The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamian tourism industry is losing up to $8.5m annually to plastic beach pollution, an Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) report has revealed, undermining the sector's key attraction.

The report, accompanying the multilateral lender's recent $200m loan to the Government, said plastics had been shown to account for more than 90 percent of marine debris on Eleuthera by recent research.

"Plastic waste can have negative impacts on tourism, recreational activities, and damage vessels. In The Bahamas, it is estimated that plastic beach pollution could cause up to $8.5m in tourism losses annually," the IDB said.

"In 2010, plastic marine debris accumulation for The Bahamas was estimated between 200 and 533m metric tons. A recent study carried out in Eleuthera Island shows that 93 percent of all marine debris corresponds to plastic. Until 2019, there was no legislation nor regulations in place to manage or ban the use of plastics in The Bahamas."

That refers to the legislation banning plastic bags, with the IDB adding: "Governments can influence manufacturing of products and provisions of services that are less harmful to the environment by including legal and regulatory frameworks that incentivise green solutions.

"Until 2019, The Bahamas had no clear legal guidance regarding sustainable procurement practices for micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) for the reduction of the adverse environmental and social impacts of purchased products, nor incentives for suppliers to adopt practices that minimise the negative impacts.

"Prior to 2019, the BEST Commission oversaw the approval of Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and Environmental Management Plans (EMP), but had no strong mechanisms for their enforcement by, for example, issuing fines or requiring restoration. In addition, the procedures for EIAs needed to be strengthened in terms of providing greater transparency and enhancing consultation measures."

As for The Bahamas' efforts at marine conservation, the IDB said: "The Bahamas committed to achieve a healthy marine and coastal environment by creating a network of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs). In 2016, with 41 MPAs, The Bahamas achieved a protection of 10 percent of its marine and coastal habitat and, in 2017, the country committed to protect 20 percent by 2020.

"However, a gap analysis carried out in 2017 showed that only 20 percent of the spawning fish areas, 50 percent of tidal creeks, 8 percent of seagrass beds and 30 percent of coral reefs were protected. In addition, there were no protected areas in critical zones such as Eleuthera, Cat Island, Long Island and the western Great Bahama Bank.

"Once new MPAs have been established, they require the development and execution of management plans that clearly define the conservation goals and actively involve the communities. In addition, the institutions in charge of declaring, managing and financing MPAs required clearer governance and financial mechanisms."