Parts 3, 4, and 5 of Out To Sea — The Decline of Barbados’ Sea Egg Fishery. Parts 1 and 2 are also available for viewing on Green Antilles
Posts tagged ‘barbados’
Video: Trailer | The Decline of The Sea Egg Fishery in Barbados
January 18th, 2012
The trailer for an upcoming 5-part web documentary about a situation that serves as a case study in the unsustainable exploitation of marine resources. Green Antilles will be following the series, which is scheduled to start on Janaury 20, 2012, with interest.
If you’d like to learn more about the decline of Barbados’ sea egg fishery, take a look at this report from 2003: Barbados Case Study: the sea egg fishery
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Kestrel Renewables bringing alternative energy outdoor lighting systems to the Caribbean
January 13th, 2012
A UK-based company specialising in outdoor lighting powered by renewable energy is expanding their operations into the Caribbean region:
Kestrel Renewables, which was formed five months ago as part of Andy Thorne’s Kestrel Liner Agencies shipping group, has just secured a number of orders for its unique “off grid” hybrid wind and solar lighting systems from clients in the Caribbean and has opened a Caribbean base.
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[Mr. Thorne's] experiences of working in the Caribbean gave him a clear view of the infrastructure and energy challenges facing the islands, primarily in the high financial and environmental cost of electricity production, almost all of which comes from fossil based fuels.
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“The first area to be identified for change was street and security lighting, which account for one of the largest consumptions of grid electricity in the islands,” said Mr Hogan. “To this end, Kestrel Renewables developed a lighting system that doesn’t consume any mains electricity and produces all its power from the wind and the sun – two elements always constant in the Caribbean.”
To maximize logistical and sales capability in the region, Kestrel have just signed an agreement with a Barbados company, Caribbean LED Lighting, to assemble and distribute the Kestrel Hybrid Lighting System throughout The Caribbean basin.
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[Kestrel Renewables’ Andrew Hogan] said: “As an encouraging start to the Barbados operation, an order has just been secured from The University of the West Indies for their island campus.
“This is as a major achievement, given the lead the university has taken in embracing green technology throughout the region.”
Source. See also: the Kestrel Renewable website.
A “visionary concept” for renewable energy development in The Bahamas
January 11th, 2012
Chairman of the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum, Mr. Jerry Butler, is in The Bahamas making the case for a transition to renewable energy:
THE Bahamas has an “incredible opportunity” to diversify its economy by becoming a renewable energy exporter, a leading Caribbean expert yesterday saying it could emulate Israel’s 92 per cent penetration rate if it acted now to prevent the competition “blotting it out”.
Jerry Butler, chairman and principal consultant of the Caribbean Renewable Energy Forum (CREF), said matching the likes of Israel on sustainable energy take-up was “not a pipe dream” for the Bahamas if the political will and leadership were there, and the correct plan implemented.
Noting the Bahamas’ renewable energy export potential, given its proximity to the US, the world’s largest energy consumer with 25 per cent of the global market, Mr Butler added that a substantial domestic industry could be created through cutting this nation’s annual $1.2 billion fuel import bill by 25-33 per cent.
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Noting that it was not impossible to see the day when the likes of the airport, hotels and government buildings had solar panels installed on the roof, Mr Butler said Germany – which saw sun for just two-thirds of the year maximum – already had a 26 per cent renewable energy penetration rate.
“It’s a totally different visionary concept for what could be in the Bahamas,” Mr Butler said. “It’s not a pipe dream. This is workable for the Bahamas. We just need a vision that can be implemented with the right people, and need Bahamians behind it to sustain it.”
Mr. Butler cited the examples of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago as Caribbean countries that are prioritizing renewable energy investment:
Noting the regional lead established by the likes of Trinidad & Tobago and Barbados, the latter of which has a 95 per cent residential solar water heater penetration rate, the CREF chairman said his organisation had helped the latter nation to create a $10 million smart fund for renewable energy investments.
After the CREF conference was staged in Barbados last year, that fund attracted another $80 million, funds now available for Barbadians to partner with international financiers and developers on renewable energy projects.
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Multiple [Caribbean] jurisdictions had plans to not only embrace renewable energy domestically, but export it. As examples, Mr Butler referred to Trinidad’s 2020 policy, which aims to build on its own substantial gas and energy reserves to pave the way to renewables, and Barbados’s 2025 policy, which speaks to growing this as a sector.
A Barbadian renewable energy company, he added, already had two representatives in the Bahamas, and was looking to export some 100,000 solar water heaters to other Caribbean nations.
Read more about what Mr. Butler had to say in the full article from the Tribune and in this report from the Nassau Guardian.
Barbadian agronomist encourages householders to try small-space agriculture
January 9th, 2012
A Barbadian agronomist is urging people to revisit the tradition of keeping a kitchen garden:
Continuing a Caribbean-wide push on agriculture, particularly organic farming, a Barbadian agronomist is urging citizens to focus on growing their own produce.
“There are a lot of cost savings to be had when we don’t have to buy these vegetables from the supermarket,” said David Bynoe of the Food Crop Research Section of the Barbados Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management.
According to Bynoe, home gardens could not only save Barbadians valuable time, but also provide other health and nutritional benefits.
“There will be health benefits because everything that you use from the garden will be natural or organic and homemade,” he said. “Homeowners will know what they are eating and that it is healthy.”
His project, “Gardening in a Limited Space,” aims to demonstrate ways in which homeowners can grow their own produce even with limited available space.
See the original article from Caribbean Journal.
[Photo: coreycam]
Two Caribbean countries among the top 10 ethical destinations in the developing world
January 9th, 2012
Two Caribbean countries, Dominica and The Bahamas, have made the 2012 Ethical Traveler’s list of the developing world’s 10 best ethical destinations. One of the criteria for evaluating ethical destinations was that of environmental protection.
In evaluating each country’s level of responsible environmental protection, we looked at clear indicators of environmental health, preservation of resources, and cultivation of beneficial, sustainable practices.
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In 2011, the Bahamas made the important step of banning shark fishing – protecting one of the most rich and diverse shark populations in the world.
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Dominica is working on an impressive renewable energy policy, with plans to be carbon-negative by 2020.
It was interesting to read what the report had to say about Barbados, which was included on the 2011 top 10 list, but failed to make the grade this year:
Barbados was included in last year’s list, when we applauded its efforts to organize the Caribbean Green Economic Conference. A year later, however, we conclude that Barbados lacks genuine environmental will; the government has failed to implement its own ambitious laws. We will review Barbados again next year to see if they have moved forward with its environmental agenda.
Read the full article over at the Earth Island Journal.
[Photo: Ken Bosma]
To survive, the Caribbean fisheries sector needs a “new way of thinking”
December 13th, 2011
At a recent regional workshop in Barbados, fisheries officials drew attention to the challenges facing the Caribbean’s fishing industry:
With the global fisheries sector under severe strain from issues such as illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing, pollution, climate change, habitat distraction, overcapitalisation and overcapacity, the future of the industry could be described as bleak.
Furthermore, like many other sectors, persons in fisheries have had to mitigate the impact of rising food prices, an economic recession and ineffective conservation and management practices.
The mismanagement of the sector has also come under the spotlight, with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reporting that 32 per cent of the world’s fish stocks were overexploited, depleted, recovering and in need of urgent replenishing, while 15 per cent of the stock groups monitored by the FAO were estimated to be underexploited (three per cent) or moderately exploited (12 per cent) and, therefore, able to produce more than their current catches.
The Caribbean too has not escaped unscathed from this global fisheries crisis. According to the University of the West Indies (UWI) Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES), there is a wealth of evidence of overexploited and near depleted fish and other aquatic organisms in the region. “Near shore resources fished by small-scale fisheries such as reef fish, conch and lobster are foremost among these,” a release said.
However, a senior fisheries official believes that all is not lost and stakeholders in the sector will have to “think outside the box” if they are to find practical solutions to halt these many challenges.
This advice has come from Chief Fisheries Officer, Fisheries Division, the Ministry of Agriculture, Food, Fisheries and Water Resource Management, Stephen Willoughby, who stressed that traditional approaches aimed at developing the long-term sustainability of the fisheries sector have failed and the time has come for new and revolutionary approaches to achieve such a shift.
Mr. Willoughby was speaking yesterday at the opening of a regional workshop entitled: The FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries in the Caribbean: Achieving improved fisheries management and utilisation in the wider Caribbean region at the UWI, Cave Hill Campus.
“Despite [international] instruments, progress to long-term sustainability of fisheries has been slow. Almost 30 years after the introduction of the Law of the Sea Convention and some 15 years after agreement on the Code, there are still major concerns about the poor state of fisheries. The Code was supposed to revolutionise fisheries management and chart a course to long-term sustainability. Today, we are still searching for the elusive sustainability,” he said.
Citing Ecology Today, Mr. Willoughby noted that “there are less fish in the sea than ever before but also more fishermen are trying to net them [more] than ever before. This equation amounts to huge financial losses for the fishing industry – over 50 billion dollars a year and a serious global depletion of a centuries-old food supply.”
The Chief Fisheries Officer alluded to the importance of the regional and worldwide fisheries sector which he pointed out played a key role in providing food nutrition and security as well as employment opportunities and economic wellbeing for billions of persons.
FAO Sub-Regional Coordinator for the Caribbean, Florita Kentish, said the Caribbean was not unique in terms of its fisheries challenges, and stressed that a joint effort was required if the downward trend in regional catches was to be stopped.
She stated that an analysis of the catches in the wider Caribbean region showed increased figures of 2.5 million tonnes up to 1984, followed by a rapid decline between 1984 and 1992. In 2003, the numbers stabilised at 1.5 million tonnes for some years, but further declined over the last few years to 1.3 million tonnes.
“Throughout the world, a lack of responsible behaviour in the fisheries sector has led some of the world’s major fisheries to decline significantly in productivity and, in some cases, to collapse like some of the large pelagic species in the Caribbean. This situation has arisen despite strenuous efforts to conserve and manage resources at both the national and regional levels,” Ms. Kentish remarked.
The FAO official also suggested that a new way of thinking was necessary if change was to be brought about in the way the sector was managed.
“New management approaches are, therefore, being proposed and tested in the region, such as the Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries. Moreover, the Caribbean Community Common Fisheries Policy, which was approved by the CFRM Ministerial Council Meeting in July 2010 is an important effort towards transboundary regional collaboration in fisheries and aquaculture and may be [the] start of a new era with more responsible fisheries in the Caribbean region.”
Read more in the full article from the Barbados Government Information Service.
Previous related posts on Green Antilles: Moving towards a common fisheries policy for CARICOM and Caribbean fisheries highly vulnerable to climate change.
[Photo: Terry Dunn]
Barbados lionfish hotline
December 8th, 2011
The Indo-Pacific lionfish has now been observed in the waters of Barbados:
In less than 3 years the lionfish have established themselves throughout most of the Caribbean. Two weeks ago Barbados confirmed its first sighting…
Now their range extends from North Carolina, throughout the Caribbean, including the Gulf of Mexico all the way to South America.
A telephone hotline has been established in Barbados to allow the public to report lionfish sightings; the number is (246)824-8361. Sightings can also be reported at the associated Facebook page.
Previously on Green Antilles: Barbados prepares for a lionfish invasion.
Turtle rescued from the rocks in Barbados
December 5th, 2011
Concerned Barbadians recently rescued a turtle who got itself stuck between a rock on a hard place on a south coast beach:
Barbadians and visitors banded together for a common cause on Independence Day – rescuing an endangered sea turtle in distress.
Four men are now being applauded for taking part in the rescue after the large greenback turtle became stuck among rocks on Dover Beach, Christ Church.
David Mapp, grounds supervisor at Divi Southwinds, was contacted by beach attendant Junior Taylor, who had been alerted to the situation around 9 a.m. by a guest of the hotel.
“A guest spotted the turtle and alerted Junior who called me,” Mapp said. “The turtle was stuck in the rocks; it must have gotten confused.”
Taylor speculated the turtle, which he said had a tag on one of its flippers, could have been struggling since the night before.
He said they immediately tried to get it back into the water and successfully extricated the creature. But it soon became stuck again.
“We managed to get it out but it started to move and fell into another crack in the rocks. This time it turned on its back and you know when a turtle turns on its back, it’s in real trouble unless it can right itself again,” he said.
This was where the other two men came in. Beach attendant with Charles Water Sports, Julius Hobbs, said he got involved following a call from holiday specialist Juliet Evanson, who was on the scene taking photos as by that time a small crowd had assembled.
“I got the call and was told that a turtle was in the rocks. The guys from Divi didn’t get through as while they had [dislodged it], they let it go on the same rocks and it got stuck again.
So I got another guy who works at Maresol [Beach Apartments] to help me,” he said.Hobbs said he quickly assessed the situation and along with the fourth man, whose name could not be ascertained, got a rope and tied the turtle.
“I hauled it up a little and the guy put the rope around it. Then we got it out and put it in the sea.
I tried my best and I thank God we managed to get it out; it hurt my feelings to see it stuck between those rocks.”
The effort was no small feat as the men said the four-foot turtle was fully grown and weighed at least 300 pounds, which was part of the reason it took nearly an hour to finally free it from the rocks.
Mapp said seeing the turtle’s plight brought tears to his eyes, while Taylor added: “I feel real good. I felt ‘offset’ when we couldn’t get it out at first so I tried with all my might [to free it],” he said.
The turtle did not stay around to thank its rescuers and quickly disappeared from sight.
However, the men said the feeling they got from saving the life of an endangered creature was all the thanks they needed.
Kudos to all involved! See the original story at the Barbados Nation News website.
[Photo: via nationnews.com]
