Garbage slowly killing life on Refuge Cay
ENVIRONMENTALISTS have raised concerns about the degradation of Refuge Cay – one of the top 10 breeding sites in the Caribbean for the endangered brown pelican – which has been overwhelmed by garbage.
The cay, located off the coast of Port Royal, is being choked by garbage that flows freely into the harbour from the 21 gullies that empty there.
According to Camilo Trench, scientific officer at the Port Royal Marine Laboratory, the constant flow of garbage has now reached a crisis proportion.
“We need to stop the inflow of garbage, mainly through a public education campaign, monitoring the dumping of garbage in the gullies and possibly placing screens at the mouth of gullies,” Trench said. He was among a group of environmentalists on a boat tour last Thursday of the waters around the historic Port Royal to study the importance of mangroves.
The fact-finding mission was organised by the United Nations Environmental Programme, in collaboration with the Jamaica Environment Trust.
There was every imaginable form of garbage at the cay – old refrigerators, stereos, frying pans, diapers, used condoms and an assortment of plastic bottles and plastic bags.
Apart from the endangered brown pelican, Refuge Cay also serves as a nesting site for magnificent frigates, cattle egrets, snow egrets, ibises and herons. There is also a healthy population of oysters, crabs and seahorses.
But the overflow of solid waste is slowly killing life on the cay. The red mangrove which grows closest to the water’s edge is missing as garbage has severely damaged their environment. The other species of mangroves, the buttonwood, black and white, are struggling to stay alive.
Mangroves play an important role in stemming climate change and maintaining bio-diversity as well as being effective shoreline defences against storms and hurricanes.
According to Professor Ronald Young, dean of the Faculty of Pure and Applied Sciences at the University of the West Indies, Mona, drastic action must be taken in order to restore the site.
“Refuge Cay is an indicator of the level of pollution. It tells you why people don’t swim in Kingston Harbour anymore. Typically, the place would be full of boats (and) you would have people. Now nobody goes there,” Young said.
