While the economic crisis continues to hit hard abroad, we all have our fingers crossed that foreigners will
still be able to vacation here on Roatán. Sadly, it is a reality that tourists may not be able to afford holidays on the island for the next little while. But, through the help of our supporters and from international agencies awarding us grants for a variety of projects, we here at the Park are continuing with the good work, developing activities that promote conservation, education, and research.

SBWEMP Patrols
On Sunday the 8th of February, after receiving a report from a concerned
fisherman concerning a large net spotted near Crawfish Rock, our patrol boat
ventured beyond the Park boundaries to investigate the call. We discovered that
the net spanning the lagoon had a mesh size about a foot wide, indicating the net
was intended to snare turtles. Fortunately, there were no turtles trapped;
however, a large Southern Stingray was badly entangled. This heart wrenching
scenario finally ended when the ray succumbed to the stress while our staff was
attempting to untangle it. On the Bay islands, Stingrays hold no commercial
value as a food item, and as such, these and other unintentional by-catch are
thrown back into the sea as waste. Incidentally, the following week, while
travelling to Roatan’s East End, one of our staff witnessed a microfilament net at
least 1km long set opposite Punta Gorda’s graveyard. Even more nets were
spotted throughout the journey highlighting the need for island-wide patrols to enable us to remove these.

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