The Tribune

THE Bahamas Project for Marine Conservation has completed assessments of 70 marine protected areas across the country, identifying climate change, pollution, funding and capacity among the recurring challenges facing their management.

The assessments were carried out using the internationally standardised Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT), with officials saying the exercise provides the country with its most comprehensive picture to date of how its marine protected areas are being managed.

The five-month exercise involved the Bahamas National Trust, Department of Marine Resources, Department of Environmental Planning and Protection, Forestry Unit and Bahamas Protected Areas Fund.

Jacklyn Chisholm-Lightbourne, monitoring and evaluation consultant for the project, said the exercise is intended to help move protected areas beyond being so-called “paper parks”.

“The most important aspect of this is that we're taking the protected areas that are ‘paper parks’ and transforming them into actually fully and effectively managed protected areas. This allows us to identify what's going on in each of these parks and helps us identify specific issues and necessary resources, while also supporting fisheries, tourism, and other related industries through conservation,” she said.

The assessment framework was developed between April and June, incorporating previous evaluations as well as management plans, gazettes, studies and monitoring information.

An interagency working group was established to carry out the assessments, with the marine protected areas divided into geographic and island clusters. Two workshops were held in Nassau involving participants from Abaco, Andros, Eleuthera, Grand Bahama and Inagua, while consultants also travelled to several Family Islands to gather feedback from communities.

The resulting report documented management strengths, threats and protected-area values at individual sites. Climate change and pollution caused by human activity were among the recurring challenges identified, while priority actions included capacity building and dedicated funding for monitoring and maintenance.

Rich Wilson, of Seatone Consulting, who facilitated the 2026 Bahamas METT Assessment, said the completed assessments would allow officials to identify trends across the national network.

“This assessment gives The Bahamas its most comprehensive picture yet of how its marine protected areas are emerging and being managed. By looking systematically across 70 MPAs, we can see where management is working well, where common challenges exist, and where additional attention and resources could make the greatest difference,” he said.

“The real value of this national baseline is that it gives managers and decision-makers a common point of reference — not simply to measure where things stand today, but to set priorities, guide future investment and track progress in strengthening MPA management over time.”

A final workshop is planned for the end of October, when stakeholders are expected to review the findings, analyse patterns by island and MPA cluster, prioritise management actions and build capacity for future assessments.

“The third workshop is kind of the bridge that goes back to the first two workshops and builds on everything we’ve learned from doing all these assessments and links to the future in terms of what are the actions we need to put in place to move forward and, ideally, over time, improve management of these marine protected areas based on what we learned during the assessments,” Mr Wilson said.

The project will use the findings as it moves towards developing a climate-smart management plan.