THE Students Environment Network (SEN), the youth arm of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET) stages its second media tour of the Kingston Harbour recently as part of the organisation’s “Save Kingston Harbour” campaign that was launched in February of last year by Prince Charles of Wales during his visit to the island.

The tour, which began at the Port Authority Pier in Newport East was attended by senior government officials including land and environment minister, Horace Dalley, and member of parliament for Central Kingston, Ronald Thwaites.

Other guests included Observer columnist, John Maxwell and first runner-up in the 2001 Miss Jamaica World pageant, Annaleise Ulett.

According to SEN advisor, Aldane Maragh, “the tour symbolises the network’s commitment to see Kingston Harbour return to its former beauty”.

“The harbour is an extremely essential asset to the entire nation which has the potential of generating a lot of revenue through shipping, tourism, recreation and industrial activities,” he said.

St George’s College student, Fabian Anderson, who is chairman of the Save Kingston Harbour Committee said that the aim of the media tour was to “make an assessment on the state of the harbour so that appropriate measures can be taken to rehabilitate it.” He said that he hopes that the media will take a proactive role in ensuring that the Jamaican public is sensitised to the state of the Kingston Harbour and its importance to the nation.

The participants were shown different sections of the harbour which contained high concentrations of sewage, industrial waste, oil and solid waste. At Greenwich Farm, untreated sewage was seen coming from an outflow pipe. Not very far away children were seen swimming in the harbour.

Experts say that taking swims in certain sections of the harbour is extremely hazardous as bacteria levels are four times the amount considered safe for contact with human skin.

According to tour guide, University of the West Indies lecturer, Dr Dale Webber, sewage is the main contaminant of the harbour accounting for as much as 90 per cent of the pollution. He further stated that if sewage is dealt with, the state of the Kingston would be significantly improved.

Between 16 and 20 million gallons of raw sewage is deposited in the harbour daily. This is because the two main sewage plants in the corporate area — Western and Greenwich — are not functioning properly.

Dr Webber told the participants of the tour that pollution in the harbour was restricting economic and research prospects. He alluded to the fact that there is an organism in the Kingston Harbour called ascidian which is thought to contain cancer-reducing chemicals.

Minister Dalley described the tour as an informative one and said in his capacity as land and environment minister, he would ensure that environmental issues are put on the forefront.

He added that a partnership between government and ordinary citizens would have to be fostered in order to highlight environmental issues, he lauded the SEN for the significant contribution that they have made in sensitising the public on the state of the Kingston Harbour.

Ronald Thwaites echoed those sentiments and said that his government was committed to rehabilitating the Kingston Harbour. He said that recently an order was issued to stop plans of dredging the harbour which could have negative repercussions on its ecology.