The Tribune

By DANA SMITH dsmith@tribunemedia.net THE Bahamas can now boast yet another national park to add to its list of nearly 30 with the creation of the Fowl Cays National Park. Environment Minister Earl Deveaux announced the "monumental event" yesterday afternoon at the Bahamas National Trust, where he also announced the expansion of two existing national parks: the Conception Island National Park and the Andros Westside National Park. He also told the press the creation of this new park and the two expansions will cost the government minimal. "By these three acts we've expanded the national park system by just over 875,000 acres and it's going to cost the government $3.00 a year," Dr Deveaux said. However, he pointed out, the government has also given the Trust one million in endowments over the last three budgets. "We hope that continues. It is based on resources, it is not a fixed sum (and) it is likely to go up... The Bahamas National Trust also raises significant sums of money to provide for permanent and sustained management of the park," he said. At the event, Dr Deveaux highlighted the various land and sea life that make these protected areas their homes, including iguanas, snakes, butterflies, corals, sponges, flamingos, turtles, sharks, groupers, lobsters, crawfish, and crabs. Protecting their habitat for their continued existence is one of the key reasons behind the establishment protected parks. "Wherever large concentrations of wetland exists we ought to protect those areas and preserve them," Dr Deveaux said. "Those are what create the islands, those are what support the marine eco-system and those are what provide for the life of the reef." National Trust president Neil McKinney also spoke, calling the new creation and expansions "tremendous". "These three parks are so important in our being able to maintain and preserve and enhance the marine life here in The Bahamas," he said. "It's very easy to lose something and it's much, much harder to get it back. "It is so helpful that we have these areas now as our parks to maintain and keep, both for current generations (of Bahamians) and future generations, so that when we look back and see what we have, we know these parks contribute all over the nation because of the diverse marine life that they have." Fowl Cays "has long been identified on marine charts as a protected area but it wasn't so", Dr Deveaux said. "Abaconians recognised the area as special and it has long been a recreational site." The new Fowl Cays National Part is approximately a 1,920 acre reserve located near the most central Abaco Cays. In addition to various fish, rays, and sponges, it is home to the endangered stag horn and elkhorn coral as well as 12 other coral species. The Conception Island National Park was placed in the national park system in 1964 and is "one of the places where (explorer, Christopher) Columbus is reported to have landed," Dr Deveaux said. "This park has enormous historical significance." The park is home to the large Montastraea reef and beds of Laurencia red algae which provide a "key nursery habitat" for young Nassau grouper and spiny lobsters. Sea turtles and sea birds also make their nests in the park and the waters are home to Nassau groupers and Caribbean reef sharks. The Andros Westside National Park has the highest concentration of blue holes, land crab habitats, two portions of the Andros Barrier Reef, pine forest, a portion of the extensive Andros freshwater lens, and a large areas of the North Bight mangrove/inertial wetlands, Dr Deveaux said. "The (Andros) Parks are habitats for the rare Bahamian Boa, Andros Rock Iguana, Andros land crabs, and Atala hairstreak butterfly, and are also used by many migratory songbirds." Of all the protected habitats, the coral reef areas in the Androsian parks are "probably the most diverse and species rich," he said. Conch, sponges, bonefish and crabs all make their homes there.