The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

ENVIRONMENTAL advocate Gail Woon has introduced an innovative programme, “Conch in the Classroom to educate Bahamian students about the queen conch’s life cycle and the importance of preserving this native marine species.

The curriculum was rolled out in five primary schools in Grand Bahama this year, with plans to expand to ten schools by 2025.

Ms Woon, founder of Earthcare, said lessons and hands-on learning are conducted in classrooms, where aquariums are set up for observation. Each school was provided with two one-year-old queen conchs to care for during the term.

A group of 30 students, aged six to 12, participate in four lessons –– one per week –– covering topics such as aquarium installation, the conch shell, the conch life cycle, and conch fisheries.

The programme has been a resounding success among educators and students. Participating government schools this year included West End Primary, Holmes Rock Primary, Martin Town Primary, Freeport Primary, and Maurice Moore Primary.

According to Ms Woon, Earthcare received a grant through Florida Atlantic University/Harbor Branch Oceanographic Institute, funded by the McPike-Zima Foundation.

“We have been given the task to implement the grant, and the aquariums were shipped to us. We set them up in the five schools and worked with one teacher per school,” she said.

“The Pike-Zima Foundation, which gave us the grant, was so happy with the results they are going to give us a bigger grant next year so we can do ten schools.

“We will continue with the schools that are already in the programme, just with a different set of students, and then add another five government schools that we were not able to do this year.”

Ms Woon said the third lesson in the series –– a game called BING –– is a favourite among the students. She explained that it resembles bingo, but instead of numbers and letters, it uses pictures of the various stages in the conch’s life cycle.

“They get conch tattoos or conch stickers. They love it, and the teachers say they are eager for another conch lesson,” she recalled.

The Conch in the Classroom curriculum was developed by Dr Megan Davis, the principal investigator at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), Ms Woon (Earthcare) and Becky Holt (FAU) are the co-principal investigators, and Amanda Matthews (FAU) is the education coordinator.

“We have given them a book of everything covered, including the games and puzzles, so each school gets its own conch curriculum,” Ms Woon said.

“It’s been quite a learning experience, not only for the students. We need to do this for adults too because many of the teachers were not aware of some of the things we were teaching. Some teachers asked how many times a conch changes its shell, but conchs don’t change their shells,” she explained.

Ms Woon said the curriculum is crucial as it teaches students when conchs should be harvested to prevent overfishing.

“We need to be fishing them when the lip is 15mm thick and not less than that because if we do, we are going to fish our conch fishery to commercial extinction,” she warned.

Ms Woon noted that The Bahamas is the only country in the Caribbean with a commercially viable conch fishery.

“All the other countries in the Caribbean have fished them to extinction,” she said.

Earthcare is also actively contributing to mangrove restoration efforts in Grand Bahama.

To date, the organisation has planted approximately 7,000 mangrove seedlings cultivated in its backyard nurseries.

Ms Woon said their third out planting for the year was completed at Water Cay on November 23.

“We were able to plant 1,500 red mangrove seedlings, bringing the total planted so far to 7,000 in the Water Cay area, which was displaced by Dorian,” she said.

Ms Woon noted that three of the Earthcare Eco-Kids were from Water Cay and initially brought the area’s condition to their attention.

“They told us that it needed restoration, so we started planting in Water Cay and reached out to Central Grand Bahama MP Iram Lewis, who is a native of Water Cay and joined the restoration efforts,” she said.

“We are seeing progress. The mangroves planted earlier all look good, growing nice and green, and we are really happy with the results so far,” Ms Woon said.