The Sandy Bay and West End / West
Bay Marine Park Monthly Newsletter
January 2007 in Roatan, Honduras
Welcome once again to the Sandy Bay West End Marine Park newsletter,
Now that the issue with RECO has hopefully resolved itself
and we have continuous power supply, fingers crossed, life
has slowly got back to normal here on Roatan. In the past
5 weeks the Park has been busy with the usual issues, and
in addition working on new projects.
Patrols:
As usual the patrol boats have continued their daily vigilance
of the Park and had several captures throughout January. On
the 23rd 2 persons in a cayuco in the possession of conch,
lobster and a sea fan were apprehended. While one of the accused
managed to escape after leaping from the office balcony and
bolting for the bush, the other spent 24 hours in jail and
then returned to our office for the standard beach clean-up
follow up (community service).
Arrests:
On the 31st, two yachties were caught in the possession of
a spear gun and a sling trident and several large lobsters.
Due to a failure in communication on behalf of the Port Authorities
in Coxen Hole where the yacht had registered, the accused
were unaware that they were within a Marine Park, that the
use of spear guns was illegal (a law enacted throughout the
whole of the Bay Islands but sadly not enforced at a satisfactory
level) and that the removal of conch and lobster is forbidden.
With this in mind we opted not to imprison the accused and
instead demanded an adequate donation (aka. a legitimate fine)
and kept their arsenal of weapons. Following this incident,
we have learnt that it is imperative that all yachts that
enter Roatan waters are informed about the rules and regulations
and that failure to comply will result in imprisonment. From
this we have developed a new leaflet that all registered boats
will receive during registration at the Port Office, so that
people can no longer plead ignorance when captured.
Evolution of patrols:
As we are constantly faced with the problem of poachers, we
are continually trying to change our schedules and mix up
our times when we send the boats out on patrol. We have once
again returned to late night, early morning and all day patrols
in the attempt to reduce poaching, and hope that this will
result in the apprehension of law breakers who adapted to
a previous patrolling schedule. It is a laborious task patrolling
with only 2 boats and 4 sets of eyes, but with the help of
YOU, the public, who can act as our ears and eyes, contact
us on channel 16 or dial 349-4138 when you see foul play.
Hoepfully, with your help we can increase the efficiency of
our patrols.
Dive sites:
On a lighter note, for those residing on Roatan and diving
round the West End, you would have noticed that there are
5 new dive moorings just in front of Luna Beach . While some
have replaced old sites, i.e. shallow and deep sea quest and
turtle crossing, we are currently looking for names for the
other sites. Something amusing, witty, catchy, what ever,
we are appealing for names. Meanwhile the new mooring buoys
we bought with the ICRAN grant are finally getting wet, with
most sites within the Park marked. We are constantly looking
for new locations for installing new dive sites so all suggestions
are welcome. For example, Nick and Greg installed a new mooring
just east of Mandy’s Eel Garden now known as “Temptation
Reef” due to the double drop off leading to a mysterious
abyss difficult to resist.
Upcoming workshop:
From the 27th of February to the 1st of March, preparation
of the Watershed Monitoring Protocol for the Mesoamerican
Barrier Reef System (MBRS) Regional Workshop will take place
in Mayan Princess in West Bay . A second workshop on a monitoring
protocol for coral reef, mangroves, fish and seagrass will
be held from the 2nd to the 8th of March and for this we are
looking for 5 more persons who are willing to participate
in rapid, wide ranging regional reef assessments. Basically,
when called to action, reef assessment teams throughout the
entire MBRS will mobilize for a coordinated rapid assessment
for the entire region, from the Yucatan to Belize and the
Bay Islands . All prospective volunteers must be able to commit
long term and should come into the office for more info.
Round up of other issues:
To finish off there are several other final things to mention:
1) The clear plastic recycling program is gradually becoming
a reality with a proposed launch date during Semana Santa.
Sponsors for transporation, recycling containers (~100 garbage
cans), volunteer uniforms, TV commercials, posters, leaflets,
compactor and bailer have all been found.
2) The Marine Park is looking for volunteers to be part of
a permanent Volunteer Committee whose responsibilities will
be coordinating and organising projects such as the Dive in
Earth Day Festival (art competition, reef clean up, children’s
snorkel tour and after party) on the 22nd April. Please let
all of your DMs and Instructors know.
3) The new 2007 diver user fee tokens are finally available
at the office for a mere $10 as well as the new hospital bracelet-style
day passes being sold for $3/piece.
4) A reminder that we now have Biodegradable/Eco-friendly
Sunscreens and Insect Repellents for sale in the office.
5) We are launching our Youth Education Program next week.
We have 3 instructors who will be visiting many of Roatan’s
schools, delivering lessons on ecology, conservation, recycling
and waste management.
6) Willard Mann has become a full-time boat captain.
Well that rounds up January. Hope this message finds you all
well and that February isn't too cold for those less fortunate
not to be on Roatan.
Until Next Time!
Relevant web sites:
For more information about coordinated
Earth Day activities and free schwag for events, visit:
www.earthday.net
www.earthday.envirolink.org
www.worldwildlife.org
www.coralreefalliance.org/divein/
www.projectaware.org
For more information about the
International Coral Reef Action Network, visit www.icran.org.
If you want to know more about
fish you see out 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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