Greetings to the Marine
Park’s April newsletter,
With the somewhat strange
and prolonged rainy season finally over, having continued
throughout much of April, the hot weather is finally
upon us and it’s getting warmer and warmer by
the day. It is the assumption that there will be no
more storms until September, but let’s just wait
and see. A reminder to all that we are expecting an
El Niño type event this summer, so if anyone
encounters uncharacteristic bleachings please let us
know.
New Director
As many of you should know, Greg is sadly leaving the
Marine Park and returning back to Canada where he will
continue with his ongoing mission of saving the environment
one day at a time. His replacement will be Andrea Rivera
who is arriving to Roatan on the 14th. She is from Honduras
but lives in the States and visited us late last year
when she assisted us in taking water samples in the
Park. She is very well suited to the job and has all
the appropriate credentials to fit in with the team
and help the Park develop in the coming years. With
a degree in Environmental studies and Marine Science,
and a plethora of experience in numerous locations,
she was a first choice since Greg decided he was leaving.
She was working with New Jersey Department of Environmental
Services but we managed to poach her away and we look
forward to her arrival. There will be a 6 day hand over
period to allow Andrea to be introduced to the relevant
parties and then on the 20th Greg with much sadness,
will be departing this tropical paradise. We would like
to wish him the best of luck in his future job and we
know that he won’t forget about the Park, Roatan
and all the special people he’s met here. He will
be sorely missed.
Enough of the somber mood
and back to business, what did the Park achieve in April.
Workshop
On the 25th of April, AKR hosted a workshop for Connectivity
Targeted Research Groups based within the local region.
The work shop focused on building alliances between
the countries spanning along the Meso-American Barrier
Reef System (MBRS) with representatives from the States,
Guatemala, Belize, Honduras and Mexico attending. The
workshop reviewed fish stocks and how “effective”
management of Marine Parks can be in protecting endangered
species. At this conference we met other marine park
managers and scientists from throughout the region,
all of whom were concerned about dwindling fish stocks
and overexploitation of spawning sites. It was agreed
that through the cooperation of conservation associations
within the region species like the Nassau Grouper could
be spared imminent extinction if gone unchecked.
While at the workshop we
were fortunate enough to meet a man by the name of Dr.
Mark Butler, one of the world’s leading lobster
experts, who proposed to offer the Park financial assistance
if we partake in a 12 month study involving the monitoring
of lobster larvae. Dr. Butler hopes to obtain information
regarding the distribution of larvae around the Caribbean
and some day he’ll be able to tell us where our
lobsters are coming from and where they are going to.
Expansion of office
Over the past year the Marine Park has grown more than
expected, especially by those that helped establish
it and develop it from an idea into the reality that
it is today. With so many projects currently being undertaken
(ie patrols, youth and public education, marine infrastructure,
recycling, eco-products, monitoring & research,
alternative livelihood programs, etc.) the office often
seems disorderly even with Greg’s continuous cleaning
and fretting. We have now expanded our work space by
taking over the gift shop below the office. Upstairs
will now be for daily operations, research, students,
volunteers and other projects, while downstairs will
be the face of the Park and have merchandise and snorkel
rental available. In addition to bracelets, tokens,
t-shirts, patches, caps and stickers, a large part of
the shop will be reserved for Eco-Friendly and “Green”
products. It is hoped that by providing residents of
Roatan with information regarding solar, wind power,
and eco-friendly septic systems, home owners and developers
will be more conscientious when constructing new buildings
and choose environmentally sound choices; thereby reducing
the stress placed upon RECO.
In addition to renewable
energy sources, we hope to encourage alternative livelihood
schemes by selling handmade eco-products in the shop.
These items will include natural soaps, jams, and marmalades
which will provide some communities to the east of the
park a source of income and an alternative to reef harvesting.
We also hope to stock the shop with rechargeable battery
sets, low watt light bulbs and eco-friendly plastic
and canvas bags. If anyone has any further ideas on
products or sources, please contact us and provide us
with this information.
Patrols
Our boats have been patrolling everyday and sometimes
during the dawn and evening hours. Over the course of
the month arrests have been limited, however the boat
captains with the help of the National and the tourism
police, managed to confiscate a large gill net and 2
home made spear guns from persons operating around the
Mud Hole region. While we hear about the many nets openly
displayed elsewhere around the island, even though they
are prohibited throughout the whole of the Bay Islands,
this is the first gill net found within our borders
and we are glad to say it is no longer being used on
Roatan’s reefs. These nets are considerably threatening
to marine conservation as they inflict much needless
damage to the coral reef and often end up with bycatch
containing endangered species, such as turtles and marine
mammals. With fewer arrests, this should hopefully indicate
that our patrols are working as a deterrent to those
intending on collecting conch and lobster and using
spear guns and nets. If you do want to help in protecting
our reefs, please report any suspicious going-ons and
when possible, the boats will be along shortly.
Schools
We’ve been like Mr. Rogers this month, educating
the masses of children throughout the island. We’re
now up to 7 schools, 24 classes, 622 students and 4
field trips. It’s all happening! And it has been
very rewarding. Now when Lidia and I (Greg) travel throughout
the island, we can hear kids yelling our names and running
up and telling us about fish and turtle encounters.
Children island-wide are recycling, cleaning up garbage,
snorkeling safely and lecturing their parents about
what they can and cannot eat (believe me, we’ve
received some phone calls from parents).
Thank-you to Kevin of Sea
Breeze/Cannibal Café for helping us transport
children and Mario of the Coral Reef Explorer for taking
the kids out on the underwater adventures.
Fishermen’s
Alliance
The Fishermen’s Alliance has been impressing everyone.
They now have a full blown Board of Directors, consisting
of 7 individuals, elected by no less than 50 fishermen.
They’ve got big plans and they will soon have
just as much authority as our group. This is vital for
the functioning of a protected area, to have the cooperation
of the local industries. They are independent from our
group but I believe that their intentions are as equally
good natured as ours. There first goal is to establish
fishing regulations and fishing licenses. A step in
the right direction. Any additional questions please
contact us or the President of the Fishermen’s
Alliance, Loren Monterroso, at earlybirdfishing@yahoo.com.
In addition, I believe that we are going to see some
major changes in this year’s fishing tournament.
Hooray!
Water Taxi Alliance
Water taxi drivers had their first meeting on the 30th
April to discuss licenses, boat registrations and taxi
fees which Greg attended. There is still much to be
addressed but it is hoped that in the near future, incidents
similar to last months will not happen again. A taxi
collided with a private boat with luckily no major injuries,
but West Bay will need strict regulations if further
incidents are to be stopped. Slow regions within the
Park were discussed in the last General Assembly and
will be brought up again in the next meeting.
General Assembly
A reminder to all that we will be holding a General
Assembly meeting on the 16th of May at Bertie’s
Creole Cuisine (above Coconut Tree Divers). We will
be discussing a whole lot of issues including dive site
closures, no drift zones, Andrea the new director and
other stuff. Please show up or decisions will be made
without you.
Thanks for taking the time
and reading April’s newsletter and much appreciation
goes out to all our supporters. Hopefully see all those
that can attend on the 16th
The Sandy Bay and West End
/ West Bay Marine Park Monthly Newsletter
April 2007 in Roatan, Honduras
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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