally
was inhabited with mangrove trees. We plan to continue
this project and are growing new seedlings and looking
for homes.
On the 17th, the Marine Park was invited by the La Colonia
Balfate School to join in with a coconut replantation
project. James and Grazzia assisted with the transplantation
of the young coconut palms, which had been donated to
the school by Carambola Gardens . Additional projects
are in the works and the Park hopes to be involved with
these further ventures.
School visits:
The Park’s education program has been keeping
our staff busy with Grazzia having visited the West
End School , La Colonia Balfate School, and Instituto
Santos Guardiola. Topics covered during her presentations
included the importance of the reefs and mangroves and
recycling. James proved himself as a good mentor for
the kids after giving a lesson on water pollution to
the 2nd grade at the Bilingual school. Children in the
3rd and 6th grade from the Sandy Bay School had the
good fortune to visit the Roatan Institute of Marine
Science (RIMS) and take a trip on the Glass Bottom boat
in West Bay . Our goal with this project is to visit
as many schools as possible to get the children concerned
about their island and interested in what they can do
to protect it for future generations. Raising awareness
is the key to this project’s success.
West Bay Pollution:
A meeting was held at Henry Morgan on October 1st and
all residents of West Bay were invited to attend. The
topic of discussion was the sewage issue that currently
grips the area. An ultimatum, known as the West Bay
Agreement, was issued to all business owners regarding
their sewage systems. It states that if a business fails
to comply by not improving their systems to adequate
standards within 60 days, the Municipality will revoke
their operating permit and close the establishment until
the problem is resolved.
Accompanied by Julio Galindo and Lidia Medina from the
Municipality, James acquired signatures from all of
the business owners. These will ensure that even those
that did not attend the meeting are aware of the Agreement
and will hopefully comply. Immediately after the deadline,
the Municipality will perform tests to flush out those
that have not fulfilled the requirements.
Members
Last month, we included an appeal for new members in
the newsletter as well as posted it on the Roatan Chat
Group. I would like to thank all those that joined us
but remind you that we are always looking for new members.
If you are interested in becoming a member please contact
us by phone or e-mail or come by our office located
on Half Moon Bay in West End .
I would like to send a big thank you to our current
members who help by financially supporting our cause.
These include Anthony’s Key Resort, Bananarama
Dive Resort, Coconut Tree Divers, Indigo Sands, Luna
Environmental Consultants, Mayan Divers, Native Son’s,
Ocean Connections, Reef Gliders, Tranquil Seas, Tyll’s,
and West Bay Lodge. I would also like to say a big thank
you to Julio Galindo who donated a large sum to help
us during this slow season. Again, we thank our other
individual members, who generously gave when others
have not. Several people living abroad that heard our
plea even posted checks from the States. This makes
me question the moral standpoint of those on the island
that fail to assist our cause even though they earn
a living from this reef that we struggle so hard to
protect.
In October, sales of t-shirts, annual tags, and bracelets
generated a little over $2,000. It was purely through
memberships that we were able to stay afloat. Slow season
is painful for everyone on this island and it hits the
wallet hard, but our job here at the Park never ceases.
We do however appreciate the dive shops that sell the
user fees and promote our cause and we hope for your
continuing support.
To conclude the newsletter I’ll speed through
other things that went on in October. Both James and
Grazzia traveled to the mainland to give a presentation
to REHDES, an organization that networks NGOs within
Honduras . We’ve also written a proposal for a
grant from USAID on the Conservation of Critical Central
American Watersheds. The website has been tidied up
and updated so please have a look. A building has been
offered to us by DIGEPESCA, the government’s organization
in charge of fisheries, which we propose to turn into
a lab for our intern graduate students. Last Wednesday
Grazzia gave a presentation about the Marine Park to
25 journalists from all over Central America and was
interviewed by the national news network. The lobster
collectors all went AWOL during the storms and James
caressed a booby back to health…….a Red-Footed
Booby that is.
If anyone has any questions drop
by any time, email us at roatanmarinepark@yahoo.com
or give us a call at 349-4138, 445-4206, 445-4208.
Nick, Grazzia, James.
For additional information about
WWF and all of the amazing things that
they are doing worldwide for all of us, visit http://www.wwf.org
Check out the Coral Reef Alliance
and discover how they are helping Protected Areas worldwide
at http://www.coralreefalliance.org
Discover how Project AWARE is "Conserving
underwater environments through education, advocacy
and action" at http://www.projectaware.org
If you want to know more about fish
you see in the park, visit www.fishbase.org, which has
an index of almost 30,000 species of fish.
If you want to know more about the
reefs, go to www.reefbase.org
which contains global information regarding coral reefs.
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