GRENADA - Caribbean Compass

JULY 2010 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 12
— Continued from previous page
Last Mangrove Wetland in Barbados Disappearing
According to a May 6th PRNewswire (www.prnewswire.com) report, a recent environmental
study shows the last remaining mangrove in Barbados is disappearing
because of outside pollution and poor water quality.
The Graeme Hall wetland is a red mangrove forest that has existed for some 1,300
years. It is the only wetland in Barbados recognized internationally under the
Convention on Wetlands of International Importance (Ramsar). It acts as a Caribbean
flyway stop for migratory birds between North and South America.
The 800-page study (available at www.graemehall.com/press/papers/Graeme Hall
043010 MEA.pdf) prepared for the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary by Environmental
Engineering Consultants of Tampa, Florida shows the Sanctuary has suffered a
77-percent reduction in salinity in the past ten years due to an inoperative government-run
sluice gate. The huge reduction signals “an inevitable failure of the mangrove
ecosystem” as freshwater flora and fauna take over.
The study also cites damaging factors including dumping of raw sewage into the
wetland instead of the sea by the South Coast Sewage Treatment Plant; contaminated
storm water runoff originating from 1,150 acres of government-managed drainage
systems; and commercial and residential pollutants from adjoining properties.
Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary occupies 42 percent of the Ramsar wetland at
Graeme Hall, and is owned by Peter Allard, a Canadian investor and philanthropist
who has put more than US$35 million into the 35-acre eco-tourism site to preserve
the last significant mangrove woodland and wetland on the island. The Sanctuary
closed its doors to the general public in late 2008 when problems of pollution and
water quality became overwhelming.
The original environmental investment was based on the area being protected as a
brackish mangrove ecosystem.
Despite a 6,000-signature petition by citizens of Barbados to create a 240-acre
national park at Graeme Hall, a new government zoning policy calls for commercial
and residential development for the majority of the area.
International Funds Help Grenadines Marine Environment
The Sustainable Grenadines Project has attracted funding from international
sources for three different projects aimed at conserving the marine environment in
the Grenadines.
The first project, entitled “Strengthening Reef Management in the Grenada Bank”,
has been funded by the US National Fish and Wildlife Foundation. The project will
be carried out in collaboration with the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) across the
Grenada Bank, and will aim to build reef management capacity by strengthening
networking, monitoring and evaluation, and decision-making for sustained marine
and coastal conservation. The project will create management, institutional, and
draft legal documents that will improve MPA management. Regional management
structures will be strengthened as a result of the network that has been created and
will provide for more efficient protection and conservation of coral reef habitats.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) has approved
the project entitled “Developing a Framework for a Comprehensive Marine Multiuse
Zoning Plan for the Grenadine Islands”. The project will build on pre-existing initiatives
in the Grenadine islands of St. Vincent & the Grenadines and Grenada by
the Sustainable Grenadines Project, the Marine Resource and Space-use
Information System Project (MarSIS) and Protected Area Systems Plans developed
by both countries to increase MPAs through the development of a multiuse zoning
plan for the Grenadines.
Finally, the Neotropical Migratory Bird Conservation Act has approved a grant for
the project entitled “Building Benefits for Birds and People: Ashton Lagoon Restoration
Phase II”. The Ashton Lagoon on Union Island was damaged more than a decade ago
by a marina development project that was never completed. This project aims to
restore Ashton Lagoon and the critical ecosystem functions and values it once provided,
as well as economic and community-based benefits that are inherently linked
to such a dynamic and complex ecosystem. The proposed project seeks to enhance
wildlife habitat potential for birds, fishes, and other marine organisms by:
• restoring hydrology and tidal flushing within Ashton Lagoon through carefully
engineered landscape manipulation of remnant marina structures that impede water
circulation,
• development of sustainable local tourism and livelihood opportunities for local
people, and
• increasing knowledge and awareness of the importance of mangrove and salt
pond ecosystems and bird life in Union Island through exposure to their ecology,
history, and economic and cultural importance.
WEATHER ON THE WEB
Cruisers have their favorite websites for researching a number of factors that
affect their lives, not least of which is the inescapable weather. Steve Siguaw of
S/V Aspen sent this useful list of Selected Caribbean Weather Forecasts for the
Eastern Caribbean – Internet:
• Caribbean Offshore Waters Forecast – Wind and Waves for the Eastern
Caribbean
www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/MIAOFFNT3.shtml
• Atlantic Tropical Weather Discussion – Tropical Waves and ITCZ
www.nhc.noaa.gov/text/MIATWDAT.shtml
• Atlantic Graphic Tropical Weather Outlook
www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo_atl.shtml
• Sailing Weather Forecasts for the Caribbean
www.passageweather.com
• NOAA Buoy for the Eastern Caribbean
www.ndbc.noaa.gov/station_page.php?station=41040
• Wind and Wave Forecasts throughout the Caribbean
www.windguru.cz/
• Volcanic Ash Advisory – Montserrat Activity
www.ssd.noaa.gov/VAAC/messages.html
• Wind Forecasts from QuikScat for the Caribbean
manati.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/quikscat/
manati.orbit.nesdis.noaa.gov/dataimages21/cur/zooms/WMBas20.png
• Radar Image of the Eastern Caribbean
www.meteo.fr/temps/domtom/antilles/pack-public/animation/animMOSAIC2.html
Another radar weather site the Compass Crew likes is
http://hadar.cira.colostate.edu/ramsdis/online/RMTC_BAR_1km_vis.html