TRELAWNY (JIS) - A cave survey to formally classify and evaluate over 70 caves within the Cockpit Country, is currently underway, be completed on May 22.

The Jamaican Caves Organisation (JCO) is doing the actual fieldwork with $500,000 of financing from The Natural Conservancy (TNC).

TNC will use the data to build a database on caves, which it will then use to guide planning on their management and preservation.

One of the aims of the survey is to develop georeferencing data or the coordinates of longitude and latitude that pinpoint the exact location of each cave.

"We are looking to categorise them into those that are biologically important, those that have eco-tourism potential as well as those that cane be left for guano (bat dung) harvesting and so on," says Kimberly John, TNC Freshwater Conservation Specialist.

"We really want to manage them based on their status."
Additionally, the survey will collect biological data on the bat population as well as invertebrates, found in and out of water.

The Windsor Great and Marta Tick caves are already known for their significant bat colonies.

Other creatures also populate the caves, many with feelers instead of eyes to manoeuvre their dark world.

"You will see the odd cave crab or a blind cave shrimp dash out of the corner of your eye, which makes it so fascinating just how much life there is in the most unlikely places," said John.

The survey will also assess the status of the caves with respect to human impact.

The first phase of the assessment was from March 26 to April 9, when JCO focused on the caves that were hydrologically active, that is had water coursing through them, and so were best visited during the dry season.

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