Officials are urging residents to have their say on a series of proposed marine and terrestrial protected areas around Anegada, Jost Van Dyke and Virgin Gorda by July 11.
“We are currently encouraging discourse and requesting public participation and opinion concerning the areas selected,” said Chief Conservation and Fisheries Officer Kelvin Penn in a press release.
“Through the protection of additional areas in our territory, we can anticipate larger fish stocks, an enhanced ecotourism industry, healthier reefs and increased nature-based recreational opportunities,” Ms. Varlack said.
When the Virgin Islands hosted a regional summit on environmental protection in May 2013, then-NPT Director Joseph Abbott-Smith said such areas improve the quality of life for residents.
“I cannot overstate the importance of marine protected areas to not only the conservation of biodiversity, but to the protection of our shorelines and economic activities,” he said at the time.
The proposed protected areas are the continuation of the National Parks Trust’s 2007-2017 Protected Areas System Plan, a 187-page document that was approved by lawmakers in 2008.
More recently, NPT and CFD officers held additional consultations to map out current marine uses with fishers, charterers and dive operators, according to a press release from Reef Resilience, the non-profit Nature Conservancy’s coral reefs arm, which assisted with the mapping of proposed protected areas earlier this year.
According to Reef Resilience, the goal of the collaboration between the Nature Conservancy and VI officials was to help local authorities learn to use MARXAN, marine reserve design software.
The project sought to create a marine protected area network that reflects the major marine and coastal habitats of the VI; to protect 30 percent of the important biological habitats across the territory, including hard and soft corals, seagrasses, mangroves, turtle nesting beaches, and fishery habitats; to cluster protected areas together so that they can be easily managed; and to ensure that there are protected areas across the VI to enhance resilience, according to Reef Resilience.
Written feedback should be submitted to the NPT, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, or the Department of Conservation and Fisheries. Sister islands residents can submit their comments at their respective district offices. Comments can also be submitted electronically to bvinpt@bvinationalparkstrust.org, or via a comment form available for download at bvinpt.org.
Numbers on the maps show the following existing and proposed protected areas, as named in the National Parks Trust 2007-2017 Protected Areas System Plan:
Anegada Horseshoe Reef, Anegada Channel Fisheries Protected Areas and Eastern Wetlands
1 Bones Bight to Loblolly Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
2 Eastern Ponds Proposed National Park
3 Proposed Horseshoe Reef Marine Reserve (currently part of the Horseshoe Reef Fisheries Protected Area)
4 Ruffling to Pomato Point Proposed Marine Protected Area
5, 7, 8 Virgin Gorda North Proposed Marine Protected Areas
6 Western Ponds Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
9 Anegada Southwest Proposed Marine Protected Area
114 Horseshoe Reef Proposed Fisheries Protected Area
Northern Cays and Eastern Jost Van Dyke Protected Area
29 Green Cay Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
30 Green Cay, Sandy Cay and Sandy Spit Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
31 Green Cay Fisheries Protected Area
32 Thomas George Bay Proposed Marine Protected Area
33 Cape Wright, East End Harbour Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
34 Diamond Cay National Park
36 Sandy Cay Habitat Management Area
37 Sandy Spit Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
72 Great Tobago National Park
73 Great Tobago Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
74 Little Tobago National Park
Greater Baths and Taylors Bay Protected Area
92-95 Broken Jerusalem Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Areas
97 Devils Bay National Park
98 Fallen Jerusalem National Park
99 Little Fort National Park
105 Spring Bay National Park
106 Taylor Bay Fisheries Protected Area
107 Taylors Bay, Handsome Bay Proposed Marine Protected Area, currently a fisheries protected area
108 The Baths National Park
109 Copper Mine National Park
111 Greater Baths Area Proposed Marine and Terrestrial Protected Area
{fcomment}