Science and Nature
‘Chicken Adoptions’ raise $1k for National Trust
(CNS): Combining a marketing strategy with a fundraising effort for the National Trust, Massive Media Ltd raised $1000 with their recent Chicken Foundation campaign. The local creative agency created the ChickenFoundation.com – a satirical website fundraiser that invited people to name and ‘adopt’ one of the wild chickens featured on an online gallery. Each time a chicken was named or the website shared on social media Massive Media Ltd committed to making a donation to the National Trust. (Left: David Kirkaldy and Rich Dyer of Massive Media Ltd with Marketing Coordinator Danielle Watler of the National Trust)
“We were really happy with the local response to the campaign and we heard from people all over the island who had got a kick out of it and helped us reach our donation goal,” explained Massive Media’s David Kirkaldy. “We are already dreaming up our next campaign so stay tuned to Massive Media to see what we come up with next!”
“We are very grateful to Massive Media for the campaign. Not only have they given the Trust a valuable cash donation but we have also seen it raise great awareness for the charity and the work we do,” said Christina Pineda, Executive Director of the National Trust for the Cayman Islands.
The project was also supported by local video production company, CML TV, who created the teaser campaign video free of charge.
Conservation Council selected
(CNS): The men and women who will serve on the National Conservation Council have been appointed by Cabinet as government moves towards the full implementation of the law some nine months after its historic passage in the parliament last year. Wayne Panton, the minister responsible for the environment, said that the commencement of this law was now underway with Cabinet’s approval of the first two parts of the legislation. He described this as the next step towards the law coming fully into force well before the end of this year. The minister said these two parts of the law deal with definitions and the council, which can now begin considering the specifics of how it will discharge its duties.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Friday, Panton said a priority for the new council would be to produce the drafting instructions for the regulations which will govern the Environmental Impact Assessment process. He pointed out that those new rules would need to be implemented alongside the wider regulations for the full law, which have already been drawn up and will be considered by Cabinet when the council completes its work and the law is ready for full implementation.
Panton said he expected the preparatory work of the council to take a few months.
“Once it is complete, government will be in a position to commence the remainder of the Law and bring it fully into effect. I anticipate this to be by the end of this calendar year,” he said. “The Department of the Environment has already developed fairly detailed drafting instructions for the EIA Regulations,” he said but explained that the council would need to have input before they are finalised.
The law's wider regulations focus on the preservation of species and the protection measures that were previously covered by either the Marine Conservation Law or the Animal Law. He reminded his LA colleagues that the Animals law had been amended and the Marine Law would be repealed when the NCL is commenced in its entirety. But all the previous regulations under the Marine Conservation Law would be carried forward.
Panton revealed the district members of the conservation council include Davey Ebanks representing West Bay, Lisa-Ann Hurlston-McKenzie representing George Town, McFarlane Connolly representing East End, Brian Tomlinson representing North Side, and Wallace Platts representing Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. Christine Rose-Smyth, representing Bodden Town, has also been appointed as chair of the council. The National Trust of the Cayman Islands nominated Christina Pineda, who was approved by Cabinet and the two additional people appointed are Fred Burton and Patricia Bradley.
The remaining members of the 13 person council are experts from the Department of Environment.
Critical Brac wetlands now under Trust protection
(CNS): Since the deregulation of Saltwater Pond as Cayman Brac’s last remaining animal sanctuary in November 2012, which was passed by the LA without a single question from any of the members, the conservation of the island’s very limited wetlands has become even more critical. However, the National Trust has announced that it recently completed the purchase of 10 acres of wetland on the South Side of the Brac (left), ensuring its preservation. Saltwater Pond was stripped of its protection under the Animals Law to allow the owner of the adjacent Alexander Hotel to address an unpleasant odour that sometimes occurs due to the decomposition of natural material. Since then a controversial plan emerged to turn the pond into a marina.
These plans, however, appear to be on hold because the hotel owner, Cleveland Dilbert, who proposed the marina development, is unwilling to pay for an environmental impact assessment, which the government has insisted upon due to the numerous red flags raised by the Department of Environment about the project. Because of this Dilbert closed his hotel on 15 June thsi year, and despite the “de-mucking” of the pond by government to help with the smell, the hotel remains closed.
However, there has been no suggestion that the protection of the pond by law be reinstated.
The decision by the government to remove the protection from Saltwater Pond prompted the Cayman Brac District Committee of the National Trust to identify wetlands in the same general area which could be protected permanently.
The purchase of the wetlands, also known as the Marshes, was made possible through the generous donations of the Trust’s annual Land Reserve Fund Donors and supplemented by funds raised by the Brac District Committee members.
“Trust members on the Brac put great effort into fundraising for this project. We are grateful to the property owner for agreeing to sell to the Trust and to the Land Reserve Donors for providing the necessary funds to complete the purchase,” said Estelle Stilling, Chairman of the Cayman Brac District Committee. “As the future for avian life on the Westerly Ponds is uncertain, given the close proximity of the airport, residents and migratory birds will be forced to seek wetland further east; this purchase makes that possible.”
The Marshes are a series of herbaceous and woody wetlands between the south coast road and the Bluff, and represents an important feeding area for water birds. This habitat, and transition habitats adjacent to it, also harbours a wide variety of local plant life.
For more information on the National Trust for the Cayman Islands, visit their website or call 749-1121.
Related articles on CNS:
Legislators defeat environment with animal law (6 November 2012)
'De-mucking' operation at Saltwater Pond (1 August 2014)
Bimini cruise dock putting reefs in peril
(CNS Business): Thetraditional livelihoods of fishing, diving and snokelling on the tiny island of North Bimini in The Bahamas are under threat from the construction of a 1,000ft cruise dock built to accommodate day trippers from Florida. Environmental activists say the silt produced during the dredging still covers the surrounding coral reefs, which will die if they are not given time to recover. Read more and comment on CNS Business
High tides, early warning for future sea level rise
(CNS): Unusually high tides causing flooding on Grand Cayman are not believed to be as a result of rising seas, just yet, but experts pointed out that they show just how bad flooding could get in the Cayman Islands if the predicted increases in sea levels over the next few decades are accurate. The Departmentof the Environment said that the recent flooding in various areas of Grand Cayman and in particular in Barkers (left), where the road was virtually impassable on Monday, was down to a number of seasonal and astronomical influences but was caused by a less than four inch rise in tides.
While the exact reason for the surge in tides is not completely understood, experts believe it is a combination of the moon’s position in the sky and other astronomical forces which act on tides. The gradually rising sea levels are not thought to have played a major part in the higher than normal tides which has impacted properties along the northern coasts of Grand Cayman.
The flooding after such a relatively small and temporary increase in tide levels gives us an idea of what we can expect in the next few decades if sea level rises begin to increase more significantly, as most scientists now believe.
“It brings home the potential devastating impacts of sea level rise as estimates suggest these tides are only about 10cms above previous high tides we have experienced,” a spokesperson for the DoE said.
Although there is still a question mark over the actual rate of escalation of sea-level increase, new research from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change revealed last month found that the melting of the Antarctic ice sheet is set to make things far worse than imagined.
In addition, to the huge icebergs plunging into the oceans from the south pole, the melting of Greenland’s ice sheet in the north as well as other glacial melt around the world, the expansion of warming water, and groundwater pumping, which shifts water from aquifers to the seas are all adding to the problem. When the latest projections re Antarctica are combined with other figures, the upper limit for overall sea level rise by the end of this century will be nearly four feet.
The hastening pace of sea level rise threatens to reshape the lives of more than a billion coastal dwellers long before the end of the century, including the people of the Cayman Islands. Just a few inches, which could happen within the next few decades, would be sufficient to cause considerable infrastructure damage in Cayman and other low lying Islands that will require on-going and costly defences, which are unlikely to keep pace with the threat.
Anchor reef damage massive
(CNS): The coral reef hit by a Carnival cruise ship anchor last month is far worse than feared with over 11,000 square feet of reef mashed up as a result and no one is taking responsibility. The department of the environment divers took to the oceans on Tuesday to get a closer look and found the area of impact was considerably larger than was first suspected. Tim Austin the DoE’s expert explained that a lot of the ships chain was sitting on the reef for a few hours causing a large area of impact. Then when the ship was relocated the chain retrieval process caused even more damage. Looking at what, if any, remedial work can be done to help the mashed reef recover the DoE has also expressed its concerns about proper measures to stop this happening again.
“Our early estimate based on Tuesday’s reconnaissance dive and video analysis of data collected on that dive puts the total impact footprint at about 1,100 square meters (11,840 sq. ft.),” Austin said. “Within that footprint approximately 500 square meters (5,380 sq. ft.) is severely impacted with near complete destruction. The remaining 600 square meters (6,458 sq. ft.) has varying degrees of impact from severe to moderate.”
The DoE’s experts are also hoping that there is potential for low key remedial efforts at the site to provide the best possible chance of recovery such as removing rubble which could cause further damage and right overturned coral heads which are still alive, placing them on stable substrate instead of a rubble field.
The damage is of major concern in itself but this is not the first time that healthy reef has taken a blow from a cruise ship anchor and the DoE is also keen to see preventative action taken. “We are currently looking at the options available to us and are in discussion with our Ministry,” Austin added. “We want to ensure that proper measures are put in place so this doesn’t happen again.”
However, when it comes to who is responsible for this damage the lines appear blurred and it does not look as though anyone will be held accountable. The port authority has denied any responsibility and pointed to the shipping agents and the pilots who guide in the ships which the authority said are contracted directly by the cruise lines.
“The Port Authority assigns the anchorages to the cruise ships that call here,” Joseph Woods, who deals with the port’s cruise operations said. “There are four anchorages which are located and marked with lighted buoys within the defined Port Anchorage Area as per the Port Regulations. The cruise lines engage pilots through their agent to guide their ships to the anchorages. The pilots are not employees of the Port Authority and are not contracted by the Port Authority.”
In this case it was a Bodden Shipping port pilots who directed the ship but the Carnival Captain still had the ultimate authority for his ship and can overrule the Port Pilot and choose not to anchor if he is concerned. On the day in question it seems that while the pilot had made a concerted effort to get the ship to drop its anchor in sand it missed the intended drop site by around fifty feet. But had the anchor landed in sand the location would still have seen the chain over the reef revealing the urgent need for an improved and consistent policy regarding placing ships outside the designated anchorages.
Bodden Shipping have not responded to CNS questions regarding the incident and Carnival have said that they are in discussions about it with the shipping agent.
“Carnival Cruise Lines places extraordinary importance on preserving the pristine and sensitive marine environment in the Cayman Islands and everywhere we operate,” a spokesperson for the cruise line said in an emailed response to questions. “We take every precaution to ensure that our ships do not cause damage to any marine habitat and all environmental-related rules and regulations are followed. As such, when anchoring in Grand Cayman we employ the services of a local harbour pilot to provide our captains with very specific instructions on where to drop the anchor.”
The spokesperson said that on the day in question (27 August) when the ship anchored in the morning and then moved in the afternoon, the ship was under the direction of a local pilot as well as the Port Authority.
“We are closely examining this very important matter,” the cruise line stated. ”As part of that process, we have discussed the matter with the company that supplies local pilots for us in Grand Cayman as well as shared information with the other captains in our fleet with the objective of ensuring such an incident is not repeated in the future.”
The incident which had been picked up in the first instance by divers from Don Fosters dive operation and then reported to the port and DoE caused a considerable degree of public concern about the continuing threat to the local marine environment.
See related story on CNS
http://centos6-httpd22-php56-mysql55.installer.magneticone.com/o_belozerov/31115drupal622/science-and-nature/2014/08/28/cruise-anchor-hits-reef
Second short quake recorded south of Grand Cayman
(CNS): The earth was moving again yesterday evening when a second earthquake was recorded in the Cayman area on the same day. This time the tremor registered 5.3 on the Richter scale slightly higher than the morning quake but was a little further away. According to the US Geological Survey the epicenter of the Wednesday’s second quake which happened at 6:34pm was around 27 miles south of George Town at a depth of just over six miles. This followed the morning earthquake of 5.1 some 22 miles south of Grand Cayman at around 5am. There were no reports of any damage or injuries in either event. See details here
Cayman shaken by minor short earthquake
(CNS): One or two people on Grand Cayman were shaken awake in the early hours of this morning when a short earthquake registering 5.1 on the Richter scale was recorded some 22 miles south of George Town. According to the US Geological Society the quake happened at just over six miles down and at about 5am local time. So far CNS has received no reports from readers of broken crockery or sinkholes as a result of the tremor and HMCI confirmed thatit and 911 received a few calls but there was no damage or injuries reported. See USGS details here
Mosquito plane starts swampland spray
(CNS): The Mosquito Research & Control Unit (MRCU) will be conducting aerial operations over mosquito-breeding swamp areas on Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac from Tuesday, 2nd September, officials have said. The operation will involve low-level flights during the mornings and late afternoons. The operation will start in Grand Cayman in the area of West Bay and finish on the north side of the island, then move to Cayman Brac. Weather permitting the operation should be complete within ten days. Some 12,000 acres of swamp are targeted in this operation in Grand Cayman, 320 acres in Cayman Brac and 475 acres in Little Cayman were which was sprayed last week due to elevated mosquito breeding there.
“The distinctive red and white MRCU aircraft will be applying the small pellets specifically designed to target mosquito larvae developing in aquatic habitats; this means preventing the occurrence of biting mosquitoes,” officials said. “Once the rains begin the pellets are activated and will provide control for up to two months. Low-level flights over specific areas are necessary to ensure that correct application and successful control of mosquitoes is achieved.”
This is the second island-wide treatment this year and officials hope it will assist in providing control through to the month of October as the rainfall starts to increase. A third treatment will follow as the chemical activity wears off.
Further information can be found on the Mosquito Research & Control Unit’s Facebook page or website (www.mrcu.ky). A daily update of the areas being treated will also be available on those sites. Please feel free to call MRCU with any enquiries on 949-2557.
HMCI plans Ivan anniversary symposium
(CNS): Alongside exhibitions, TV shows, church services and other events, Hazard Management Cayman Islands (HMCI) will be hosting a free public symposium on 10 and 11 September to mark the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Ivan and the country’s survival and rapid recovery from the devastating storm. Local officials and private sector representatives who played key roles during the storm and its aftermath will be speaking alongside international guests. Hurricane preparedness, forecasting then and now, economic consequences of hurricanes, and business continuity and the lessons learned from Ivan will be at the centre of the two day seminar.
International guests include representatives from the United States National Hurricane Centre, the Caribbean Disaster Management Agency, the Insurance Association of the Caribbean. Winston Garraway, a senator from Grenada, which was one of the Caribbean countries to be worst hit by Ivan, will also address the conference. Members of the public are invited to attend the free sessions and will be able to submit questions via social media.
Alongside the symposium a month of activities in September is planned by various organisations to remember the worst hurricane in the islands since 1932 which struck Grand Cayman 10 years ago. The storm’s devastating impact will be on display on 6 September, when the National Gallery opens a month-long photography show titled “Ivan Remembered”. The Gallery has also planned a number of educational activities based on the exhibition which will continue throughout the month.
HMCI is also planning an exhibition on the post- Ivan recovery with pictures from all districts following the storm, alongside pictures from 2014 showing how things have changed. This will be located in the George Town public library for the first two weeks of the month—where it is expected to reach a large youth audience. It will then move to Government Administration Building for the remainder of September.
On Saturday 6 September and Sunday 7 September, churches have been invited to mark the anniversary with community lunches, and to share disaster preparedness literature with their congregations. Among those churches to have already agreed to take part are Elmslie, South Sound and Robert Young United Churches, as well as Boatswain Bay Presbyterian Church.
Cayman Islands Government TV will also produce a documentary on the storm to air on 11 September on Westar channel 20 and Logic channel 23. Meanwhile, Cayman27 will re-air “36 Hours”, a 2005 documentary on Hurricane Ivan. Caribbean Utilities Company is also working a documentary on its response to the aftermath of the hurricane to be aired on also on Cayman 27 on 12 September at 7.30pm.