Article: Caribbean island of Dominica bans plastic and Styrofoam

The fight against single-use plastic has been gathering steam over the past months, but the Caribbean nation of Dominica has taken the crusade to another level. The island nation has announced its aim to completely ban common plastics and single-use Styrofoam cups and food containers -- effective January 2019. Announcing this intention in June's budget address, Prime Minister Roosevelt Skerrit said his government wanted to help preserve Dominica's famously beautiful natural landscape. "Dominica prides itself as the "Nature Isle". We must in every way deserve and reflect that designation," reads Skerrit's statement. "The issue of solid waste management affects that perception and we continue to grapple with it."

- CNN

Article: 'Stunning' report finds that one-third of Earth's protected areas are being destroyed by people

Giraffes run near a drilling rig.

Turns out a large chunk of what should be the world's most protected areas are anything but. A new study reports that human activities — such as city sprawl, road construction and farming — are wreaking havoc on some 2.3 million square miles of protected land worldwide, an area about twice the size of Alaska. Forests, parks and conservation areas around the globe are all seeing human impacts, with protected areas in Asia, Europe and Africa — places with massive human populations — seeing some of the worst effects, according to the new research.

- USA Today

sunscreens and the reef

The chemicals that help us by filtering UV rays are causing severe damage to Hawaii's marine environment, according to a study by Haereticus Environmental Laboratory, a nonprofit scientific organization. They show up in coastal waters after beachgoers swim in the ocean and via discharges from wastewater treatment plants. The study found that the chemicals seep into young coral and contribute to coral bleaching, which occurs when an increase in sea temperatures kills the algae that grows inside coral, turning reefs white and eliminating nutrients that sustain other marine life. About 14,000 tons of sunscreen enter the world's reefs every year, according to a 2015 paper published in the journal Archives of Environmental Contamination and Toxicology.

- CNN

Great Barrier Reef given £275million investment as damage spreads

Australia on Sunday pledged a major cash injection to restore and protect the Great Barrier Reef in what it said would be a game-changer for the embattled natural wonder. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said more than A$500 million (£275 million) will go towards improving water quality, tackling predators, and expanding restoration efforts. The World Heritage-listed site, which attracts millions of tourists, is reeling from significant bouts of coral bleaching due to warming sea temperatures linked to climate change. The reef is also under threat from the coral-eating crown-of-thorns starfish, which has proliferated due to pollution and agricultural runoff.

- Yahoo News

no plastic

What goes around comes around.

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle talks about the devastating impact of plastics

Oceanographer Sylvia Earle talks to Christiane Amanpour about the devastating impact that plastics are having on our oceans and what we can do about it.

Study: Global warming is killing the Great Barrier Reef

Marine heat waves caused by global warming are killing off the corals of Australia's Great Barrier Reef, the world's largest reef system, according to a study published Wednesday in the journal Nature. The Great Barrier Reef experienced an extended marine heat wave in 2016 that caused massive coral bleaching and die-off. Most of the impact was along 500 miles of the northern Great Barrier Reef, its most pristine region. The reef endured coral bleaching in 1998 and 2002, but the northern region sustained only minor damage then. Global heat and coral bleaching began to increase in 2014 and continued through 2017; this event meant that marine heat waves causing bleaching struck three-quarters of the world's coral reefs and that the heat waves that cause corals to die struck almost a third, the researchers said. The 2016 marine heat wave caused the most severe and catastrophic coral bleaching event the Great Barrier Reef has ever experienced, the study found. Overall, these events have affected every part of the reef.

- CNN

Nature is speaking: Ocean

bring back the seashells!

This photo and the larger phenomenon it stems from breaks my heart. Hermit crabs recycle the abandoned shells of sea mollusks that wash up on the beach after their original creators and inhabitants live out their natural lives. Over the decades, humans have collected most of these beautiful sea shells, taking them home as mementos of their visit to the beach. Problem is: What about the hermit crabs? The crabs have to change shells every so often as they outgrow the last shell/home they found, but because most of the larger shells have been taken from their natural habitats, they are eventually unable to find new "homes" to hermit in. Desperate crabs end up using whatever they can find, including -- as can be seen in the photo above -- plastic trash pill bottles that come in with the tides. This is a sad commentary on human beings for many reasons. First we rape and pillage nature, and then we rub salt in the wound by polluting it. Anyway, I'd like to request that if you happen to have any seashells lying around your home or hidden in a cabinet (maybe long forgotten), PLEASE bring them back to the beach. That is where they belong. Think how much more amazing our beaches would be with beautiful seashells crawling around their shady edges. After all, that is the way Mother Nature intended it to be...

Won't somebody think about the hermit crabs?!!

"if nature isn't kept healthy, humans won't survive"

roatan marine park

The Roatan Marine Park is part of the larger marine park, namely, The Bay Islands Marine National Park (Parque National Marino Islas de la Bahia ) also known as "PNMIB." The Bay Islands Marine Park has a surface area of 47,152.49 ha, divided into three zones. The Roatan Marine Park, together with the Bay Island Marine Park protects a significant sample of the reef ecosystem known as the Mesoamerican Reef System (Sistema Arrecifal Mesoamericano "SAM"). This reef system is threatened by global impacts such as climate change and pollution from terrestrial sources. The habitats protected by the Roatan's Marine Park and PNMIB are the basis of the tourist economy and communities of the Bay Islands. The Bay Island Marine Park engulfs all of the Bay Islands. Most of the work revolves around the three largest islands (Roatan, Utila, and Guanaja) because these are the most visited islands and the areas more prone to deterioration. Among its many objectives, the Roatan Marine Park and the Bay Islands Marine Part, in general, intends to impacts and enable non-destructive and sustainable uses while keeping and preserving critical habitats.

- roatan.online

black spiny-tailed iguanas

Paya Bay is a refuge for the Black Spiny-Tailed Iguanas (Ctenosaura oedirhina). These ancient, rugged lizards can be spotted on the rocky shoreline they have adapted to inhabit. A male and female of the species can be appreciated in these photos.

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

papahānaumokuākea

In a gesture that speaks to his legacy of conservation, President Barack Obama traveled Thursday to a remote spit of sand and coral in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, to see for himself the very monument that six days earlier he quadrupled to create the largest protected marine area on the planet. Air Force One touched down on picturesque Midway Atoll ― the site of a deadly and decisive battle six months after the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor ― at approximately 11:30 a.m. local time, according to a White House press pool report. After Obama “emerged from the plane smiling and wearing sunglasses,” the press pool noted, he was greeted by the atoll’s 40 inhabitants. The president then paid a visit to the Battle of Midway memorial before delivering a short statement at Turtle Beach.

- Huffington Post

I love me some Barack Obama. The best Leader of the Free World evah!

black iguana conservation

2016 marks the 7th year Tasha Pasachnik and her team have been working with the endangered iguanas of Roatan. Roatan is the only place in the world that you can find this type of iguana! They occur on less than 1% (!!) of the island area in high numbers. Paya Bay Resort is one of the sites where these unique reptiles flourish and are protected. For the past seven years these university students have been monitoring the populations of iguanas on Roatan through a mark/recapture technique that allows them to estimate population size and assess individual growth over time. They have collected DNA samples from all the iguanas they've captured and released, and have found the small populations across the island are isolated from one another. To date they have captured 890 iguanas! After they capture them, they mark them with a permanent ID chip so they can constantly check them in future years. This year they started a new program that focuses on capacity building and education, as well as continuing their monitoring study. They have two students from Guatemala and one student from Honduras participating in the program. Throughout future years they hope to expand this education program and work towards collectively protecting the endangered iguanas of Central America.

Tasha Pasachnik (center) initiated this wildlife conservation project in 2009 as part of her graduate studies at the University of Kentucky.

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

video: nature is speaking: coral reefs

coral reefs in jeopardy

The industrial age of fossil fuels has severely changed the Earth's ocean ecosystems. Our oceans absorb about one-third of human-caused carbon-dioxide, but unfortunately rising emissions have surpassed what the oceans can sustainably absorb.

As the world continues to burn fossil fuels at an increasing rate, people are pumping more and more carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, which act like a blanket over the Earth, causing the planet to warm. The warming and the increased carbon dioxide in the oceans are combining to put coral reefs, some of the most biodiverse and important ecosystems on the planet, in jeopardy.

- Yahoo News

saving the spiny-tailed

Paya Bay Resort was recently awarded this certificate recognizing support we have extended to these noble, distinguished institutions (Florida Atlantic University, International Iguana Foundation, and Iguana Specialist Group) in the ongoing effort to save Roatan's unique Spiny-tailed Iguana from extinction.

An adult Spiny-tailed Iguana suns on a rock ledge near Bliss Beach. As the certificate states, there are less than 5,000 of these iguanas left and the population is decreasing. In Roatan, these iguanas are also known by their local nickname, "Black Iguanas."

To continue creating awareness of this important cause, we named our nearly-completed beach bar The Black Iguana. The bar features an impressively-sized replica of one of these beautiful reptiles. We also plan to have an information display about the species (and the efforts to protect it) in the bar.

Paya Bay Resort, Roatan, Bay Islands of Honduras.

conservation has made a difference

National protected areas, which occur at the micro-scale, have been one of conservationists' most notable achievements. Today, over 100,000 protected areas—national parks, wildlife refuges, game reserves, marine protected areas (MPAs), wildlife sanctuaries, etc.—cover some 7.3 million square miles (19 million kilometers).

Source: Great News Network

doing research

Stesha Pasachnik and her assistant carefully capture spiny-tailed iguanas on the Paya Trail to tag them. Ms. Pasachnik is doing research on this critically endangered species of iguanas that is unique to Roatan. Stesha has identified Paya as one of the places on the island with a relatively large population of spiny-taileds. Paya Bay Resort is collaborating with her research.

 An adult spiny-tailed iguana (Ctenosaura oedirhina). Note how their coloration may have evolved to perfectly blend with the gray and flint rocks of Roatan's rocky shores.

picacho peaks

A view at dusk of the Picacho Hills from Paya Bay.

A view of the hills during a rainstorm.

These beautiful peaks, the highest on Roatan, are located in the Port Royal Wildlife Refuge. The forested acres that make up this refuge are a vital replenisher of ground water for eastern end of the island. There is a problem, however. Some of the people who own land adjacent to the park have encroached and are still encroaching on park territory. If this continues the park will dwindle and eventually disappear as developers go after this choice land. Something has to be done. An acre of "bush land" (forested land) in this pristine area of Roatan can be bought for about $15-20K (given current market conditions). It would be awesome for an environmental NGO with deep pockets to purchase the acreage on the perimeter of the wildlife refuge in order to create a buffer zone to protect it from encroachment. Right now is a great time to pursue this. People are hurting financially and are motivated to sell. It anyone "knows anyone" or otherwise has a suggestion on how to protect this beautiful wild area of Roatan, please leave a comment or contact me.