Dear Subscriber,
The Nature Conservancy, The Bahamas National Trust, and the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF) under the Bahamas Protected project, announced the Draft 20 by 20 White Paper: Marine Protection Plan is now available for comments 20 by 20 White Paper_Marine Protection Plan_Executive Summary.
The Project Management Team (PMT) is pleased to receive comments from stakeholders on this proposal document, which outlines areas across The Bahamas to receive various levels of protection. These efforts align with the Government’s commitment and plans for expanding the country’s Marine Protected Area Network to 20% of marine and coastal environments by year 2020, under the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI).
The Executive Summary of the White Paper, and the section of the plan for the areas proposed for Cat Island, which consists of six (6) sites in total can be found here Proposed Marine Protected Areas for Cat Island_20 by 20 White Paper_Marine Protection Plan.
All interested stakeholders are encouraged to send comments to bahamasprotected@gmail.com to provide input on:
1. The accuracy of the information presented in the document,
2. Information on the activities that are currently underway in the proposed areas,
3. Existing and potential threats to specific areas, and
4. Opportunities that stakeholders would like to see take place within these areas;
The deadline for comments is 11:59pm EST on Friday, August 3rd, 2018.
Proposed maps were uploaded to the project’s Facebook page (Bahamas Protected @242Protected) for comments and feedback as well, and packets were sent to the Administrator and Local Government Offices to gather final input on the proposed areas before formal submission to Government in August, 2018.
Warm Regards,
James Honeycutt