est. 2007

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Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary: An Unfiltered View

Submitted by Call a spade…(as a comment) The rest of the BU family will probably be tired of our exchanges on Graeme Hall, but since we share a love of history I hope they will cut me a little slack one last time! This morning I called an old friend who had a long involvement…

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Submitted by Call a spade…(as a comment)

The rest of the BU family will probably be tired of our exchanges on Graeme Hall, but since we share a love of history I hope they will cut me a little slack one last time!

This morning I called an old friend who had a long involvement with the shooting-swamp at Graeme Hall.  In 1960, he was personally responsible for clearing about 20 acres of mangroves in order to create the large ponds I knew as a boy there.

Here is the history according to him:

1. The mangrove swamp, which was very dense, was part of the Graeme Hall plantation owned by a Mr. Dudley Clarke.  He operated a shooting swamp there, but nothing on the scale of what existed after 1960.

2. Ownership of this mangrove land then passed to a Mr. Eric Manning.  The manning family were very involved in bird-shooting.  The family use to own what is now Rockley Golf and Country Club, and there was a shooting swamp at the lower end of what is now the golf course.  When Golf Club Road and Rockley New Road started to be developed as residential after the second world war, the Mannings started to shoot at Graeme Hall.

3. In 1960, my source, commissioned by Mr Eric Manning, cleared 20 acres of Mangroves and built up banks to separate the shallow ponds needed to attract wader birds. Tons of clay were brought up from St. Andrew to lay the foundation for the ponds.  In other words, the mangroves were not cultivated or encouraged to create the shooting-swamp; they were actually severely cut back.

4. According to my source, the sluice gate was not installed to let in salt water that would help maintain the mangroves; it was actually installed to let out fresh water from the shooting-swamp to prevent flooding! As I mentioned earlier, shooting-swamps have no need for mangroves, nor do they need brackish water. The birds want fresh water. Also, I used to fish for tilapia in those ponds, and they are fresh-water fish.

5. According to my source, the mangroves were there before you and I were born.  He believes a sand bank built up over time, and this “new land” was built on and a road installed.  This development would have become a barrier to the natural inflow of salt water during high tide, but it was probably a gradual process.

6. According to my source, before Allard, one of the previous owners of this land, after it ceased to be  shooting-swamp, was a developer who wanted to created a marina-type development.  It was he who created the deep lake that is there now and filled in much of the rest. Obviously that plan fell through.

I believe that the original function of the sluice gate was reversed when Allard made the decision to create a sanctuary and restore the mangroves as part of that. By the way, my source was consulted by Allard because of his previous knowledge of the swamp, and he warned Allard that once salt water was reintroduced the mangroves would take over in short order if they were not carefully controlled.

My apologies to the rest of you for the length of this post. As you will have determined from my original post, I have no regard for Mr. Allard. However, I do love the sanctuary and that’s a fact.  I don’t care whether the tourists go there or not; our own people need places like this.

David is right: it is a Mexican standoff. The Government is not going to acquire a property from someone that has shown such disrespect for the country.

BTW, I haven’t shot a bird in over 40 years. And never will again.

38 responses to “Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary: An Unfiltered View”

  1. David Avatar
    David

    @Call a Spade

    Actually BU finds the exchanges on this subject riveting stuff. Keep it going.

  2. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Very interesting. Much more interesting from all angles (including historic) than the promotional material provided by GHNS. Does your contact have photographs or know where to get them? This is a part of our national heritage and it would be good to see it properly documented, instead of the slanted information we have been fed. I share your lack of regard for Allard. His motives are extremely questionable, as are his methods. I want to see the sanctuary survive, but not at any cost. What could have been a truly wonderful project has degenerated into a power play. What I get from your report is that Allard’s fixation with the surrounding land that he does not own, but seeks to annex as a part of a national park project, lacks the grounds he claims. Is this correct, or have I got it wrong?

  3. tulipknife Avatar
    tulipknife

    I don’t pretend to know any of the history behind the sanctuary but absolutely agree on 1 thing, it shouldn’t matter about the amount of tourists that visit, the people of Barbados deserve to have a place like this.

  4. Call a spade... Avatar
    Call a spade…

    @ anonymous

    Truthfully, I don’t know much about Allard’s fixation with the lands he doesn’t own. I don’t have any insider information that would shed light on that matter. What I do know, which is matter of public knowledge, is that Allard offered to donate some of the land included in the sanctuary towards a national park. This was conditional on the Government putting in that big area of land belonging to the Ministry of Agriculture above the swamp. This stretches from Graeme Hall terrace almost all the way over to Rendezvous Hill. This idea for a park there came about in opposition to Matthew Kierin’s plans to put in a water-park. The residents of Graeme Hall Terrace were vehemently opposed to that, so they supported the park idea and Allard became something of a hero for his offer. The Government of the day was the current opposition, and I don’t think Allard got on too well with them either.
    Unfortunately, it is a lot of money he is asking, and he continues to antagonise the very people whom are best suited to acquire it. He doesn’t seem to understand that you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.
    Now if we could only convince COW, Bizzy, Bjerkhamn, Altman and Parravicino to come to together and start the ball rolling with some sizeable donations to establish a trust to buy it. It would be a magnificent gesture of preservation from those who have made squillions from the sale and development of our limited real estate. One can dream!

  5. Readydone Avatar
    Readydone

    Correction tilapia is a brackish water fish, and they have be farmed in pure sea water also.

  6. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Mr Spade
    I would like to personally thank you for your interesting contributions to the discussion on a place in our country that is obviously dear to both of us, and about which we have pleasant memories from our youth.

    I would like also to thank you and acknowledge not only the sharing of your knowledge but in doing relevant research to enlighten and edify the BU readership on this matter, rather than engage in emotive exchanges.

    I personally remember when the mangroves were severely cut back in 1960. You also corroborate many of my observations including the filling in of much of the swamp in the 60’s after the gun club was discontinued there.

    You keep on stressing that shooting-swamps have no need for mangroves, nor do they need brackish water. That might very wel be the case. I have no interest in, or knowledge about shooting swamps, but I do know that mangroves need salt water, as Allard was taught by your source. You said that your source posited that “once salt water was reintroduced the mangroves would take over in short order if they were not carefully controlled”

    Although the mangroves were not cultivated or encouraged to create the shooting-swamp, the mangroves were getting access to salt water- if not they would not have grown to the height and density that they did, that occasioned their having to be cut back.

    Whereas I do not know the exact history of the emergence or origin of the mangroves, I know that simple botany demands that mangroves need saline water to thrive. One example is the little patch to the north of Holetown at the interface of the sea and the entrance of the effluent from I think Lancaster gully thereat.

    Mangroves need salt water to thrive, and the fact that there is mangrove at Graeme Hall suggests that there was some access to salt water.

    The birds and the fresh water tilapia need fresh water, and the mangroves need salt. Whereas the sluice gate was not installed to let in salt water but was installed to let out fresh water from the shooting-swamp to prevent flooding, there was obviously some intermingling of the water, because the mangroves were flourishing.

    What is also amazing, if my memory serves me correctly, the flora next to the sluice gate on the sea side was the sea grape (also introduced to Barbados and seen all along the route of the old train line) rather than mangroves.

  7. John Avatar
    John

    http://i39.tinypic.com/vfh30i.jpg
    Aerial Photo taken in December 1950.

    http://i44.tinypic.com/bdoabr.jpg
    Aerial Photo taken in December 1950, ….. zoom to Graeme Hall swamp

    http://i40.tinypic.com/r1h2fp.jpg
    Map created in 1951 from December 1950 aerial photo showing extent of swamp and mangrove trees on fringe of various ponds. Shooting huts and roads show up clearly.

    http://i41.tinypic.com/8wzbqa.jpg
    Recent Satellite Image showing mangroves naturally spreading to take back over the swamp. It looks as if was taken while the Sanctuary was under construction.

    My reading of the map and first two photos is that in 1950, the swamp had been extensively developed for shooting birds.

    Call a Spade … has been told that in 1960 his source was contracted to clear cut 20 acres of mangroves. The photo from 1950 and what can be remembered back to 1960 suggests that the Mangroves were allowed to get away in the period 1950 to 1960 because it is difficult to identify 20 acres in the 1950 photo that might need cutting and the shallow ponds on the west seem to have been in use and well tended.

    The swamp appears to have been pretty well maintained back then, 1950, by the shooting club or clubs that used it for recreation.

    The mangroves probably spread quickly as is born out by what Call a Spade …’s source had to say “By the way, my source was consulted by Allard because of his previous knowledge of the swamp, and he warned Allard that once salt water was reintroduced the mangroves would take over in short order if they were not carefully controlled.”

    Salt water enters the swamp from the bottom. Fresh water floats on top of it. When the sluice gate is opened it will be the fresh water that exits, not the salt water.

    It is obvious this gate was a flood prevention measure.

    Logic leads to this conclusion and people with experience know so and say so.

    That is why I would tend to think that the current impasse seems to be more of a “cutting off your nose to spite your face” than any Mexican standoff.

    If Mother Nature moves the gate, fresh water will exit from the top of the lake through the gate and sea water will enter underground from the sea.

    The salinity of the lake will rise. Mangroves will continue to spread.

    Government however will have an emergency on its hands which a little planning and maintenance could have avoided.

    Forget Peter Allard, just do the maintenance and repair!!

  8. Fair Play Avatar
    Fair Play

    Readydone
    Tilapia is a fresh water fish. I was taught this when I did an aquaculture course.They are kept in ponds of fresh water on fish farms.
    This is information was taken from Wikipedia
    Tilapia (pronounced /tɨˈlɑːpiə/) is the common name for nearly a hundred species of cichlid fish from the tilapiine cichlid tribe. Tilapia inhabit a variety of fresh water habitats including shallow streams, ponds, rivers and lakes

  9. ac Avatar
    ac

    It is very interesting to see a change in the thinking of those who previously said the topic of graeme hall was nothing but hullabaloo

  10. David Avatar
    David

    Some may find the video useful.

  11. ac Avatar
    ac

    @David
    It is very interesting and educational as wellto see the video. A lot for the nay sayers to learn . It isn’t hullabaloo for nothing. Nature provide us with someting that is precious and we should do all we can topreserved it.

  12. Pat Avatar
    Pat

    @ David

    That David Spieler like he got out clothes yuh. I enjoyed your response. Still here laughing.

  13. Save Mullins Bay Avatar
    Save Mullins Bay

    RT @GreenTimesAUS: Learn more about mangrove ecosystems! http://bit.ly/dx12IU #mangroveecosystem #mangrove #ecosystem #environment @budavid about 3 hours ago via TweetDeck

    SaveMullinsBay
    Save Mullins Bay

  14. David Avatar
    David

    @ac

    The video clearly supports your position that this natural habitat should be protected. BU has no doubt that it will be in time, just that the government has a bigger fish to fry first.

    BTW, not sure why some of your comments have been going to spam, sometimes it happens when another WordPress blog moderates a user.

    David

  15. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    I looked on that other blog. Something like 20 comments to the over 100 here on BU. I am particularly pleased with the way this thread has developed into a constructive discussion. It seems to me that we all agree a) that Graeme Hall should be preserved b) that it will be preserved and c) Government is not going to be dictated to by Allard. As David says, Government has other fish to fry. So, all we have to do is to sit tight.

    @John. Those photographs were great. Thanks.

    I have to tell you that the situation between Barbados and Allard has taken another turn. My source is extremely reliable. The Government of Barbados and many prominent Bajans have served legal proceedings on Peter Allard in Canada. I am most reliably informed that the evidence in these proceedings touches on Graeme Hall quite a lot. That is all I know at this time.

  16. ac Avatar
    ac

    @David
    Thanks david for letting me know what was causing the problem with my postings.
    On the enviroment sometimes I am very passionate . If only people would understand that everything on this planet is viable and that we are all connected and that in reality we all need each other to sustain a healthy life.

  17. John Avatar
    John

    Here is a section on Culture and History taken from a report ….. Graeme Hall National Park – Watershed Management Plan….. which appeared on Barbados in early July 2006

    Sure seems that by not reading BFP most of us commenters at BU took almost two years to figure out what is the history of the swamp.

    Culture and History

    The Graeme Hall Watershed has been highly impacted by anthropogenic activities during the last 150 years. A coastal roadway was first built on the sand bar separating the mangrove swamp from the sea in the early 1700s, and the bridge over the main exit channel, which remains today, was built in 1871. Originally, during this period, the economic needs of the Graeme Hall sugar plantation, on whose lands the swamp lay, further reduced its size and eventually led to the creation of a system of canals on the eastern side of the swamp, known locally as ‘vales’. Sugar cane was grown here, as were grasses, which were used to provide forage for mules and oxen used on the plantation.

    Early in the nineteenth century, newspapers (circa 1810) were advertising allotments of land within the Graeme Hall Watershed that were rented for the shooting of migrating birds between the months of July to December. This was later formalized in the latter half of the last century with the creation of gun clubs set up for the specific purpose of bird shooting. The largest club was Graeme Hall, located within the present boundaries of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary, which was run by Eric Manning and others, though at varying times there were a number of other shooting swamps in the environs of Graeme Hall, such as ‘Bunyans’, ‘Worthing View’, ‘Cavaliers’, ‘Vietnam’, ‘Amity Hall’ and ‘Neva’. It was the practice of these shooting swamps to clear-cut the mangroves so that migrating birds would have a clear view of the water trays and be enticed to fly down. As part of the Graeme Hall Estate, the freshwater marsh was extensively altered by canaled water flow into a series of freshwater trays (dykes) to attract water birds for shooting, and high grass banks from which mule fodder was cut and sold. Peat and mangrove poles were also known to have been cut and sold. Sometime later, a second hunting club was established in the western quadrant, and a number of shallow ponds were cleared and maintained to attract water birds, plus there was an annual cutting of the surrounding mangrove trees. A sluice gate was also installed in the narrow exit channel between the swamp and the sea in the 1930s and was opened only at low tide to control the water level in the shooting pools. Tilapia was introduced to the main lake around this time, and commercial seine harvesting took place. In 1972, the main lake was dredged and the sludge was used to fill in the western ponds and convert the land to pasture. The extensive annual mangrove cutting in the swamp ceased in the 1970s, and shooting in the swamp has been banned since 1981.

    http://barbadosfreepress.wordpress.com/features/graeme-hall-national-park-watershed-management-plan/

  18. John Avatar
    John

    I googled “Sluice Gate” “Graeme Hall” direpair and found this site with a bit more history.

    http://www.graemehall.com/about/history.htm

    Speaks to a malaria epidemic in Barbados in the 1920’s and the introduction of Tilapia to control mosquitoes.

    Also speaks to when the Sluice Gates were built and the fact that there were three of them.

    Interestingly, these were built around the same time as the malaria epidemic. Maybe besides being a flood control measure they released the fresh water from the swamp, made the water more saline and inhibited the breeding of mosquitoes.

    Anyone remember the old train carriage that used to straddle the canal by the sluice gate?

    I remember fishing out the window, closest I got to the swamp as a child.

  19. David Avatar
    David

    @John

    Did you read the topic of this blog? The word ‘unfiltered’ is the operative word.

  20. Karl Watson Avatar
    Karl Watson

    Here is some further information that may be of assistance. The Graeme Hall wetlands are ancient dating back to the time when what was an open arm of the sea started to fill up, aided by the red mangrove’s aerial roots which trap sediment. Of the four species of mangrove, two, the red and white are found in Graeme Hall..they are what is known as succession plants, i.e. their habitat requirements change as the species change, so white mangroves thrive outside of the brackish water environment which the red species need for their aerial roots.
    After colonization and the spread of plantations, the coastal road linking Oistins and Bridgetown blocked the sea and inland springs created a fresh water environment. This area was used for wildfowling as newspaper advertisements from the eighteenth and early nineteenth century show. When the Clarkes and subsequently the Mannings altered the wetlands for bird shooting, a number of things had to be put in place. Most importantly, the construction of expansive, shallow fresh water areas to attract migrating birds and the on going clearance of the mangroves to allow a clear line of flight for the birds coming in so that they would see the water and alight in numbers. The water had to be shallow as the the majority of birds shot such as the greater and lesser yellowlegs can only wade in water four to eight inches deep. Out of shooting season this swamp as well as others became welcome sanctuaries for any birds which survived the shooting season. Further alteration took place when the main trays or shallow areas were dredged to create the existing main lake as the preliminary work for condominiums/marina. This project did not get off the ground and throughout the eighties, individuals such as the late Captain Maurice Hutt and bodies such as the Barbados National Trust, Caribbean Conservation Association and others lobbied for the creation of a park there. As always, the stumbling block was the absence of the initial substantial capital investment needed to make a go of the project.
    Enter Mr Peter Allard. He came to the island with a letter of introduction to me and had read an article I wrote about the Graeme Hall Swamp. He contacted me and asked to be shown the area which I agreed to do albeit with some trepidation. There was rampant criminal activity in the area. A bird watching friend of mine who was in the swamp had recently been thrown to the ground, robbed and had several shots fired at him. New methods of crabbing by a newly arrived ethnic group created hazards in the long grass as deep pits had been dug by them and you could unsuspectingly fall into a deep hole. Other recently arrived groups with different cultural traditions were fishing using nets that stretched right across the lake. Swimmers would drive the fish into these nets. When I pointed out that this method of fishing in such a limited space would extirpate the fish population in a few weeks, all I got were sullen and threatening responses. Nevertheless Allard and I went to visit the area. At the end of the tour, he asked me, “What would you do with Graeme Hall Swamp.” I told him of the conservationists dream of saving the swamp, which I supported, stressing that as a well paid but still relatively poor academic, all I could do was dream. His answer was short and to the point. “Let’s buy it.” Stunned but elated, I asked, “Are you sure?”…”Yes.” And that was the genesis of the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary. The main area was acquired and subsequently I negotiated with the Alleyne sisters and CLICO to expand the land holdings of GHBS to provide needed security and buffer zones.
    Allard took a great personal interest in the utilization of the area. When I argued for complete retention of the swamp as a conservation area, I well remember his reply. “You academics think money grows on trees, but who is going to cover the recurrent costs of maintenance?” So the aviaries and interpretation centre and other facilities were all put in place. He expended considerable capital to build a world class facility. I am not going to discuss subsequent developments which I understand are before the courts. Suffice it to say that during the course of constructing the facility there were sometimes torturous negotiations with various agencies. Ministries do not always have the same agenda, they sometimes conflict in terms of their mandate and vision, causing delay and confusion and my view is that the seeds of Allard’s disillusion were laid there.
    Whatever the dispute, it is to Barbados’ benefit to save GHNS. It was one of the more successful attractions on the island, to locals as well as visitors. I have personally taken many school groups there and seen the wonder and joy on their faces, as the tarpon were fed and those five foot fish thrashed the water. Of all the comments that remain with me after years of escorting groups on tours, this one, often repeated, made the greatest impression. “I didn’t know that such a magical place existed in Barbados.”
    If any one has doubts as to the profitability of nature based tourism, let them go to/download the U.S.Fish & Wildlife Services survey: Birding in the United States: A Demographic and Economic Analysis (2006). There are 48 million bird watchers in the USA, of whom 77% observe waterfowl. They generate US$82 billion in total industry output and of specific interest to us, US$12 billion is on trip expenditures. Similar figures are available for Canada and especially the UK, which must be the bird watching capital of the world. Do we have the birds to attract visitors? Well from the North American flyways alone, some 300,000 birds pass through this island annually. Because of our geographic location, we also receive migrants from Europe, Africa and South America.
    Whatever the future holds for GHBS, it must include the presently owned government lands to the east. We Barbadians do not have a strong track record in conservation. The one shining example is in sea turtle conservation. Conservation for us always seems to be interpreted as how best can we use this area for human needs. Other species need our help. Let us be good stewards. So let us collectively begin with GHNS. Future generations of Barbadians will damn us for letting this opportunity slip.

  21. David Avatar
    David

    Thank you Dr. Watson for that insight. The GHNS issue has become heavily politicized as you are no doubt aware. BU remains confidant the matter will come to a head at some point. What should be obvious to Allard by now is that the Barbados government will NOT be held to ransom on this matter. His approach did not work with the previous government and it probably will NOT work with the incumbent.

  22. Hants Avatar
    Hants

    “You academics think money grows on trees, but who is going to cover the recurrent costs of maintenance?”

    nuff said.

  23. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Here’s a great rant on our disregard for the natural world and the consequences that inevitably will follow.

    BP and the ‘Little Eichmanns’

    By Chris Hedges

    Cultures that do not recognize that human life and the natural world have a sacred dimension, an intrinsic value beyond monetary value, cannibalize themselves until they die. They ruthlessly exploit the natural world and the members of their society in the name of progress until exhaustion or collapse, blind to the fury of their own self-destruction. The oil pouring into the Gulf of Mexico, estimated to be perhaps as much as 100,000 barrels a day, is part of our foolish death march. It is one more blow delivered by the corporate state, the trade of life for gold. But this time collapse, when it comes, will not be confined to the geography of a decayed civilization. It will be global.

    Those who carry out this global genocide—men like BP’s Chief Executive Tony Hayward, who assures us that “The Gulf of Mexico is a very big ocean. The amount of oil and dispersant we are putting into it is tiny in relation to the total water volume’’—are, to steal a line from Ward Churchill, “little Eichmanns.” They serve Thanatos, the forces of death, the dark instinct Sigmund Freud identified within human beings that propels us to annihilate all living things, including ourselves. These deformed individuals lack the capacity for empathy. They are at once banal and dangerous. They possess the peculiar ability to organize vast, destructive bureaucracies and yet remain blind to the ramifications. The death they dispense, whether in the pollutants and carcinogens that have made cancer an epidemic, the dead zone rapidly being created in the Gulf of Mexico, the melting polar ice caps or the deaths last year of 45,000 Americans who could not afford proper medical care, is part of the cold and rational exchange of life for money.

    The corporations, and those who run them, consume, pollute, oppress and kill. The little Eichmanns who manage them reside in a parallel universe of staggering wealth, luxury and splendid isolation that rivals that of the closed court of Versailles. The elite, sheltered and enriched, continue to prosper even as the rest of us and the natural world start to die. They are numb. They will drain the last drop of profit from us until there is nothing left. And our business schools and elite universities churn out tens of thousands of these deaf, dumb and blind systems managers who are endowed with sophisticated skills of management and the incapacity for common sense, compassion or remorse. These technocrats mistake the art of manipulation with knowledge.

    snip

    Karl Polanyi in his book “The Great Transformation,” written in 1944, laid out the devastating consequences—the depressions, wars and totalitarianism—that grow out of a so-called self-regulated free market. He grasped that “fascism, like socialism, was rooted in a market society that refused to function.” He warned that a financial system always devolved, without heavy government control, into a Mafia capitalism—and a Mafia political system—which is a good description of our corporate government. Polanyi warned that when nature and human beings are objects whose worth is determined by the market, then human beings and nature are destroyed. Speculative excesses and growing inequality, he wrote, always dynamite the foundation for a continued prosperity and ensure “the demolition of society.”

    http://www.truthdig.com/report/page2/bp_and_the_little_eichmanns_20100517/

  24. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Sorry, link above is to page 2 of Chris Hedge’s rant “BP and the ‘Little Eichmanns”. Here is the link to Page 1:

  25. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/bp_and_the_little_eichmanns_20100517/

  26. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Anyone remember the old train carriage that used to straddle the canal by the sluice gate?

    Yes I do.

    Thanks for your great contribution to the history of the swamp.

  27. Amused Avatar
    Amused

    Green Monkey // May 17, 2010 at 5:10 PM. I don’t think it is a great rant at all. I think it is a one-sided, pig-ignorant disregard for evolution.

    Many species of plant, animal and fish and all else have disappeared from the face of the earth over the years. They disappeared in circumstances in which mankind cannot be blamed and played no role. There were ice ages that had nothing to do with any ecological disregard by man. Earthquakes and other such that tore continents apart, but had nothing to do with mankind having not paid attention to ecology.

    Our problem, like every other preceeding generation, is that we think that we know it all and that our science has nowhere to go, and we look back in disbelief as to how people survived in the past without a computer. We completely ignore the fact that life and science move on. And who knows, this sacred cow of ecology may turn out to be very dangerous – we don’t know, because we do not have the slightest idea what comes next.

    I support the purchase by the Government of the GHNS. It is beautiful and it gives me pleasure, but NOT at Allard’s price. I support, but NOT BLINDLY, ecological efforts worldwide, but I do not rely on soon-to-be-outdated scientific data for my reasons of support.

    We do the best we can with the data we have in our time. Unfortunately we do not seem to look back and to consider that our forbears did the same with what they had. And the World carried on ticking and they did not know everything…….and nor do we. And furture generations will have better data and so on and on and on. And Graeme Hall and other places like it will survive…..or not…..depending on evolution, which includes the needs of mankind and all things.

    And I am getting damned fed up with ecologists preaching at me time and time again. If you are starving and your family is starving and it means eating the last shrub or animal of a species, you damned well eat it. Do you think for one second that a hungry carnivore (like a lion) is going to reflect that you are the last human in the world before eating you? And please don’t give me that shi** about us being able to reason and the lion not. Our needs (both individually and as a society) are paramount. They always have been – and you know something? The world is still here.

  28. Nostradamus Avatar
    Nostradamus

    The sluice gate has not been operational for over 5 years and government is responsible for its operation and maintenance. Why?

    Is it unreasonable of citizens to expect Government and public servants to carry out their responsibility and do their jobs with regards to the sluice gate? Page 5-5 of the ARA study says that “The sluice gate has historically been operated frequently to manage water level within the system, and this frequent operation provided flushing of upland runoff as well as some inflow of clean saline ocean water during periods of high tide. This operational practice has become less and less frequent in recent years due to deterioration of the gate structure.”

    http://graemehall.com/press/papers/ARA%20Study%20Part%20I.pdf

    This report is dated October 1997! This is May 2010! The gate is about to fall down. The walls of the canal are falling in. There is all manner of garbage, plastic bottles etc in the canal for locals and visitors to see when they visit the beach. What happens if we have heavy rainfall, the gate can’t be opened and Worthing, Rendezvous and St. Lawrence homes, businesses and hotels are flooded? It has happened before and was mitigated by the quick opening of the gate. What will happen now?

    All of this, despite the fact that the Graeme Hall Swamp has been designated a Natural Heritage Conservation Area and a Ramsar site by our said same Government.

    This is Minister of Public Works John Boyce’s constituency. Does he visit or know what is going on right under his nose? What about Minister of Tourism Sealy. What is he doing? Minister of Environment Lowe is responsible for Environment, Natural Heritage and Drainage. What is he doing apart form attending overseas conferences?

    No disrespect intended to the above mentioned honorable gentlemen but the general public, beach users, environmentalists, residents, businesses, hotels, the constituents who voted for you and whose vote you will need next election, want to know why you are not taking any action.

  29. David Avatar
    David

    FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

    Bridgetown, Barbados – May 19, 2010 –

    contact news@graemehall.com

    Video Tape of Crab Poachers Released

    Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary today released portions of the security video tapes showing intruders who allegedly killed large numbers of crabs, and caused the deaths of a rare Amazon parrot and one of the spoonbill chicks inside one of the Aviaries.

    The security tape clips can be seen at http://www.superu.ca/content/1368.

    Night cameras recorded groups of up to six poachers carrying bags of crabs and fleeing the Sanctuary after leaving dismembered crabs scattered within the Sanctuary.

    The illegal poaching combined with the terrorizing of rare bird species at the Sanctuary has caused severe stress in the remaining bird population at the Sanctuary.  

    The Sanctuary and the surrounding Graeme Hall area is recognized as an international wetland of critical importance and a RAMSAR site under the Convention on Wetlands treaty.

    Further video analysis is underway.  No arrests have been made, but Sanctuary officials are encouraging anyone with information about the incidents to come forward.

  30. Yardbroom Avatar
    Yardbroom

    The Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary issue has gone beyond enviromental considerations – it should not, but it has – it is now a case of last man standing. Individuals are determined it will be them.

  31. ac Avatar
    ac

    Speaking about the wonders of Nature . Take a look at the Grand Canyon.Doing the job and providing for mankind as Nature intended it to be and this in no different for the wetlands in our country.

  32. Nostradamus Avatar
    Nostradamus

    David,

    Is it the power of blogs or a mere coincidence that late yesterday or early this morning government sent heavy equipment to remove sand from in front of the sluice gate and in the canal to allow some of the water that has built up due to recent rains to be released into the sea?

    Of course all of the garbage, plastic bottles etc that were trapped behind the gate will now go into the sea and wash back on the beach.

    Let us wait and see how long they will allow the flow to continue. Will they wait until locals and tourists complain about the “coloured” water in the sea?

    How much easier it would be to have an operable sluice gate or mechanism that allows easy and frequent management of the flow of water as recommended by the ARA study in 1997.

  33. David Avatar
    David

    @Nostradamus

    Two things we can say. It is the front end of the rainy season and two, something is happening.

  34. ac Avatar
    ac

    To see now that thesea and the beaches and the seabathers going to have to deal with all the garbage accumulated because of stupidy.

  35. Georgie Porgie Avatar
    Georgie Porgie

    Nostradamus
    FYI
    “coloured” water in the sea has always been an accompaniment of opening the gate from since I have seen that happen in 59.

    In all places universally where there are rivers or waters emitting into the sea from inland after periods of high rain fall the sea water becomes coloured.

  36. Amused Avatar
    Amused

    I have just heard that Mr Allard is receiving medical treatment in the USA for a potentially life-threatening ailment. In spite of Allard’s stated perception of Barbados and Bajans as violent savages un-equipped to deal with self-determination and sovereignty, I am sure we all wish him a speedy recovery and good health for the future.

  37. Anon (2) Avatar
    Anon (2)

    Amused: Perhaps you could provide us with evidence of, or personal knowledge of Peter Allard”s belief that “Bajans are violent savages, unequipped to deal with self-determination and sovereignty”. You are a devious, evil person, who’s agenda appears to be very personal and has little to do with your concern for Barbados or it’s people. By now, anyone who has followed your many posts on this subject, should have drawn the conclusion that there is something about your hatred of Allard that you have not revealed. It is not normal and boarders on the sick and demented.

  38. Amused Avatar
    Amused

    Anon (2) // May 22, 2010 at 5:40 AM. I do most sincerely wish Allard a safe recovery, as I am sure all Bajans do. We are a kind and caring race and would never wish ill or illness to anyone. That is a fact of life. It is who and what we are as a race and, mostly, as individuals.

    As for your invitation to prove things to you, I have read and digested the document-backed blogs here on BU and I rested my case a long time ago. I am content that the evidence speaks for itself and supports my stated views. And NO, I will not “remind you” what that evidence is. Look it up and read it for yourself.

    HOWEVER, I understand (and I have been given a little taste) that the best is yet to come……but you know that already, don’t you, Anon (2).

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