Bio-diverse Fish Sanctuary: Goat Island

THE ARGUMENT:
...Only time will tell if our governments have made the correct decisions in cases where they have gone ahead with projects against the advice and protestations of environmentalists.
What is sure, though, is that both sides have the country's interest at heart — one seeing the creation of jobs and infrastructural modernisation; the other focussed on protecting our natural heritage and preventing possible damage from nature's fury, especially given our small size and our vulnerability to tropical storms and hurricanes.

The latest chapter in this ongoing story is the Government's announcement that it is considering a proposal from Chinese investors to develop a trans-shipment port (logistics & industrial park) at Goat Islands, off Jamaica's south coast.

THE PROBLEM:
Goat Islands are protected by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority Act 1991, and are also covered by the St Catherine Coast Development Order and the Town and Country Planning (Clarendon) Development Order.
Both orders require protection and conservation of the natural environment in cases where development is deemed necessary for the areas covered by the orders.
The development orders also state that decisions must be made in a transparent and accountable manner.

It appears now that the Government, in an effort to quench its thirst for cash, went ahead and opened the door to Goat Islands to the Chinese without consultation.

Observer Link:
www.jamaicaobserver.com/editorial/Goat-Islands-issue--Both-sides-need-to-talk_14 970536

Goat Island Video:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDKGe85mqFE

The US Marines used the island as a base during WW2 Z. A strategic location as a guard to the Windward Passage.

Vernam Field was the mainland base, I believe there is also interest there.



"In World War II, part of this island was used as a United States (US) Naval Air Base, from where two squadrons of PBY Catalina seaplanes patrolled the Windward Passage" Gleaner article by Peter Espeut.

I have not heard the security aspect being discussed. Hitler dem gone but one never knows.

turey...are you being the sly fox referencing warfare; in this instance the commercial variety?

The Big Picture, where the little Goat Islands are concerned, is the enlargement of the Panama Canal to handle the new generation of mega-transport ships. As the Chinese vessels exit the Canal heading for a spider's web of Atlantic ports, logistical, multimodal trans-shipment corridors, under their control, are called for.

If you were to extrapolate the military analogy, how much of this control of vital economic planning and "sovereignty" would the "C" nation want to abandon to Jamaicans...in terms of training-up the locals to the higher engineering positions?
Try to imagine a J'ca negotiating Ironman Team, stout enough to argue for the best interests our environment & our unemployed, when the China Harbour Engineering Company ponies-up US1.5 billion investment before our wide-eyed government officials.
(has the "what's in for us mentality" been extinguished?)

The most recent occasion, when we heard anything about mega-shipping in our seas, was the "poisoned" hand dealt us with the cruise-ship townships arriving at Falmouth on the north coast, and the immense damage done to the mangroves and fisheries by extensive dredging to accommodate these ocean-liners releasing passengers to scramble around port shops before moving o to the next happy destination!
By the way, were the seas flooding the roads near the Falmouth cruise port foreseen in any Environmental Impact Study, or was that just one of those impact-full consequences of Progress?

What A Massive Deep-Water Logistics Port/Hub Would Mean to the Shallow Waters Around the Goat Islands & The Portland Bight Protected Area:

If the Government gives the go-ahead for the Chinese investors to build the logistics hub, both islands will most likely be bulldozed, the sea floor dredged and connected nearby wetlands of Cabarita Point on the mainland.

It may also require filling in thousands of acres of wetlands, using limestone mined from the hills and spoil dredged from the sea. The resulting loss of the wetlands, seagrasses, coral reefs and coastal forests would result in a massive loss of biodiversity and possible extinction of several species which are only found in Portland Bight.

This...would sound the death knell for the livelihood of the approximately 55,000 persons who live in the Portland Bight Protected Area as the area around the Goat Islands is only 11 feet deep, which is too shallow to accommodate the large vessels that would most likely dock at the logistics hub.

Observer Link: Ecologically-Minded Officials Insist Goat Islands Must Be Protected
www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Officials-insist-Goat-Islands-must-be-protected_149 77497

Beware of the man with the plan when you have no plan...Anyone who says that the 'development' of the Portland Bight is a 'no-brainer' is likely to be the person who has no brain. Understanding is the key to all of this. (Howard Chin)
...A J'can Engineer's Views Regarding the Degradation of a Stressed Environment if Dredging for Mega-shipping Were to Occur in the Portland Bight Protected Area:

• Jamaica's Imperative Needs for Food Security (Fisheries-Sanctuaries-Overfishing)

• The Problems with Required Dredging Depths (90-feet?) for New Breed of Container Ships

• Damaging Runoff from paved surfaces of a proposed 3,000-acre (4.7 square-miles) Chinese port facility around the Goat Islands

Gleaner: Environmental Damage To Portland Bight Outweighs Economic Benefits
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20130908/focus/focus1.html

The worst enemy of the the environment is stupidity.
~Juan~

First off; find an old name. We have historians that know the names of the ancient political divisions of Yamaye. A guess would be "The large caye opposite the province of ....". Maybe "Iguana Island"; Iguanacaye or some such.

The goats would be recent. Less then 500 years.

"Goat Island" sounds like a desolate and ravaged place. Dazzling bare limestone and maybe a few lignum vitae stumps.

It must have been a forested sanctuary before the madness cleaned it.

I would conribute to the restoration and sustainable use if this place. I'm positive many would!

A joint project of such a kind between our Eastern friends, ourselves and anyone with interest would give our grands a treasure.

A few $B will done real fast. We will be left with business and more of the madness.