Without active management and local support, marine protected areas are simply "paper parks," protected in name only. But don't say those words on the Honduras Bay Island of Roatan. The marine park there and the pride in reef conservation are stunning examples for what local communities can accomplish.
The Sandy Bay Marine Reserve was officially designated in April of 1989, but effective management took time to build. It took the leadership and vision of dive operators and other West End community members to get things rolling. The Coral Reef Alliance (CORAL) has been working to help strengthen Roatan's Sandy Bay and West End Marine Park for several years now. Through ongoing trainings, educational outreach, and financial support for projects designed to support the MPA's effectiveness, the marine park has achieved impressive results. The park now employs 11 members including a Park Manager (the handsome fellow standing proudly beneath the Coral Reef Alliance banner in the above image is Nic Bach, Roatan Marine Park manager), maintains two patrol boats, collects a voluntary user fee from tourists to offset management costs, and provides outreach and awareness campaigns island-wide. And the efforts are paying off. There has been a substantial increase in the number of conch and lobster observed on the reef and a noticeable decrease in poaching.
CORAL's Mesoamerican Barrier Reef Program Manager, Rich Wilson, took these pictures from his visit to Roatan last week. He conducted trainings in Sustainable Marine Recreation (the smiling group of West Enders in the below image are marine tourism participants at Rich's training), visited with key partners, and began the planning for a new round of microgrants to fund reef conservation projects. One project we previously co-funded was for the production of marine park educational signage in the Roatan airport (bottom image).
2 comments:
That's awesome news. Roatan is were I learned to dive (and logged my first 100 dives) way back when. I'm glad the support for it has blossomed and it is now a community wide effort. I remember the park from c. 1992-93, at that time it was primarily being supported by the dive operations and resorts with objections and resistance from other segments of the community.
Does Honduras now have any ICM legislation to help the situation?
eric...
dive ops certainly still play a leading role, but now hotels, restaurants, ngo's, and other local community are involved...
honduras does have such legislation, but not for roatan at the moment... to date, we are working with the west end as a locally managed marine area (lmma)...
nearby cayos cochinos is another story... in 2003, legistlative decree 114-2003 designated the cayos cochinos as a Marine Natural Monument and the honduras coral reef fund as the managing agency responsible for the conservation of the islands...
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