Caribbean Airlines Employees Conduct Coastal Clean-Up

Caribbean Airlines, in collaboration with the Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development (CNIRD), undertook a simultaneous coastal clean-up across multiple Caribbean destinations in October 2023. According to the company, it’s the first time a regional airline has done so.

Over 220 dedicated Caribbean Airlines employees and their families volunteered their time and effort to clear marine debris from shores at locations in Trinidad, Guyana, and Barbados.

“As part of our sustainability programme, Caribbean Airlines employees undertook this activity,” said Dionne Ligoure, head of corporate communications at Caribbean Airlines. “Our environment is an integral part of the Caribbean identity, and as a region, it is imperative that we unite in the face of climate change challenges. Caribbean Airlines understands this responsibility. We extend our heartfelt gratitude to CNIRD for their invaluable support and to our dedicated volunteers, including Caribbean Airlines employees and their families, who were integral to this milestone.”

The joint effort resulted in close to 3,000 pounds of waste collected.  The data was recorded by CNIRD and will be integrated into each country’s official statistics. These statistics will be subsequently added to an international database, which serves as a crucial resource for developing effective strategies to combat pollution and protect ecosystems.

Barbados Takes Out “Blue” Bonds 

Barbados has swapped a portion of its debt for $50 million worth of “blue bonds” that are to be used over the next 15 years to finance ocean conservation projects. By making up to 30 percent of the country’s seas a marine protected area, Barbados also aims to protect its vital tourism industry, fisheries and other sectors of the blue economy.

The Barbadian initiative ties in with the United Nations High Seas Treaty, which was agreed in summer 2023. The treaty endorses environmental regulation of the high seas, the vast portion of the world’s oceans that are outside the jurisdiction of any single state and vulnerable to pollution and other forms of environmental destruction. Up to 60 UN member states have to sign on to the treaty before it can take effect. 

Reprinted from an article by Stephen Spark in SocaNews.

Colombian Freedivers Help Reduce Plastic Waste in Caribbean

Dido Polo Monterrosa (EFE News Service) reports: The members of a freediving club in the northern port city of Barranquilla meet regularly to carry out an underwater cleanup campaign off the coasts of Taganga and Cartagena.

“We’re looking to raise awareness that this is so beautiful (and) must be protected,” said freediver Elkin Castro, who explained that the beaches they visit are polluted with solid waste left behind by tourists, such as bags, styrofoam, toothbrushes and food wrappings.

Freediver Marie Camila Atencio added, “It’s a way of pushing ourselves,” describing the process as returning the generosity they have received from the sea by collecting plastic via freediving.

The freedivers say they also are reaching out to public and private educational entities with the conservation message, adding that it does no good to remove waste from the sea floor every Saturday if the message has not reached the people who discarded it there.

According to figures from the United Nations, between 75 percent and 85 percent of the trash in the Caribbean Sea is the result of activities on land and the majority is plastic waste. It is also estimated that more than 800 marine and coastal species are affected by that pollution, whether through ingestion, entanglement or other dangers.

Jamaican Artists Tackle Reef Damage

As the sometimes-tense deliberations of the Council and the Assembly of the International Seabed Authority (ISA) dragged on at the UN agency’s headquarters last summer, a vibrant art exhibit brought the subject of the negotiations to life: deep-sea mining, and the threats it poses.

“Ocean Depths Unveiled: Preserving the Abyss” was organized by the Trinidad and Tobago-based Ecovybz Environmental Creatives in partnership with Sustainable Oceans Alliance (SOA) Caribbean and funded by the Open Society Foundations. The exhibition celebrated the wonders of the deep sea, while sending a message that the planet’s last and greatest wilderness (and carbon sink) must be protected and preserved.

Jamaican textile and fibre artist Danaree Greaves explained her work: “I specialize in art works relating to the sea — specifically corals and marine life. There are hidden messages in my work, so you will see a lot of plastics and different types of recycled materials. The blues represent the vibrant life of the sea, but there are browns and whites — bleached corals are the white. My message is that [we need to] do something about the amount of plastics in our ocean and I also have a message of oil spills bleeding into the sea.”

Ammoy Smith, whose works were shown at the exhibition, said: “I don’t think a lot of Jamaicans are aware of deep-sea mining or fully grasp what it means for the ocean. It’s truly an honour to be here with other artists, to highlight this growing concern.” 

The youngest artist at the exhibition opening, 11-year-old Emma King, was busy doing her own painting, and said: “I love the art a lot — it’s very heartfelt.”

Story by Emma Lewis, condensed and reprinted from Global Voices with permission.

Royal Navy Sailors Help Save Turtles

Royal Navy sailors cleared dangerous waste plastic from a turtle nesting site on Curaçao during a patrol of the region.

Fifty British sailors from the destroyer HMS Dauntless volunteered with Sea Turtle Conservation Curaçao, helping clear more than 200kg of ocean plastic from a nesting beach and carrying out medical checks on the turtle population.

Sea turtles often mistake plastic debris for food, leading to ingestion and internal injuries that can prove fatal, and entanglement in discarded fishing nets and other plastic waste presents life-threatening hazards for these gentle marine creatures.

Beach Clean-up Washikemba

Bonaire’s beaches have become a focal point for the cooperative energy of environmental groups, and “Clean Coast Bonaire” has become a monthly event.

In July 2023, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire, with other cooperating organizations and 57 volunteers, cleaned up Washikemba beach, one of the island’s important nesting sites and the unfortunate repository of loads of marine litter, which can complicate the nesting for adult females or the hatchlings trying to reach the ocean. Volunteer cleanup efforts readied the beach for the rest of the nesting season.

Learn more about this organization at bonaireturtles.org/wp.

Environmental Fridays lectures

Environmental Fridays, a series of free Zoom lectures by people in the forefront of the movement, presents its fifth and sixth seasons in late 2023 and early 2024. Topics include marine biodiversity in the Caribbean, the impact of literature on environmental movements, sustainable development in the Americas, ocean literacy, environmental policy and management, “greening” the Church, and the chemical composition of wildfires.

Zoom lectures are every Friday morning at 9:30 EST, Zoom meeting ID 894 9510 2351, or they can be enjoyed at your leisure on YouTube, where you might want to catch two early-semester lectures: “Conservation and Sustainability in the Grenadines,” by Orisha Joseph of Sustainable Grenadines Inc., and “Marine Biology of Reefs in Toco, Trinidad.” An upcoming lecture of particular interest to residents or lovers of the Caribbean include “Marine Diversity of the Caribbean,” December 8. There’s also an Environmental Fridays discussion group on Facebook.

Find more details at theenvironmentalfridays.com.

Garbage Grand Slam in Trinidad

G. Renee Schramm reports from Trinidad: The COAST Foundation recently held the second annual Garbage Grand Slam. Cruisers joined with Trini locals in September 2023 to clean up 6,214 pounds of garbage from the Chaguaramas waters and coastline. The participants fished for garbage, then met up for a weigh-in with teams earning prizes. The COAST Foundation is a local, nonprofit NGO engaging in education through subsea exploration and technology development.

Epic Revives Slurpy Pumpout Service

Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC) Sint Maarten and The Business Point are working to re-establish sewage pumpout boat service in and around the Simpson Bay Lagoon, thanks to support and donations from business partners such as Island Global Yachting (IGY). “Without IGY’s donation of dock space for the pumpout boat Slurpy, the re-establishing of the service would not be possible,” noted program director Natalia Collier. Slurpy will soon be able to provide the only sewage disposal service for vessels on the island again, after having been out of commission since hurricane Irma in 2017.

The Simpson Bay Lagoon is one of the largest inland lagoons in the Caribbean and provides crucial mangrove and seagrass habitat for reef-dependent species. Unfortunately, the lagoon has suffered from extreme pollution, including wastewater primarily from land-based sources. EPIC’s social media platforms will continue to provide information regarding the launch of Slurpy’s pumpout service. 

For more information contact EPIC (epicislands.org).

Belize to Launch Project to Make Biofuel from Seaweed 

Belize is developing a pilot project to convert sargassum seaweed into biofuel, prime minister John Briceno has reported. Since 2010 heaps of rotting seaweed have been massing on Caribbean shores for reasons scientists do not yet fully understand, but suspect are related to climate change. Last year alone saw 24 million tons on Caribbean coasts. and it is estimated that the region spends $120 million a year to collect and dispose of it. the $50 million facility, result of a public-private partnership with German company Variodin, plans to convert municipal solid waste and sargassum into diesel fuel replacements. It is not known when the plant will be viable.

Sargassum Watch

While The Belize biofuel project is a reminder that sargassum seaweed is a curse — smothering nesting sites, attracting insects, and turning beaches into a stinking mess — it’s also a blessing. In the ocean, it can provide food, shade, and shelter from predators. Even near the shore it can fertilize sand dunes, protecting shoreline stability. The University of South Florida’s Sargassum Watch System provides detailed information about sargassum as benefit and pest and uses satellite imagery to provide a guide to sargassum blooms in regions throughout the Caribbean. It’s a useful resource. (optics.marine.usf.edu/projects/saws.html)