Trouble in paradise
Polly Pattullo
When the U.S. war correspondent Martha Gellhorn visited the British Virgin Islands in the 1940s, she came across a cove “where nothing had changed since time began, a half circle of white sand, flanked by huge squarish smooth rocks . . . and the water turquoise blue.” When she returned many years later, she found her cove “full of sun-tanned bodies and ringed by boats . . . there were bottles and plastic debris on the sea-bed and picnic litter on the sand.”
Tourism has taken over the Caribbean: in 1997 more than 14 million people took their holidays there, with some three million more dropping in from cruises. “Tar balls” on beaches indicate that oil tankers and other ships dump their oil and garbage overboard (despite laws against such practice), while pollution off Florida and in the Gulf of Mexico is causing serious concern.
However, it is the ever-growing cruise-ship industry which is a particular focus of concern for the Caribbean Sea. The larger and newer cruise ships have adopted a “greener” approach, with modern waste-processing facilities, according to the Center for Marine Conservation Organization in Washington. Yet a report by the Economist Intelligence Unit concluded that “there is much evidence that dumping of rubbish at sea does take place.”
It is not just the seas that have been affected by the demands of the tourist industry. Those fragile ecosystems surrounding so many Caribbean islands, the coral reefs, are under stress as well. In Tobago, tourists destroy exposed coral by walking on it in plastic sandals; in the Bahamas souvenir shops loot the reefs for stock, loading their shelves with shells, dead coral and seahorses; in Granada, beach vendors sell earrings made out of rare black coral.
Belize has the second longest barrier reef in the world and well-publicized conservation projects working to protect it. Yet its two marine nature reserves have shown signs of environmental degradation—associated with too many people visiting a too fragile site.
In the Cayman Islands the local watersports association has complained to the government about the damage done by cruise ships dropping anchor on the reefs. Government scientists have acknowledged that more than 300 acres of coral reef have already been lost to cruise ship anchors in the harbour at George Town, the capital of Grand Cayman. Proposals to increase the number of cruise ship moorings continue to threaten the reefs. And by destroying the reefs, you destroy the tourist industry.
Short-term profits
While cruise ships bring waste on to the land, waste from the land is also dumped in the sea. A 1994 study by the Caribbean Tourism Organisation (CTO) showed that waste water treatment facilities in many hotels were of “limited value with regard to the treatment of micro-biological and nutrient removal”. The report also noted that 80-90 per cent of inadequately treated sewage was disposed of in coastal waters, near hotels, on beaches and around coral reefs and mangroves.
Since then, there has been increasing awareness among hotels and tourist boards of the environmental costs to the tourist industry of irresponsible policies. At least, in theory. The truth is that although lip-service is paid to environmental awareness, there is little enforcement of the limited legislation that does exist. Or as Calvin Howell, the former head of the Caribbean Conservation Association, explained: “The problem has been exacerbated by an attitude that approves of short-term rather than long-term sustainable development.” The evidence for this is that foreign developers are still moving in to create resorts and golf courses on coastal lands.
The CTO has on many occasions appealed to the region “as a matter of urgency” to put together an environmental plan. This has yet to happen. Early in 1998, managers from Caribbean marine sanctuaries in more than twenty of the region’s countries discussed ways of countering the threat to marine resources. Once again, co-operation was the theme. “We need to look at the Caribbean as one system,” said Richard Curry of the Biscayne National Park near Miami. But another question remains: when will governments get the message?
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The expanding cruise-ship industry |
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| Cruise-passenger arrivals (in thousands) | |||||
| Year |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
1996 |
| World |
12,600 |
26,822 |
31,696 |
29,750 |
34,428 |
| Africa |
158 |
180 |
232 |
238 |
287 |
| The Americas |
10,436 |
10,632 |
10,680 |
10,717 |
12,216 |
| East Asia/Pacific |
343 |
273 |
294 |
305 |
324 |
| Europe |
1,644 |
15,720 |
20,471 |
18,469 |
21,570 |
| Middle East |
2 |
4 |
5 |
7 |
16 |
| South Asia |
17 |
13 |
14 |
14 |
15 |
| Source: World Tourism Organization, Madrid, 1998 | |||||
