Department of Fisheries
Ministry of Agriculture & Marine Resources
East Bay Street
P. O. Box N 3028
Nassau,  Bahamas 

The Nature Conservancy - Bahamas Program
West Bay Street
Caves Village, Suite 2
Building 5
P.O. Box CB - 11398
Nassau, Bahamas

The Bahamas Environment, Science and Technology (BEST) Commission
Ministry of Health and the Environment
PO Box N3730
Nassau Court
Nassau, New Providence
The Bahamas

 
Dear all,
 
Despite the startling evidence showing the negative impact that excessive dredging and mangrove removal is having on North Bimini, developers on South Bimini have begun to follow suit with the same disregard for Bimini's ecological integrity.
 
A study carried out a few years back examined the levels of larval and post-larval recruitment around Bimini for small fish an invertebrates, specifically focusing on lobster.  Four of Bimini's mangrove nursery areas were compared to each other to see where the highest numbers of post-larval lobster were settling, and thus growing up, around the island.  (I will assume by now, that all on this e mail listing are aware of the direct relationship between healthy mangrove nursery habitat and the adult populations of the species that inhabit those nurseries.)  Of the four sites studied around Bimini, there were two sites that had substantially higher levels of lobster recruitment than the other two sites.  Ironically, the area included in Bimini's proposed MPA boundaries was not amongst the top two sites.
 
The second-highest numbers recorded for lobster settlement were recorded in the area directly adjacent to Mosquito Point, on North Bimini.  This area has since been bulldozed and cleared by resort developers on North Bimini.
 
The highest levels of lobster settlement were actually recorded on the north-western region of South Bimini, where a large mangrove wetland sits closely in line with the Gulf Stream flushed waters that rush onto the Bimini flats with the tides.  Today, as I write this e mail, that area is being dredged (see photos attached).  Along the road just west of South Bimini's Fountain of Youth, a large area of mangrove wetlands is being dredged and destroyed, and with it will go the lobster, and other wildlife, that inhabit the area.
 
It has been indisputably proven that mangrove nurseries play a critical role in maintaining coral reefs systems, as well as other off-shore marine ecosystems.  It has also been shown around the world that removing these mangrove nurseries has devastating effects on the ecology, and very often the economy, in the areas in which they occur.
 
In early December, CNN News and Island Magazine listed Bimini as one of the top snorkeling "safari" sites in the world, among such famed areas as the Galapagos Islands and the Dry Tortugas National Park (see article attached below).  This claim, along with Bimini's long-held title as the "Big Game Fishing Captial of the World," would lead one to believe that Bimini's ecological health is at the forefront of the island's future economic growth.  You would assume that an area widely revered as a 'mecca' for fishing and diving would surely be actively pursuing measures to ensure the future of these huge draws to the island.  But is this happening on Bimini?
 
Today, as two of the most important wetlands on the island are being destroyed, what will the result be for tomorrow?  As more and more people come to Bimini to fish, what will happen as we continue to destroy the nursery areas that make that sport so viable here?  As we allow more mangroves to be dredged, what will snorkelers and divers enjoy as the coral reefs and their inhabitants are degraded as a result?

 
Bimini should not be seen as a piece of real-estate for people to come in and alter as they see fit, yet developers on North Bimini, and now on South Bimini, seem eager to change the landscape of the island to suit their desires.  Bimini's ecology, culture and history are what have brought every person here who has enjoyed the island over the last many decades.  And instead of preserving those things, and using them as the primary attraction of the island, they are being replaced.

 
Again, I respectfully ask the Bahamas National Trust, The Nature Conservancy, BEST Commission, and Department of Marine Resources, what is being done to preserve this amazing island?  What is being done to ensure that the waters that have attracted thousands and thousands of people to Bimini are being maintained, healthy and viable?
 
At this point, I would argue that establishing Bimini's Marine Protected Area is the least that should be done.  Prime Minister Ingraham has recently stated that, "The filling in of wetlands is a thing that has to come to an end, it has to stop." (The Tribune, November 2, 2007)  If this idea is not embraced on Bimini, and embraced soon, I fear that the very things that have made this island the paradise that it is will be lost.
 
Respectfully yours,
Grant Johnson

Submitted by: Grant Johnson


>>> All Action Alerts
>>> All Current Headlines