The Tribune

THANKS to a determined volunteer and the support of the Bahamas National Trust, two young men went on the trip of a lifetime around our beautiful Bahama Islands recently.

Brian Higgs, a BNT intern, and William Stirrup a BREEF intern, joined BNT research volunteer, Stephen Connett, on a turtle tagging research expedition around the southern islands of the Bahamas.

The intrepid students travelled for 15 days on board Connett’s converted fishing vessel and visited 12 islands and cays, including: Cat Island, Conception Island, Long Island, mainland Exuma, Farmer’s Cay, Staniel Cay, Over Younder Cay, Sampson Cay, Warderick Wells, Highbounrne Cay, Ship Channel Cay and Spanish Wells.

Higgs and Stirrup travelled to Cat Island to begin their journey, which is part of the BNT intern programme teaching young Bahamians the importance of environmental stewardship.

“The turtle tagging research expedition is one component of our internship programme of which I am most proud because the experience allows young people to learn or hone life skills while participating in scientific research,” said Portia Sweeting, director of education for the BNT.

“We receive daily updates about the trip, the tagging they are able to do and most importantly the schools they stop in to promote the work of the Trust,” added Ms Sweeting.

As part of the internship the students give presentations at local schools about the importance of caring for the Bahamian environment.

“Many of our interns actually lead the talks at the schools and integrate into their speeches actual stories of their adventures,” said Ms Sweeting. “The turtle tagging programme started in 2008 and, to date, 12 students have benefitted from the research opportunity and all have considered it the best part of their time with the BNT.”

As the trio travelled this year they were also joined by Catherine Booker, BNT volunteer and community conch scientist, and were met by the BNT wardens on Warderick Wells, headquarters for the ECLSP.

“Our first day in Conception Island Will and Brian dove up five green turtles along the western shore, more than we had ever caught there before,” noted Stephen Connett.

“The next day we went ashore to search for the remains of a lighthouse that we had been told was near the ruins.

“The boys searched through the bush and didn’t find the lighthouse but found another ruin.”

Mr Connett added that for the next two weeks, the interns just kept making things happen.

“Our educational mission is to ‘Inspire the next generation to preserve the environment,’ on this trip I would say the inspiration was mutual.”

As for the students, they now return to finish their internship before choosing to further their studies or consider work in the environmental field.

“The trip was a highlight of my experience with the Bahamas National Trust, enabling me to further my knowledge of handling a boat as well as turtle identification, and turtle migration,” said Brian Higgs.