I went onto the beach over the weekend via the "salt boiler lane". I personally know that French man Beach is the main beach in the Treasure Beach area and to see how both entrance to this beach looked was very disturbing, lots of debres all over the place. Our beaches are the main reasons why visitors may even come to treasure beach and to see how this particular beach was allowed to stay since tropical storm Nicole was disturbing. The "Salt boiler Lane" needs bushing , I remember we use to do this yearly. The road beside Golden sand needs some attention, were has our pride gone, Lots of broken fences, bob wire, woods and other debres from proprties next to the beach are buried in the sand waiting to damage visitors and even local. Another thing which I notice was the fact that beach fires were burnt on the beach and persons involved leave the bob wire which was use to hold the woods together buried in the sand aswell, very dangerous especially for some little kids I saw playing in the sand.

But on top of this all my greatest concerned was the fact that a road was cut across the "salt boiler Lane" by the owner/owners of the property adjacent to it. Height duty equipment damaged the lane resulting in heavy volume of water rushing down the lane leave a cliff so to speak, making it almost impossible to get from the lane onto the beach.

In closing I would like to say our elders fought long and hard for the "salt boiler Lane" lets preserve it. In additional I'm asking if rebecca could stop by and take a few pics to let the readers see what I'm saying, and can Mr George" Bones" Dillion form the citizens alert take a look into this matter. Last but not least we will to help with the bushing excercise......peace

Thanks Don for pointing this out. I too saw this and could not understand why it was allowed to get to this stage.

I am going to say this and hope it will not start a "A WAR OF WORDS" but I think apart from the locals that do enjoy the beaches the owners of guest houses/ villas/hotels should try to do more as they are the ones that will loose out seeing that visitors will not be happy with these conditions and will venture on to somewhere else for their next vacation and that is taking away revenue from the entire area.

I see pictures of the beaches being cleaned on many occasions which is wonderful as a fun day is always followed after, but that alone is not enough to entice visitors to our area.They do need safe entrance to get to the beaches.

Come On Treasure Beach Let Us Clean The Beaches Of The Land We Love So Well... Calabash...Frenchman ...Billy's Bay.

Love Treasure Beach,

Happy Holidays To All.

Don I totally agree with you!!! a citizen alert group is necessary.The roads needs clearing for visibility is almost non existence on some parts of the road especially the corners. God keep people safe on Jamaica roads I pray.

Its true some serious beach/Land errosion wat ever it is, taking place on the lower half of the beach. soon all that area of land there is going to collpse into the sea.

I too was shocked at the Calabash Bay beach recently. That beach always used to win prizes for the cleanest commercial beach in Jamaica.
A lot of the problem is the collection and disposal of garbage. If there are no bins on the beach, there is nowhere for anyone to put the garbage. If there are no bags in the bins then no-on wants to empty the bin and the garbage truck isn't going to go and collect them. The other thing is that some people feel that because they weren't the ones that threw it on the beach they shouldn't have to pick it up.

Since I consider Calabash Bay my home beach because of Lyric Villa, I have just put 3 large oil drums on Calabash Bay beach and given them garbage bags and promised to keep them supplied with these bags. The drums only cost 850 JAD each and the bags are $350 for 25 bags. Not a large price to pay I don't think. Maybe someone could do the same for the other public beaches.

Meex says: I am going to say this and hope it will not start a "A WAR OF WORDS" but I think apart from the locals that do enjoy the beaches the owners of guest houses/ villas/hotels should try to do more as they are the ones that will loose out seeing that visitors will not be happy with these conditions and will venture on to somewhere else for their next vacation and that is taking away revenue from the entire area.

I do not wish to engage in a war of words either. I want to say keeping the beaches clean is everyone's responsibility. Miss Todd did an excellent thing with putting the oil drums on Calabash Bay Beach. I am not taking away from what she did but she is not the only villa owner to have done something like this. Other villa owners care about the beaches also. There are trash receptacles on other beaches. Some villa owners pay people to go down and pick up litter on the beaches on a regular basis. What about all the beach shacks put up by TB residents. Who cleans up after their customers. What about all the children and their dogs playing on the beaches. Who cleans up after them.

If people who live in the area do not have enough pride in where they live to clean up the beaches and bush the roads, then it is not fair to stick the villa owners with all that work. It gets me upset for people to be always waiting for someone else to do things or complain when the government doesn't do it. I think it boils down to a matter of pride and shared responsibility. Working together on an on-going basis this is something we can achieve.

Owners of guest houses/ villas/hotels can do so much and no more, but then again some don't even care once guest sleeping in their rooms. Golden sand, French reef and eggy's beach bar has been doing a great job, Owen has transform that little area there, that section of the beach looks great. The Lower parts of the beach including both entrances not so great,this is where the community action group or watever group there is needs to fill in. Lets look at this from a community stand point, Is there a group in treasure beach that can put something together and clean up the beach sooner than later, Winter Tourist seasons just around the corner

I agree that beaches should be clean but not just for tourists. Beaches should be clean for us Jamaicans too - this is our country and we should take care of it. When I see tourists walking on our beaches and picking up our garbage I'm embarrassed. Why can't everyone who sees a plastic bottle or a lunch box just pick it up. Treasure Beach is for all of us and every single one of us has a responsibility to help keep it clean. Not only that, but when you actually see someone tossing a piece of garbage anywhere, they should be called to task on it. A lot of people just don't know any better and feel that the roadside and the beaches are their personal garbage dumps.

I also want to commend Andrew, Shabba, Owen, Eggy and others who I'm not aware of, for their part in keep Frenchman's beach clean as they can. But they can't do it alone.

Any one have an idea how we could form a Beach Clean-up Committee involving locals and villa owners and come to an agreement to have a once regular clean up of the beach, once a month, once a week etc. How about throwing in some cash to pay some of the unemployed youth to clean up? How can we organize this. Can we all come together.

We used to have an "Adopt-A-Highway" where we used to live. An organization or group of interested individuals would select a location to be responsible for. Perhaps once per month, the group would dedicate a few hours to cleaning up their portion of the highway. The same concept could be started on your beautiful beaches. If you had a sponsor for this effort, everyone in the group would wear a similar shirt, so the public could identify the volunteers. So, why not think about an "Adopt-A-Beach" project, and even include guest, I know I would volunteer a few hours of my vacation. Of course, a Red Stripe would have to be waiting for me when done!

When I am there and the "youth" ask me for $$, or to buy them a drink. I ask them to bring me a bag of garbage, {that I can see them picking up off the beach!} It`s a win-win ting.

I think that is a fabulous idea Dorothy!! And it is a win-win Ting or Red Stripe, or Heineken, or . . .

Thanks, Rebecca.
It also greatly reduces the number of requests for "a hundred" in a day..

Triple win!

Ok, let's go for it. How, when will we start? How about a gathering of the community on the beach to make decisions. How about one person taking the initiative to post a note on public places like the shops and restaurant inviting the community to come out. I would but, 1'm away at this time.

I would think the entrances to any place of business is the first impression that comes to mind.
Therefor the entrances to these beaches seems to be the problem also, therefore a few young men with their machetes in hand could have this solved in a day or two.

How much would that cost to do.Maybe someone could post it here and myself and others that read this could find it in their hearts to help financially by giving to such a needed cause.

It seems to be not just garbage but tree branches about to poke our eyes out and having to use our hands to part the way then itch our selves to death after seeing these are "MAKA" trees.
I know others will agree with me on this one..

Totally agreed, but seems subject closed, no one willing to put a foot forward, only talk.

This could be a not popular suggestion but I wish people would think about it before dissing it. In has been said how things could be better in Treasure Beach regarding the employment and financial situation and how many of the residents are suffering because their incomes have been so low and how people are looking for jobs. Hotels and villas has not been as full as before. There are many places for sale but no one is buying them. Tourism is what seems to be most important to earn money. Even if the fishermen are bringing in big catches, and they are not, there has to be someone to buy the fish and lobster. Farming is almost gone. So what is left to support us is the tourists.

If you are a tourist think of how you would look at the area. Would you want to visit a place that needs bushing, has potholes in the roads, overflowing garbage bins and trash and debris from bonfires on the beach?

If you are someone who is thinking of investing in the area, maybe by buying something that is for sale, would you hesitate to put your money into a place that is not kept up?

I think everybody with a stake in the community needs to do their part to make things look as inviting as possible everyday not only on some special cleaning up days. I think if the residents are concerned about earning a living they should take the first step and make this happen and not wait for people who live in America or England who own property to go first. This reminds me of some game where no one wants to go first and people wait for the other guy to move first.

I hope there are no comments to what Suggestion said about residents taking the biggest part of the responsibility for keeping TB clean because people are so busy getting ready for Christmas. I am not saying this is not everybody's responsibility including the owners who do not live in TB or even in Jamaica. People if we wait for them this will never get done. I think many more people need to follow the lead of Miss Todd and others who have said what they are doing on an every day basis. After all you have to look at the mess every day.

It costs no money to go around and pick up garbage and do bushing. All it takes is pride in the community. I feel sorry so many people do not have employment but that means a lot of people sit on the roadsides with nothing to do. How difficult would it be for some of the unemployed young men to take a small bit of time twice a week to go collect trash on the beaches and the entrances to the beaches. Young women too.

Pride pride pride. The most important thing we have. Show your pride and keep TB clean and inviting.

Again, we are willing to donate a few hours of our vacation time to assist with a beach clean-up. All we will need is some guidance on where to start, trash bags and a place to take the full trash bags. As visitors, we want a clean beach too, and we are offering our time to assist with the clean-up! Thanks.

I'm in.

we'll help!!

i find it very distressing that tourists and visitors are willing to help for free and people who live right there either ignore the mess or need to be paid to clean it up

To huh????, perhaps if you are "native", you could represent, thus solving the issue?

i live abroad. sorry.