The Tribune

By SANCHESKA BROWN Tribune Staff Reporter sbrown@tribunemedia.net THE BAHAMAS will not amend existing environmental legislation or create any laws as a result of the multi-island coral reef mission which has just been completed, Environment Minister Earl Deveaux said. Mr Deveaux made the statement while taking questions from the press on the Khaled bin Sultan Living Oceans Foundation (KSLOF) study of coral reefs in the Bahamas - one of the most comprehensive analyses and satellite mapping exercises of Bahamian reefs ever done. The team is on a five-year expedition to map and study coral reefs across the world. The Bahamas was the first location to be studied. The group of scientists and researchers completed three missions in 2011, at Cay Sal Bank, Hogsty Reef and several reefs around Andros. Mr Deveaux said while no new laws will come out of the study, the information will be used to help enforce those already in existence. "What we expect to happen is the information will be an asset to us by adding to what we already know. "We have recently amended the Bahamas National Trust Act, as well as passed the Planning and Subdivision Act and a Forestry Act. We have also declared a policy that we will declare at least 20 per cent of the land and water in the Bahamas as permanent protected areas. "We have already exceeded that goal because of the three acts I mentioned and we are as high a 50 per cent," he said. "This survey will help us document the remote parts of the Bahamas where we could not have gotten to otherwise. It'll tell us the conditions of the coral reefs and what we need to do to mitigate the destruction in terms of regulations. It will also help us better maintain the health of our coral reef system. "This will be the first time many Bahamians would have seen Cay Sal in any way or shape and certainly the first time many Bahamians would have seen Hogsty Reef. It will also tell us a lot about how the conditions are and whether or not our fishing activities or the activities of our neighbours have accelerated coral reef destruction." According to Captain Philip Renaud, executive director of the foundation, the information gathered from the expedition will be freely shared with the government so it can be used to help preserve coral reefs in the Bahamas. His Royal Highness Prince Khaled bin Sultan, president and chairman of the foundation, said he hopes the expedition will encourage people to better appreciate the coral reefs, the seas and the oceans. The team will next travel to Jamaica, then to Colombia, the Galapagos Islands, French Polynesia and the Great Barrier Reef.