Our lawless beaches: Turtle poachers threaten violence against witnesses

Police absent as killers raid nests, butcher hawksbill turtles right on the beach!

“The field director noted the poachers were getting even bolder and more aggressive, to the point where they were threatening eyewitnesses against making reports to police. So afraid was one person that she only reported an incident to the project three days after the act and she could not be convinced to make a statement to police.”

… from The Nation article Turtles under attack

Editorial by BFP

The increasing reluctance of Bajans to report crimes or to testify in court is directly related to fears of retaliation. People also have an unwillingness to experience the well known abuses of the police and court system towards witnesses, but it is the witness fear factor that is the first barrier to our police when they arrive at a crime scene. There can be two hundred people in a field but nobody ever sees or hears anything – gunshots and screams included.

This lack of confidence in the ability of the police and the courts to protect witnesses from threats and harm is seriously undermining the quality of life in Barbados. There is a general realisation that the lawless elements are becoming bolder as they know too well that the police aren’t likely to come when called, and if the police do come, ordinary folks will say nothing because they are too frightened to become witnesses.

Although judges, lawyers and citizens have been vocal about this disturbing trend of threats and other intimidation tactics against witnesses, neither the government nor the police have done anything to address the problem. In the courts it is still a common occurrence for charges to be dropped with the thin explanation that “the victim no longer desires the charges to proceed”. The judges, lawyers and the DPP never make further serious enquiries as to why the victim has “changed their mind” as I once heard a lawyer tell the court.

Neither have our lawmakers in Parliament seen fit to change the laws to enable judges to force victims and witnesses to testify. This change, combined with prosecutors refusing to drop charges, has proven especially effective in reducing domestic violence in the U.K. and several American jurisdictions we’ve read about.

Epidemic of turtle killing – with no witnesses

This year the grisly turtle remains are turning up everywhere. The Nation reports that the number of known killings so far this nesting season is double that of all last year.

Darren Browne, field director of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project, says that folks are too frightened to call the police because the poachers are threatening witnesses. Mr. Browne invites witnesses to call the Sea Turtle hotline instead of the police and his organization will then call the police. This is supposed to keep the witnesses’ identities from the police, while alerting the authorities so that the police can attend at the scene and try to catch poachers in the act.

The ‘before’ photo: Cave Bay, Merricks, Barbados

Taken in October, 2008. Enjoy the photo folks, because it’s all changed and we can’t say for the better.

Give thanks to an old friend.

Why can’t we all just get along?

An old friend sent this to me. On the surface it’s an overdose of cute. On a deeper level, well… it gets pretty deep.

Inspiration and learning is where you find it… and very often it is found where you don’t expect it.

IF you are open.

Shona

Barbados mangrove wetland comes to Manitoba, Canada: March 25, 2012

Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre unveils a neotropical migratory bird exhibit.

Rare bird carvings donated by Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados

Oak Hammock Marsh, Manitoba – Oak Hammock Marsh Interpretive Centre (OHMIC) will unveil its new Neotropical Migratory Bird exhibit on Sunday, March 25, 2012 at 1:30 p.m. The exhibit re-creates the sights and sounds of a tropical mangrove wetland. It features a rare collection of 22 life-size bird carvings by the Skeete family of carvers that was donated by the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary in Barbados.

This unique collection, the largest know group of its kind in the world, is ideally-suited to the new exhibit that shows familiar migratory birds from Canada sharing an exotic mangrove wetland with resident Caribbean birds. Visitors will be invited to follow Wally, the Yellow Warbler, on his annual migration from Oak Hammock Marsh to the south. Arriving at Wally’s destination, visitors will use a viewing blind, binoculars, and interpretive signs to search for Wally among the mangroves that he shares with a variety of herons, egrets, and other resident Caribbean birds.

“The Interpretive Centre was thrilled to receive the generous donation of these exquisite and unique carvings” said Michele Kading – the Head of Interpretation at OHMIC.

“We were overwhelmed when Peter Allard and the Allard Family agreed to sponsor the creation of an exhibit that would not only showcase the beauty of these carvings but would enhance the Centre’s programs for public visitors as well as school groups.”

The new exhibit will help visitors to Oak Hammock Marsh realize the critical importance of Caribbean wetlands in the conservation of Neotropical birds.

Barbados migratory birds

Carved by Geoff Skeete and his son John Skeete, each of the 22 carvings is a life-sized replica of a bird living in the Caribbean that can be seen on the island of Barbados. Geoff Skeete, the elder artist, has had a keen interest in migratory shorebirds of North America that visit the island of Barbados annually in large numbers. Geoff’s wife Joan, who encouraged Geoff to get into this art form, paints each of her husband’s carvings with the colours and details of the living birds they represent.

Uganda: Thrilling morning visit from gorillas

One of our regular readers sent us the above video shot last December. I don’t know if I would have the courage to film as these tourists did.

I once said I would trade my house for a low orbit flight on Sir Richard Branson’s new space line. Forget that… I’d trade my house to be the guy who got the kiss and grooming from the troop.

Unbelievable!

Thanks so much to an old friend.

Green Antilles – Excellent Caribbean environmental website

We’ve added Green Antillies blog to our sidebar links and we hope you enjoy the news, stories and links as much as we do. Our friend Thérèse Yarde takes a little bit of Caribbean environmental news, mixes in some alternative energy features and stories about wildlife, reefs and agriculture to create a superb daily read.

If you are interested in Caribbean environment, nature conservation and energy, Green Antillies.com is for you!

Prince of Barbados: Save our East Coast from development!

Government promises are empty: National Catastrophe instead of a National Park

Bajan Prince here once again to inform you that yet another nail has been put in the coffin on the East Coast of Barbados, as yet another developer plans to develop 95 acres of beachfront in Boscobelle into some “massive upscale residential development.”

This news is heart wrenching to me. Like most Bajans who are not part of the government, I have always been against the destruction of our beautiful country by indiscriminate development. Although the developer, Candelisa Resorts, boasts that this project will be “environmentally friendly” we all know that this development will surely begin the “condo-zation” of the whole Eastern coastline, one of Barbados’ last unspoiled stretches of  coast.

A call to action for all Bajans!

Fortunately, with immediate and relentless civil action, this development will not go down! We as a people NOW need to wake up and realize that government promises are empty and that our MPs who  represent us in Parliament are willing to go through with, NOT a national park, but actually a national catastrophe, that being the destruction of our beautiful isle. This island is too precious to be robbed of her captivating natural assets.

From east to west our island Barbados is de best and we MUST, ABSOLUTELY MUST safeguard her until the end of time.

Barbados has lived long and she will continue to live long even after we are gone. Let’s respect her and show her our undying love by treasuring her. I see Barbados as my island mother, one that I look to for comfort, one that I turn to for confidence and one that I rely on for joy. I will FIGHT long and hard to protect her, my mother, my island, my Barbados!

LONG LIVE BARBADOS!

Environmental Protection Department’s 40th Anniversary Sham

Environmental Tour to avoid Graeme Hall sluice gate (above photo), West Coast beach disaster, Mount Stinkeroo

Don’t ask why Barbados lacks environmental protection legislation or off the bus you go!

Barbados is celebrating 40 years of no environmental protection legislation with a carefully staged bus tour this Saturday. A press release from the BGIS says,

EPD rides to visit wetlands, mangroves

A glimpse into the wetlands and mangroves of Barbados will be given when the Environmental Protection Department (EPD) hosts a bus tour as part of its 40th Anniversary Celebrations.

The free tour, which also falls during Environment Month, will be held on Saturday, June 18.  It will offer the public the opportunity to see some of the island’s greener locales and ecosystems first hand, while learning more about what and where they are and how they develop.

It all sounds so environmentally positive, doesn’t it? Just the use of the words “mangroves”, “wetlands” and “ecosystems” has me seeing green and feeling good about our island home. That is, if I ignore the abandoned refrigerators just west of Grape Hall, forget about the Shell jet fuel in the south coast water wells and don’t look at the the green/brown effluent at Bathsheba that flows into the sea.

In one sense, we can’t blame the Environmental Protection Department workers for wanting to celebrate the very existence and survival of their abused and underfunded department. It’s not their fault that for over 40 years successive governments deliberately failed to pass Environmental Protection Legislation or give the EDP proper tools to do the job.

Both the DLP and the BLP preferred to take cash political donations from the corporate polluters instead of putting Barbados first.

Polluters don’t like environmental laws, so our politicians took their money and delivered what they were supposed to: no environmental legislation, protection of corporate polluters, and profits to the auto dealers and road construction companies.

So now we have a legacy of 40 years of no environmental laws, wholesale rape and development of the last remaining wetlands, and a transportation policy that involves ever more roads and ever more vehicles. The construction, auto industries and politicians make the money, while our island is paved over bit by bit. Sounds about right if you have an offshore account in Switzerland or Miami.

“We” borrowed tens of millions for a West Coast sewer project – then spent the money on something else (probably more roads for more cars) and left the sewerage flowing into the water table, the RAMSAR wetlands and the sea.

The politicians and their developer friends are deliberately killing the last remaining mangrove forest at Graeme Hall – and God forbid that Barbados should ever have modern garbage disposal / power creation facilities as do some modern small island nations. Oh no! We’d rather just pile the stuff higher and higher and let the poisons leach into the water and sea – that is when it doesn’t touch off itself and burn for a few months or a year. It’s not called Mount Stinkeroo for nothing, ya know!

So enjoy the bus trip folks, but when you get to the wetlands, ask the tour guide why successive governments have refused to repair the RAMSAR Wetlands sluice gate for 15 years. When you drive by the West Coast, ask why the government approved the groynes that destroyed the beaches. Ask how much money the DLP and BLP received from Shell Oil and the Simpsons of auto-dealer fame. Ask why Barbados has no Environmental Protection Act.

Don’t let the “celebration” go to waste. Demand answers and make some noise.

National Geographic quotes Barbados PM at Nobel Laureate Symposium – Perpetuates the Con Job

PM Stuart talks “Global Sustainability” while destroying the last mangrove forest on the island

National Geographic VP John Francis fooled into thinking words equal action

Barbados Prime Minister Freundel Stuart just returned from the third Nobel Laureate Symposium on Global Sustainability where he rubbed shoulders with Nobel prize winners and famous and not so famous environmentalists and world leaders.

Not only did PM Stuart attend the conference in Stockholm, Sweden – he played an active role with the UN High-level Panel on Global Sustainability and conducted an open discussion with the crowd. Former US President Bill Clinton listened to our Prime Minister quote Martin Luther King: “There is no deficit in human resources, the deficit is in human will.”

National Geographic quoted Freundel Stuart like he really meant what he said and would back it up with action.

We at Barbados Free Press say…

“Our plea to National Geographic: Come to Barbados and see the destruction for yourself. Examine the reality, then write. Don’t empower those who say fine words but are really selling out our natural environment for money.”

While Freundel Stuart mouthed his fine words, back home his Democratic Labour Party government is conducting a strategic campaign to destroy the last remaining mangrove forest on the island so it can be commercially developed. Money has always trumped the natural environment in Barbados and Stuart’s DLP is continuing the practice.

Essay contest winner Juwayriyah Nana: “At whose expense do we litter on our beaches…”

“Do we want these underwater kingdoms to perish like those on land?”

Juwayriyah Nana of Harrison College took 3rd Place (and $250!) in the Age 14-18 category of the 2011 national Canada-Barbados Environmental Essay Contest.

Here is Juwayriyah’s winning essay…

Why is the Environment Important to Barbados?

What about nature? It’s our planet’s womb.” Michael Jackson’s Earth Song perfectly echoes the essence of Mother Earth’s importance to the world. Nature is the world’s womb from which life evolves and from which mankind survives, then, does it not have a right upon us, the humans, who exploit it and leave a trail of destruction? This is the picture everywhere: burnt forests, eroding coastlines, increase in illegal dumping turning our surroundings into hazardous disasters waiting to happen. Barbados is not an exception and we need to identify the importance of the environment to us. For as Earl Nightingale said, “Our environment, the world in which we live and work, is a mirror of our attitudes and expectations.” So, if a negative attitude pervades our people, their thoughts will translate into negative effects for our surroundings.

Canada-Barbados Environmental Essay Contest Winners Announced

$4,000 Cash Awards Won by Barbados Students

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary announced the six top winners of the 2011 national Canada-Barbados Environmental Essay Contest on Saturday, March 19, 2011. Nearly 60 essay competitors entered the contest. Awards were split into two age categories.

Students were invited nationwide to write a 300-500 word essay about “Why is the environment important to Barbados?” Entries were judged on originality, creativity, articulation and strength of expression in addition to usual composition requirements.

“It was inspiring to read the essays from students throughout Barbados,” said an official with the Sanctuary. “Under the guidance of their teachers we saw these students produce remarkable and passionate essays about why Barbados needs a healthy and diverse environment.

“We received many creative and thoughtful essays but these winners embraced the idea of personal responsibility when it came to preserving the environment. We are especially impressed with how young people in Barbados are acutely aware of how our quality of life and financial health are dependent on the environment.”

The Winners!

Barbados Free Press will be publishing each one of the winning essays over the next few weeks and we’ll link to the names when we do. We are tremendously enthused by what we’re reading. These students are the future, and the future leaders, of Barbados.

We’d also like to express our deep appreciation for the folks at the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary who brought this contest to fruition with their ideas, hard work and, yes, money. We’re proud of all the students and teachers who participated – not just the winners. If we all work together we CAN change the consciousness of this nation.

Good for you, young people! You give us old folks hope for the future.

Age 9-13 Winners:

• 1st Place and $1,250: Kiara Smith, Providence Elementary School
• 2nd Place and $500: Jade Griffith, Wills Primary School
• 3rd Place and $250: Phoebe Vieira, St. Winifred’s School

Age 14-18 Winners:

• 1st Place and $1,250: Dudley Ellis, Harrison College
• 2nd Place and $500: Shan Bovell, The Lodge School
• 3rd Place and $250: Juwayriyah Nana, Harrison College

Honorable Mentions Ages 9-13:

• Mohammed Nana, Wesley Hall Junior School
• Rhea Campbell, The Ursuline Convent School
• Rebecca Clarke, St. Winifred’s School

Honorable Mentions Ages 14-18:

• Michaela Welch, The St. Michael School
• Jade Forsberg, The Codrington School
• Jakita J. Connell, Queen’s College

You can read all of the winning essays at the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary website: CBEYA 2011 Essay Contest Winners

Barbados Environment Ministry issues wonderful press release. Meanwhile, the reality is…

Another Conference for our all-talk no action Environment Minister

Oh dear! Where to start? It seems like we keep writing the same article over and over again in response to reading the same press release over and over again.

The simple truth is that every few months our Ministry of the Environment holds some conference, gets a loan for “the environment” and issues the same tired old self-congratulatory press release talking about the importance of the environment. There are different flavours of the press release, but it’s all the same hollow PR nonsense with no real content.

Dem folks at the Environment Ministry and the Coastal Zone Management Unit sure can talk, and they have a way of talking to make it sound like talking and meetings are the equivalent of actually doing something, actually taking action to protect the environment.

But it’s all meetings and talk and press releases. You understand?

This current “Aren’t we wonderful and we’re really looking good!” press release quotes Environment Minister Denis Kellman as saying we need to look at old solutions like planting hedge rows and Cus Cus grass along road verges to retain top soil.

Wonderful. Meanwhile his Ministry is deliberately killing a RAMSAR wetlands and the last mangrove forest on the island so it can be developed into condos and industrial units. Meanwhile we have raw sewerage contaminating beaches on the West Coast because we borrowed millions to build a proper sewage treatment plant and then spent the money on cricket festivals.

Barbados hasn’t bothered with an Environmental Protection Act because the international “environment” loans and grant money just keeps rolling in anyway.

Message to the Inter-American Development Bank: For God’s sake, PLEASE don’t give these international-aid addicts any more money until they pass an Environmental Protection Act!

Sometimes I do despair.

Folks, please read two things today and I won’t ask you to read anything else. It’s really important that Barbadians are able to look at these government press releases and tear them to pieces for the garbage they are.

First, please read our recent article: Barbados don’t need no stinkin’ Environmental Legislation because we got another loan!

Then read the new Barbodos government press release below, and really think about the difference in what the press release says and the reality of what you see in Barbados.

Thanks ever so much.

Cliverton

Barbados Government Press Release: March 17, 2011

BARBADOS: Coastal Zone Management Unit Hosts ICZM Workshop

Bridgetown – March 17, 2011 – Regional states must do everything in their power to protect their coastlines.

Barbados continues blocking off the coast

New Marina progresses. High Rise flats coming. That’s progress, right?

The construction of the new marina continues (above) and by the looks of things you’ll soon have to have a boat to see any of the coast at all. Meanwhile, Minister of Housing Michael Lashley yesterday announced our first high rise housing development.

I don’t view the high rise mansion blocks as a bad thing – depending upon how it is done and where. That has to happen because Barbados has about the 15th highest population density in the world – although compared to places like Monaco, Singapore and Hong Kong, we’re almost uninhabited. If done properly, high rise housing could reduce the pressure on our agricultural and natural areas and reduce the price of housing. If done properly that is.

Spark of the Day! A different sort of Flying Fish

“Just happened to pick up the camera…”

Okay, we know it’s not a fish, but we couldn’t resist the play on words considering this is a Bajan blog and all that. Click on the photo and you’ll be taken to the Daily Telegraph to see the large photo and read how Matt Deans took this one in a million shot.

Spark of the Day! is our occasional reminder of how beautiful this little planet really is – and should be.

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary re-opens for one day only

UPDATED: January 30, 2011

Whew! What a great day at the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

Lots of folks, lots of kids and lots of fun. The place was beautiful and you could tell the staff worked hard to get it into shape for the day. I hope this means that something is happening to re-open the sanctuary on a permanent basis for ordinary folks and also because our tourism product desperately needs this attraction on the south coast.

The Nation covered the opening in their story: A day at the Sanctuary

All Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary Exhibits and Trails

Open to Public on Saturday, January 29, 2011

Time:  9 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

On Saturday, January 29, 2011, all exhibits and interpretive walkways through the mangroves and upland areas at Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary will be open to the public.

This event is for one day only.

Lowe out, Kellman in as Barbados Environment Minister: Still no laws or standards

The shared DLP and BLP legacy continues

Denis Kellman, MP for St. Lucy, was sworn in on Tuesday, January 4th as the new Environment Minister. The post was previously occupied by Denis Lowe, who was hospitalized a few days ago in critical condition with respiratory problems.

Barbados does not have any Environmental Protection Act or standards for the handling, use and disposal of hazardous substances because successive DLP and BLP governments haven’t bothered to enact any in 44 years of independence.

Each year for the past 20 years successive Environment Ministers promised to implement an Environmental Protection Act but did not do so. Minister Denis Lowe promised the act would be made law in 2009 and again in 2010. BLP Environment Minister Liz Thompson told the same stories throughout her tenure and then wasted some 200 million dollars on a doomed-from-the-start foolish project to build a landfill on shifting soil in the Scotland District.

This lack of environmental laws, coupled with government policies that do not recognise the importance of green space and environmental planning has led to wholesale development on the west and south coasts. The blockage and destruction of much of the natural watershed has resulted in serious and continuing flooding in many areas at the slightest rain.

We have no mandatory recycling or local pickup. There is jet fuel contamination of wells on the south coast and we’re dumping raw sewerage into the RAMSAR wetlands while selling off green space to politicians’ developer friends. Previously protected environmentally sensitive land at Graeme Hall has already been re-zoned by the DLP to allow development.

Environmental essay contest for Bajan students 9 to 18 years

Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary announces

$4,000 in Cash Prizes will be Awarded for Best Environmental Essays

The first Annual Environmental Essay Contest for students ages 9-18 was announced today by the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

Sponsored by the Canada-Barbados Environmental Youth Awards Programme (CBEYA), the Essay Contest promises $4,000 in cash prizes for the top six winners, plus gift certificates for Honorable Mention winners.

Youths, Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, save rare Osprey in Barbados

Bird’s mate never gave up. Soared above Graeme Hall every day calling for partner.

Wildlife caretakers released an osprey back into the wild this past week after it had undergone rehabilitation for injuries and malnutrition.

The osprey had been brought to the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary by a group of youths.  The bird was weak, severely dehydrated and could not fly because of severe degradation of its muscle mass.  Dr. John Duckhouse, the consulting veterinarian for the Sanctuary began an immediate regimen of antibiotics and protein-rich fish diet.

The hand-fed diet consisted largely of sprats, a herring-like fish, beginning with 3 sprats the first day of the rescue.  The osprey was eating 16 sprats a day by the end of the rehabilitation.

The rescue and rehabilitation was managed by Sanctuary manager Barbara Garcia and staffer Paul Rochester.  While the rehabilitation was underway, the osprey’s mate continued to fly over the Sanctuary calling for its stricken companion.

The release was done from the Lakeside Lawn area of the Sanctuary.

As Sanctuary staff and wildlife experts watched, the bird flew down the little hill gathering speed as it then began climbing to meet its mate who was waiting high above over the lake.

The Sanctuary Cafe and Lakeside Lawn Now Open!

The beautiful and tranquil SANCTUARY CAFE and Lakeside Lawn of the Sanctuary are now open to the public on a limited basis. However, there are no tours of the rest of the facility, and all Interpretive walkways, Aviaries and Exhibits remain closed to the public.