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No Iguanas On Goat Islands
Published: Friday | November 1, 2013 6 Comments
SHIRLEY
THERE WERE no iguanas found on the Goat Islands.
In fact, biological and geological conditions, including marine life, were quite degraded, according to a four-week study of the area.
According to the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ)-commissioned environmental management scoping of the Portland Bight Protective Area, which includes the Goat Islands, Portland Bight has undergone significant damage due in part to illegal hunting and fishing activities such as dynamiting.
There would be no threat to any endangered species, the study said, if the logistics hub was constructed, as very limited biological life was found there.
This was revealed on Wednesday by Professor Gordon Shirley, president and chief executive officer designate of the PAJ, at a conference hosted at the Kingston office.
The study also said, because of the extensive degraded conditions, the approximate 2,585 fishermen in the area rarely use it. For many of them, fishing is now a supplemental income.
Environmentalist stance
Environmentalists have been strongly lobbying against the construction of the proposed China Harbour Engineering Company US$1.5-billion transshipment port and industrial and commercial zone, which would include Goat Islands and lands north of the islands in the Old Harbour Bay area.
According to the lobbyists, the development would destroy biological life, including endangered species such as the iguanas, and cause untold suffering to the many persons who make a living off the sea.
"The $1.3-million study was commissioned to determine the environmental impact of the logistics hub project. Study director was Dr Conrad Douglas, international development and environmental management consultant.
The study is available online at www.portjam.com.
Published: Friday | November 1, 2013 6 Comments
SHIRLEY
THERE WERE no iguanas found on the Goat Islands.
In fact, biological and geological conditions, including marine life, were quite degraded, according to a four-week study of the area.
According to the Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ)-commissioned environmental management scoping of the Portland Bight Protective Area, which includes the Goat Islands, Portland Bight has undergone significant damage due in part to illegal hunting and fishing activities such as dynamiting.
There would be no threat to any endangered species, the study said, if the logistics hub was constructed, as very limited biological life was found there.
This was revealed on Wednesday by Professor Gordon Shirley, president and chief executive officer designate of the PAJ, at a conference hosted at the Kingston office.
The study also said, because of the extensive degraded conditions, the approximate 2,585 fishermen in the area rarely use it. For many of them, fishing is now a supplemental income.
Environmentalist stance
Environmentalists have been strongly lobbying against the construction of the proposed China Harbour Engineering Company US$1.5-billion transshipment port and industrial and commercial zone, which would include Goat Islands and lands north of the islands in the Old Harbour Bay area.
According to the lobbyists, the development would destroy biological life, including endangered species such as the iguanas, and cause untold suffering to the many persons who make a living off the sea.
"The $1.3-million study was commissioned to determine the environmental impact of the logistics hub project. Study director was Dr Conrad Douglas, international development and environmental management consultant.
The study is available online at www.portjam.com.
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