TOURISM AND DEAD TURTLES!
Negative … who, me?
St. Maarten - Today was a day of confusion and it started with not one but
two phone calls, calls that are connected yet seem worlds apart.
I have lived in the Caribbean
a good part of my life. Living in paradise should be wonderful and in many ways
it is. I love to sail, I edit a popular sailing magazine, and I host a radio
show, so why am I becoming more and more disillusioned by what is happening
around me. Take the first phone call of the day, which was from the CaribbeanTourism Organization inviting me to attend the inaugural State of the Industry
Conference being held in French St. Martin this week. The conference has
brought together some heavy hitters from around the region – politicians and
industry bigwigs – who will pass opinions on Caribbean tourism and, according
to the website, discuss issues, identify solutions and generally develop
courses of action that will benefit the tourism industry in the Caribbean. All good stuff! Why, then, did they find
it so difficult to get representatives from the Dutch side of the island to
attend, after all isn’t it for their benefit, too. As a journalist, I suppose I
should attend (yawn) but first they would have to convince me that it will be
different to all the other Caribbean
conferences I have attended in the past, where clever people spout big words
and bigger ideas, spend time living it up in some nice hotel, and then fly away
with a rosy glow. And what gets done … nothing, ever.
When I tried to tell this to the organizer, she said I was
burned out and should get off the rock. In one respect she is right, but she is
also dead wrong. What I really need to do is stop caring.
St. Maarten - The second phone call beggars belief. In front of witnesses,
two people, allegedly working for a well-known ‘eco’ tour company, on Tuesday speared
a turtle in the Simpson Bay Lagoon and dragged it behind their boat in order to
kill it. They were seen and stopped, although it’s thought the turtle did not
survive. This act of eco vandalism is
now being investigated by the St. Maarten Nature Foundation and their
colleagues at Environmental Protection in the Caribbean (EPIC). Both
organizations say they will pursue this case and, if proven, will go after
those involved and prosecute them to the full extent of the law. This latest
attack on an endangered species comes after four Green Turtles were speared in
the Simpson Bay area last month.
On a positive note: If anyone knows of a job on a mountain
top in Outer Mongolia, please get in touch.
