Anguilla’s work to monitor and conserve sea turtles took on a regional scope when a workshop was held on the island and was attended by a number of representatives from various parts of the region.
Ms. Kafi Gumbs, Anguilla’s Director of Fisheries and Marine Resources, put the matter into perspective when she met with media representatives this week. She told them:
“In April 2015, the Department of Fisheries, in partnership with the National Trust and Northampton University in London, were successful in securing project funding from Best 2.0 through the European Union Commission for a project titled: ‘Saving sea turtles and combining community action with scientific evidence to drive legislative change’. A part of this project, for which we received funding, was to host a regional workshop with the main purpose of writing an Action Plan for sea turtles.”
The workshop was attended by representatives from Antigua, St. Kitts-Nevis, Montserrat, St. Eustatius, St. Maarten/St. Martin, U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.
The workshop was facilitated by Ms. Karen Eckhardt, Director of the Wider Caribbean Sea Turtle Conservation Network. The three-day workshop began on November 21.
Ms Gumbs said that in support of the Action Plan a non-binding agreement would be put in place for the Government of Anguilla to send to the Governments of the islands which were represented at the workshop.
She added that it was hoped that through the agreement and Action Plan there would be more collaboration, sensitisation and stewardship in those islands for the protection of sea turtles.
