The Saint Lucia National Trust (SLNT) wishes to applaud the government of the Bahamas for taking a bold and timely step to strengthen its laws regarding the protection of all sea turtles. The Bahamas Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources has announced in a press release, “. . . that the Fisheries Regulations governing marine turtles have been amended to give full protection to all marine turtles found in Bahamian waters by prohibiting the harvesting, possession, purchase and sale of turtles, their parts and eggs. The new regulations also prohibit the molestation of marine turtle nests.” The regulations came into effect on Tuesday, September 1, 2009.

The Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network (WIDECAST), a Partner Organization of the UNEP Caribbean Environment Programme, is an independent network of sea turtle scientists, managers, conservationists, policy-makers, and educators based in more than 40 nations of the Central Western Atlantic. Saint Lucia’s Coordinators are the SLNT and the Department of Fisheries.

According to WIDECAST: “On Tuesday the Bahamas joined the large majority of Wider Caribbean Governments in formally recognizing that these ancient reptiles are worth more alive than dead, both from an ecological and from an economic perspective, and in its commitment to fully recovering these highly valuable natural assets. The revised Regulations will undoubtedly have far-reaching positive effects, as sea turtles are among the most migratory of Caribbean marine fauna.”

With this in mind, the Saint Lucia National Trust extends congratulations to the government of the Bahamas for putting the necessary measures in place to protect these creatures. We also take this opportunity to call on Saint Lucians to abide by the laws and regulations governing sea turtles and to play their part in promoting their conservation and strengthening approaches to sustainable use of critical natural resources.