Turtle ban decision made with future generation in mind – Caesar

St Vincent and the Grenadines has joined an esteemed list of countries worldwide which have banned the capturing of sea turtles.

This came after a series of consultations locally, with regional and international stakeholders, including WIDECAST partners Carla Daniel and Dr Darren Browne of the Barbados Sea Turtle Project.{{more}}

Research has revealed that all our turtles face different levels of threat, from Vulnerable to Critically Endangered. The outright prohibition of capturing sea turtles has been launched under the theme, “No extinction in my generation”.

“All of the turtle species in our waters were facing various levels of threats, and my Government decided that it was time to fall in line with the steps taken by our brothers and sisters in Cuba, Barbados, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and South and Latin America to institute a total ban on the killing of sea turtles and harvesting of their eggs,” said Minister of Fisheries Saboto Caesar.

The total prohibition is to be effective from January 1, 2017.

The 35-year-old Minister noted that this decision was made with future generations of Vincentians in mind. It comes as one of the biggest conservation acts by the Government, which took office in 2001.

Recently, Caesar championed and received recognition by the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) in Rome for the Government’s efforts to fight Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Rural Transformation will host an Agro Tourism seminar on November 15, which will begin to highlight how SVG can do more to showcase its natural resources (flora and fauna) and its agriculture as an eco-tourism product, bringing new revenue into the country.

The Ministry will continue to work with conservation groups, like the St Vincent and the Grenadines Preservation Fund, the Union Island Nature Adventure Tours and the Turtle Project Mustique, to increase public awareness about the threats to sea turtles and reasons why they should be protected, including the role they play in the health of our reef systems.(Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Press Release)