Sea Turtle, Suspended: The UN Caribbean Environment Programme, Part 2
During a visit to the tourist resort of Negril in Jamaica several years ago, I ventured out in a glass-bottom boat. Snorkeling and diving make me claustrophobic, so this is the only way that I can really see what is happening under the surface.
I had hoped to see glowing, flourishing and healthy coral reefs; I saw very little of that. However, we did see, for a beautiful instant, a sea turtle. He (or she) sparkled in the fractured sunlight, like a freshly painted toy, suspended from an invisible string. I wondered how he/she survived in an environment that seemed almost devoid of fish. But it was an exquisite moment that I will never forget.
Leatherback Sea Turtle nesting. (Photo: Caribbean Conservation Corporation)
At a meeting last month with representatives of the United Nations Environment Programme‘s (UNEP) Caribbean Environment Programme in Kingston, we heard from Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri, Program Officer for the Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife (SPAW) treaty – the only regional and legally binding biodiversity treaty for the Wider Caribbean. I noted in my first article that the Wider Caribbean includes all the coastlines bordering on the Caribbean, including the Gulf of Mexico. In fact, it is four million square kilometers of deep water basins, estuaries, islands, sandbanks and coral reefs. SPAW is concerned with the life that exists in this beautiful, but far from pristine environment.
SPAW Program Officer Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri at the Caribbean Environment Program (CEP) briefs the media. In the background is Christopher Corbin, Program Officer for the Assessment and Management of Pollution program at the CEP. (My photo)
The SPAW Protocol (My photo)
A recovering Jamaican reef. (Photo credit: J. Bruno/Encyclopedia of the Earth)
Calabash Bay, St. Elizabeth on a hot summer’s day (My photo)
Here’s a bleak fact: 76 per cent – over three-quarters – of all species in this region are threatened by habitat loss or changing habitat. Over-fishing, unplanned coastal development and pollution (which I discussed in the first article) are wreaking havoc on our marine life – fish, sharks, lobsters, whales, dolphins and all the much tinier creatures too. All six species of sea turtles in the Caribbean are endangered, largely because people collect their eggs from the beaches where they nest.
Let’s go back to the United Nations’ SPAW Protocol for a moment. The Protocol Concerning Specially Protected Areas and Wildlife to the Convention for the Protection and Development of the Marine Environment of the Wider Caribbean Region was adopted at a conference in Kingston, Jamaica in 1990 and entered into force in 2000. Ambassador Don Mills (Jamaica) was elected President of the conference. How many countries in the region have signed and ratified the agreement? Sixteen so far, as indicated on the map.
Map of countries in the Wider Caribbean that have signed and ratified the SPAW Protocol (Source: UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme)
You will notice that the name of Jamaica, the conference host in 1990, is not among the sixteen. You will also note that Cuba, the Dominican Republic and most of our Eastern Caribbean neighbors have ratified it. But there are benefits to be acquired – tangible benefits. It’s more than just a piece of paper. The pluses to ratifying the agreement are greatest in the field of the Marine Protected Areas, where there is much work to be done. In fact, Ms. Vanzella-Khouri revealed that there are eighteen protected areas from the Caribbean recently listed under the SPAW Protocol to be included in a regional cooperation programme. There are over 300 marine protected areas established in the region.
As Ms. Vanzella-Khouri pointed out, it is “increasingly difficult” to raise funds from the UN and elsewhere for local projects, as long as Jamaica is not a party to the agreement. The lack of ratification appears to indicate a lack of commitment to the goals of the Protocol and an unwillingness to co-operate as an important player in the region; or that is how I see it.
Some projects are under way; there is a sustainable management project on Pedro Cays, including training and capacity building; there is a Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan and a Manatee Action Plan. But if Jamaica were to ratify SPAW, so much more could be achieved. Jamaica could obtain training; sustainable tourism and fisheries programs; technical co-operation with regional partners; funded participation at all SPAW meetings and workshops; access to specific guidelines, materials and research in order to meet the requirements of the Convention on Biological Diversity and other international agreements; and all kinds of support, (including financial) for much-needed conservation, awareness, community participation and best practice programs.
Jamaica is out on a limb. It is not a part of this international network of knowledge, co-operation and most importantly – action projects that will benefit us all.
Kingston Harbour at sunset (My photo)
As I noted in a previous blog post (and this seems so obvious to me) the beautiful Caribbean Sea, on which much of our livelihood and wellbeing depends, needs our love and nurturing. It is our birthright. And what is hugely important is that all those nations that border on the Caribbean, whether large or small, must co-operate and support each other to protect this precious jewel that we have inherited. Its waters lap all of our shores. We are all inter-connected.
There is “a lot at stake for Jamaica in SPAW,” said Ms. Vanzella-Khouri with a note of slight frustration in her voice. Jamaica can become part of this regional network of co-operation; at the moment it is not benefiting. There are no financial obligations required on Jamaica’s part, and it is already meeting some of the objectives of SPAW, she added.
You may say: Look, Jamaica is in a crippling economic crisis, with almost non-existent growth and low productivity; so why should “environmental issues” be of any relevance, right now? We have bigger fish to fry, metaphorically speaking.
Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
Well, I would suggest that the environment in the Caribbean has a particularly important bearing on its economy. There is the Great God of Tourism, to which our governments bow. How can tourism thrive when the seas are polluted with untreated sewage, and snorkelers and divers can only find dying coral reefs with a scattering of small fish? There are over 20,000 fishermen in Jamaica according to the Food and Agriculture Organization; how many are now struggling to survive, with some turning to illegal ways to make a living? And how much more could our citizens – and generations to come – benefit from a healthy environment?
And here are some figures to back this up: The total value of Jamaica’s ecosystems is an estimated US$245 million, according to a 2009 report by the World Resources Institute (WRI) in Washington, DC (do check out their fascinating and informative website). The value of dive tourism, fishing and coastal production is between US$3 – 4.6 billion per year. And in the past twenty-five years, Jamaica has lost US$1.3 billion in revenues from reef fisheries, says the WRI.
Jamaican fisherman (Photo: David McFadden, Associated Press) Note garbage piled on the shoreline.
So why, you may ask, has Jamaica not taken advantage of these benefits that have been on offer for thirteen years or so – at no cost to the Jamaican government? We have heard this phrase many times before: “Lack of political will.” In other words, our leaders, stuck in their short-term thinking, don’t really care. That is just my view.
But we Jamaicans must care, mustn’t we?
P.S. I must stress, again, that the Caribbean Environment Programme office can provide journalists. researchers and anyone interested in the environment with a wealth of information, statistics and analysis of all these issues and much more, related directly to Jamaica and the Caribbean. Don’t hesitate to contact them! They would welcome your interest.
Contact info: Alessandra Vanzella-Khouri, Program Officer, SPAW: avk@cep.unep.org. Ms. Pietra Brown, Communications Officer/United Nations Volunteer Email: pb@cep.unep.org. UNEP CEP, 14-20 Port Royal Street Kingston, Jamaica. Tel. # 876 922 9267 Fax # 876 922 9292
Related articles and websites:
A sea turtle in Negril, Jamaica. (Photo: escuba.com.au website)
http://www.cep.unep.org/cartagena-convention/spaw-protocol SPAW Protocol: UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme website
http://www.cep.unep.org UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme website
Pollution Flowing from Land to Sea: The UN Caribbean Environment Programme, Part 1 petchary.wordpress.com
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle petchary.wordpress.com
http://petchary.wordpress.com/2013/02/03/p-s-happy-world-wetlands-day-february-2-2013/ Happy World Wetlands Day! petchary.wordpress.com
http://petchary.wordpress.com/2013/01/25/5498/ Two new environmental films by Jamaican filmmaker Esther Figueroa: petchary
http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/07/21/a-softer-blue-the-caribbean-sea/ A softer blue: The Caribbean Sea: petchary.wordpress.com
http://petchary.wordpress.com/2012/07/12/our-beautiful-caribbean-sea/ Our beautiful Caribbean Sea: petchary.wordpress.com
Coral comeback: Reef ‘seeding’ in the Caribbean miamiherald.com
Charity of the Week eastaltonrotary.blogspot.com
http://www.conserveturtles.org Sea Turtle Conservancy website
http://www.wri.org World Resources Institute website
http://www.wri.org/press/2011/06/press-release-new-analysis-coral-reefs-provide-great-value-jamaicas-economy New Analysis: Coral reefs provide great value to Jamaica’s economy: WRI press release
http://pdf.wri.org/working_papers/coastal_capital_jamaica_summary.pdf Coastal capital: Jamaica – WRI Special Paper
http://www.fao.org/fishery/countrysector/FI-CP_JM/en Food & Agriculture Organization Jamaica Country Profile/Fisheries
http://www.cep.unep.org/news/govt-losing-billions Government losing billions: Denise Dennis report/Jamaica Observer
Calabash Bay sunset: Treasure Beach, St. Elizabeth (My photo)
A Softer Blue…the Caribbean Sea
My last blog post on the Caribbean environment – and in particular, its marine ecosystems – was, I confess, rather heavy going. So I decided to lighten it up. It’s not all gloom and despondency. Indeed, there are glimmers of light. Here are a few…
The Trinidad and Tobago government issued a statement deeply regretting the deaths of hundreds of Leatherback Turtle hatchlings and the crushing of their eggs by careless, clumsy bulldozers on Grand Rivere beach. And it seems that numerically things aren’t quite so bad after all, according to a comment by a World Wildlife Fund representative, who says that even if 2,000 eggs were lost during the period of destructive zeal that day, they would only represent one per cent of the beach’s total production. (See the Fund’s assessment of the highly endangered turtle’s global status in the link below – and it is good to know that South Africa is at the forefront of conservation efforts). But the fact remains, why did this orgy of destruction have to take place smack in the middle of the turtles’ nesting season, even if it was “crucial” work, as the Trinidad Government stated?
An endangered leatherback sea turtle crawls toward the sea at Playa Grande on the Northwest coast of Costa Rica. Leatherback hatchling survival is closely tied to temperatures within the nest and a new study indicates that rising average temperatures over the course of the century could reduce hatching success by as much as 60 percent.
Since we are talking turtle, the Bluefields Environmental Protection Association, on Jamaica’s beautiful south-west coast, is assisting with a Sea Turtle Monitoring Program. This is a tremendous community effort, supported by, among others, the U.S. Peace Corps (which does simply amazing work in Jamaica at the rural community level); the gorgeous, luxury and community-spirited Bluefields Bay Villas; the Bluefields Bay Fishermen’s Friendly Society; and the men and women of Bluefields – who are making it all happen.
The Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) has developed a plan for the sustainable harvesting of flying fish (which the Barbadians love to eat) and is currently evaluating the health of the Queen Conch (which frequents Jamaican waters) and the sea bob (shrimp) fisheries of Guyana and Suriname. Good. The population of Queen Conch in the Caribbean is declining quite rapidly, due to over-fishing – and from time to time, Honduran fishing boats poach large quantities of them in Jamaican waters. The CRFM also discussed the thorny problem of the predatory lion fish, which is busy gobbling up reef fish in the Caribbean at a terrifying rate; and the sargassum seaweed, which has swamped the beaches of the eastern Caribbean since last year, and appears to be a symptom of climate change. I do hope that urgent action will be taken in these matters. Meanwhile the Virgin Island Daily News reports that a Senate Committee is working on a plan to manage the lion fish (I used to find this creature fascinating and beautiful when watching nature programs, but now I hate the sight of it).
Flying fish
And speaking of Suriname… I am delighted with its government for deciding that, in fact, having tourists do whale-watching trips to see their large population of melon-headed whales, dolphins and other marine mammals is a profitable and far more sensible pursuit than hunting said whales to extinction. The Surinamese government has decided not to support Japan – which also seems to be wavering just slightly and has announced that it will cease its whale-hunting activities in Antarctica. Yes, Caribbean people – ecotourism makes sense, doesn’t it? Maybe some of us are finally “getting” it – although late in the day, very late.
One more somewhat obscure piece of possible good news for our Caribbean Sea. Have you ever heard of Navassa Island? Well, it is an uninhabited lump of coral and limestone between Jamaica and Haiti, only two square miles in size. Although administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Haiti has claimed sovereignty over it for the past two hundred years or so. It is one of those little pieces of land which seem to serve no purpose, if it ever did (it once had a working lighthouse and hundreds of people digging up guano – strictly speaking, phosphate). Navassa was made a National Wildlife Refuge in 1999 and is closed to the public… But earlier this year, scientists from the Global Reef Expedition (funded by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation, which also conducted research around Jamaica) made hundreds of dives around the island. The expedition found some surprisingly resilient growths of the highly endangered elk horn coral, which seems to have recovered somewhat from bleaching periods and even more remarkably, has adapted so that it clings to the almost vertical faces of the island’s rocks.
Well, that’s it for now. I hope that you have found these updates interesting, and do take a look at the links I have listed below – they will tell you so much more. I actually feel a whole lot better, having written this, than I did after my recent rant on our precious Caribbean Sea. Work is being done, and I like to think – and hope – that awareness is growing. But let us inform ourselves more; know that our actions on land as well as at sea impact the ocean directly; teach others; and take action, wherever and whenever we can. Ending with a beautiful quote from Christopher Paolini (author of “Eragon”) – which is how I think I feel:
“The sea is emotion incarnate. It loves, hates, and weeps. It defies all attempts to capture it with words and rejects all shackles. No matter what you say about it, there is always that which you can’t.”
Scientists study elkhorn coral in the Bahamas (Photo: NASA Ames Research Center)
Navassa Island’s rugged shoreline.
Melon-headed whales are also called “blackfish” and are often found in large groups.
Bluefields, Jamaica…So blue…
Hawksbill turtle which had just laid its eggs in Bluefields recently.
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/trinidad_tobago_news/595890.html#ixzz20Z3pvCHL
http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/endangered_species/marine_turtles/leatherback_turtle/ (Endangered Species: Leatherback Turtle from the World Wildlife Fund)
http://www.ticotimes.net/Current-Edition/Top-Story/Losing-the-leatherback_Friday-June-29-2012 (Losing the Leatherback: from the Tico Times of Costa Rica)
http://communities.washingtontimes.com/neighborhood/world-view/2012/jun/11/tourism-peace-corp-working-together-make-differenc/ (Tourism and U.S. Peace Corps working together to make a difference in Bluefields Bay, Jamaica: from Washington Times)
http://www.bluefieldsvillas.com/ (Bluefields Bay Jamaican Seaside Villas)
http://www.devsur.com/suriname-no-longer-backs-whaling/2012/07/12/ (Suriname no longer backs whaling)
http://www.caribbean360.com/index.php/news/596471.html?utm_source=Caribbean360+Newsletters&utm_campaign=fee95c98f0-Vol_7_Issue_77_News7_16_2012&utm_medium=email#axzz20oN5qgsB (Tourism trumps whaling in Suriname)
http://repeatingislands.com/2012/06/26/caribbean-regional-fisheries-mechanism-discusses-action-on-lionfish-and-sargassum-seaweed/ (Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism discusses action on Lionfish and Sargassum Seaweed)
http://www.globalreefexpedition.org/ (Global Reef Expedition, funded by the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation)
http://www.ipsnews.net/2012/02/caribbean-hit-hard-by-sargassum-seaweed-invasion-2/ (Caribbean hit hard by Sargassum Seaweed invasion)
http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/invertebrates/queenconch.htm (Queen Conch: NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources)
http://www.caricom-fisheries.com/ (Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism website)
http://repeatingislands.com/2012/07/13/navassa-strangest-island-in-the-caribbean-may-be-a-sanctuary-for-critically-endangered-elkhorn-coral/ (Navassa Island may be a sanctuary for critically endangered elk horn coral)
http://www.nasa.gov/vision/earth/livingthings/AGU_coral_reef_health.html (NASA to measure coral reef health with airplane sensors)
Baby Sea Turtles Released Into The Ocean (VIDEO)
A gentle wave gives these baby turtles a lift…into the ocean.
1st collector for Baby Sea Turtles Released Into The Ocean (VIDEO)
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Related articles
- Cuban Scientists Protect Sea Turtles (repeatingislands.com)
- Sea turtles begin to appear along NC shore (charlotte.news14.com)
- The Open Sea Galleries Offers Art in the Spirit of Ocean Conservation (prweb.com)
