Tourism and conservation connect at Jamaica Inn

The Jamaica Inn
Biodiversity

Travel Weekly highlights the Jamaica Inn and the work that’s being done there to conserve and restore coral reefs:

As a child growing up in Jamaica, Belinda Morrow remembers snorkeling amid large schools of neon-colored fish nibbling on healthy coral just beyond the white sand beaches of Ocho Rios.

Now 55, Morrow is on a mission to help restore the pristine beauty of the Caribbean reefs as a volunteer with the White River Fish Sanctuary, which opened this year. The grassroots effort involves transplanting fast-growing staghorn coral along a fringe reef near the Jamaica Inn, a small luxury resort owned by Morrow’s husband, Eric, and his brother Peter.
On a recent glass-bottomed boat tour, we observed fresh growth from the first “plantings” of coral pieces tied to rocks along the reef — and more fish.

“It’s working,” Morrow said, beaming like a new parent. “If we can conserve this habitat, the fish will come and get bigger.”

Local fishermen serve as sanctuary wardens, managing the coral nurseries and reinforcing the fishing ban. With financial support from the Jamaica Inn Foundation, among other groups, the five-year, $1 million sanctuary project is an important step in what will likely be a long-term proposition to reverse damage to area reefs from overfishing, pollution and global warming.

The Jamaica Inn is also active in sea turtle conservation, as reported on their blog:

Our turtles are greatly loved by both the staff and guests here at the Inn. Mr Coombs, our Watersports manager has taken his great interest in turtles to higher heights by personally maintaining on site nests and educating our guests about Hawksbill turtle hatchings. After assisting Mel Tennant for many weeks with the nesting and hatchings both on our beach and the nearby Gibraltar beach, Mr Coombs has solely taken on the role of our on site turtle whisperer.

Mr Coombs facilitates the turtle hatching process by locating and tracking the nests, mama turtles and hatchlings. He monitors our nests and informs the staff and guests re our turtle notice board of upcoming nests and hatching dates on our main beach, bungalow beach and nearby Gibraltor beach. When asked why he loves the turtles so much his simple response was “It’s all about saving the turtles and it starts with you and me, we all have a role to play. When Mel asked me to take on the responsibility of helping turtles on our beach, my response was Absolutely!”

The Jamaica Inn blog gives regular updates on the resort’s environmental and sustainability programmes. 

No Comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease in the Cayman Islands. Photo: Cayman Islands Department of Environment, via Cayman Compass.
Oceans
Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease detected in the Cayman Islands

The Cayman Islands Department of Environment has discovered several incidences of Stony Coral Tissue Loss Disease, the devastating infection that was first discovered on Florida’s coral reefs in 2014 and has since spread across the Caribbean region. Cayman Compass reports: Cayman’s reefs are under attack from the mysterious, but deadly …

CCI-CBF Week 2020.
Biodiversity
CCI-CBF Week: Nature-Based Solutions for our Caribbean Future

The Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI) and the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund (CBF) will be hosting the 2020 instalment of their annual CCI-CBF Week as a virtual event this year, from July 13 to 16, 2020. The theme of the 2020 CCI-CBF week is Nature-Based Solutions for our Caribbean Future, and there …

Parrotfish. Image: Acquarius Sea Tours
Biodiversity
Conserving fish biodiversity helps protect coral reef health

Research from the Dominican Republic shows how greater fish biodiversity makes for healthier coral reefs: The health of coral reefs can be impacted as much by the diversity of fish that graze on them as by the amount of fish that do so, according to a new study by scientists …