I am curious to know if anyone has ever made an effort to organize a cleanup of the debris at the southern end of the island. Can anyone recall any cleanup efforts?

It would appear that everyone is too busy pointing fingers and shrugging off the responsibility for clean-up to actually do anything about it themselves.

Odd that no one from SOS or any other alleged evironmentalists have posted anything here. They are too busy blaming the evil cruise ship passengers and resorts dumping sewage to actually get off their lazy asses and do something.

I used to clean up the area around the pier in front of the Dive Inn on a daily basis and most of the garbage was from KFC, candy wrappers, beer bottles and broken glass. To me that indicated the garbage was from locals. After the cruise ship crowd left there was usually no garbage left behind.

Come on Fid, quit holding back and tell us how you really feel. Seriously though, now that this has been brought up, I was reading this article on my Yahoo home page about a couple of recent shark attacks in Florida I believe it was. Marine scientists are saying these sharks have moved closer to shore chasing fish because of protective environmental measures that have been taken in that area to include proper waste disposal. Apparently these measures have made the water cleaner so these sharks are moving closer to shore to chase their prey in the clearer water and are ending up attacking divers etc as a consequence. Now, imagine what would happen to the waters around Bonaire if these same measures were implemented? Proof that proper waste disposal, as well as other protective measures, makes a huge difference in clearing up the water. Not that anyone doubted it to begin with but I thought it was interesting. Major highjack I know. My apologies and the following disclaimer: I am not trying to tell Bonaire who to run its island with these comments.

I do know that there are organized clean up dives on bonaire on some regular basis. The last one I knew about was Sept 20 at Yellow Sub with food afterwards. So it does happen. I just don't know when or where.

Marcus....not so good for those being chased by the sharks, though....

The amount of garbage on the southern end is quite striking. Hard to believe (or not, really) there is that much crap floating around in the ocean to be washed ashore.

Kevin
If you talking about all the bottles, shoes, flip flops, styrofoam, life vests etc. on the southern and eastern part of the island that would be a Herculean task. While laudable, I don't think it could happen any time soon, if ever. The money and labor is just not available.
It would be a really nice project though.
Mick

Yeah that's what I was talking about. I was amazed at the amount of stuff that had washed up.

As far as money and labor is concerned, I would think the only money needed would be for garbage bags. The labor could be volunteer. It certainly won't happen anytime soon if nobody tries.

--Marcus-- although it's a bit of a highjack...

I'm not sure how much faith I put in the theory of those marine scientists these days. I just read an article on msnbc.com about a drop in shark attacks. "George Burgess, an ichthyologist and director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida's Museum of Natural History" has said a drop in shark attacks has occurred because of a drop in economic activity (i.e. less people going to the beach on vacation).
What a load of crap! Do they count the number of people in the water every day? That would be ridiculous.

Could the drop in shark attacks be due to a drop in the number of total sharks in the oceans???? It's no secret shark numbers are plummeting because of overfishing and the lucrative shark finning industry. Sounds like a more plausible explanation to me. A bit of an irresponsible answer on the part of Mr. Burgess if you ask me.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29283441/

Kevin:I don't know of any general cleanup of waterborne debris that's been attempted on the southern shores. However, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire does conduct regular cleanups of beaches where sea turtles nest, or where there is potential for them to nest. Every year we have a major cleanup in April to coincide with Earth Day and another in September which we tie to the International Coastal Cleanup. While we focus on Klein Bonaire, we also clean Baby Beach (this one is one the south coast), Playa Chikitu (National Park), Lagoen and Washikemba (both on the east coast) when we are able and can get enough volunteers. We do these cleanups in partnership with Selibon and STINAPA, and our level of success is entirely dependent on the great volunteers who spend their day in hard work.

We at STCB hope to initiate a "beach keeper" volunteer program in the near future in which people who are here for longer term can sign up to take responsibility for regular monitoring and cleanup of particular beaches.

We also encourage (and appreciate very much!) anyone, visitor or resident, to clean shore areas spontaneously or regularly, as you are willing and able. You would have to think of how to collect the debris and how to dispose of it. For visitors, lodging and dive shops may be very cooperative about allowing you to use their dumpsters when you explain your Good Samaritan mission. And if all else fails, STCB may be able to help arrange disposal.

I'm not sure if this helps answer you question, but it's a nice opportunity to let people know that cleanups are a big deal on Bonaire, and they are really important for the success of adult nesting females and for hatchlings who have to struggle across the beach to the sea.

Marlene Robinson, STCB volunteer

Once its in garbage bags then what ? There is a huge vortex of this junk floating around in the pacific already .
It is a multi layered task to cleanup without just moving the mess somewhere else.

While I understand what you are saying Lloyd, I am not sure if you are insinuating that we (the world) should just shrug our shoulders and do nothing about it.

What else should we do (for this situation) besides pick up the trash and move it? Unfortunately, the dominating system of waste control involves collecting waste and transporting it somewhere else for "storage." All we do is move our messes elsewhere. But sometimes there are consequences to just leaving the mess lying around.

As you mention, the huge collection of floating plastic caught in the Pacific Gyre is a good example of this. How much of the plastic that washes up on the shore of Bonaire will wash back out to sea and affect marine life? I don't know. I don't want to find out either.

Like it or not, we are all part of the problem. I, personally, would like to try and be part of the solution as well. Is cleaning up the southern part of the island going to save the world?...no. But it's a start.

I believe there is a 'landfill' on Bonaire for land trash that this could be taken to?????

Keeping up with the new accumulation will be easier after the present (apparently long time collecting) trash is removed.

(Message edited by glenr on February 21, 2009)

Most of the trash on the south is from sources other than Bonaire. For years we used to clean it up and within 72 hours it was replaced by new accumulations. I once found a light bulb that still worked! Also, the rocky shoreline is no place for a general cleanup since it is difficult to traverse in most cases.

Marlene,
When the Earth Day clean-up is scheduled will you please post the date, meeting time, & location here on BT for those of us who'd like to volunteer while on island? Thanks.

I guess on the upside it is good that there are no feet or other appendages still in the shoes that wash up (unlike what has been occuring along BC's coastline). I have often seen people come out of the water with a beer bottle or other garbage in their hands. I am just assuming that they were not having a cold one in the sitting room of the Hilma Hooker or something.

It was mentioned on another thread that the islanders should take action on things such as sewage treatment. Considering they are currently concerned with more pressing and basic issues such as education and poverty it seems like a cop-out from the self described environmentalists. Why not focus on things we can change like picking up a couple of pieces of garbage when we go to the dive sites. We may not be able to self-promote ourselves as environmental super-heros like SOS but at least we will be doing something.

I actually partially agree with Lloyd's pessimistic gloom and doom post. It is a depressing reality. However at least if the garbage is concentrated in garbage bags and land-fills or dump sites then maybe something more can be done with it down the road when new processes and affordable technologies become available.

The clean-up drives and our own independent clean up actions are the best thing that we can actually do right now. They make the most sense. The only down side is for the environmental glory seekers who don't get to spout off about how environmentally heroic they are, since garbage picking is just not that glamourous.

Michael,

TKS for the reality perspective. Sounds like the outer Hawaiian Islands.

Yes, Nathalie, I'll post dates as soon as we have everything confirmed. Thanks for asking.

During my visit last year I’ve met a gentleman who cleans Lagun on a daily basis:

Lagun 2005:




Lagun 2008

Selibon used to take a loader out to Lagun once a month but it just was a futile effort. Kudos to the folks who clean it now. I am sure the majority of the trash comes from illegal dumping way off out coast.

If I remember correctly, the gentleman started filling 10 containers :-)

Fid, your cynicism and presumptions about environmental activists on Bonaire is puzzling, especially given that sewage spewing onto the reefs of Bonaire will kill the primary economic asset of the island, so efforts to halt that sewage will benefit everyone who is in the tourist industry. So folks who fight for the sewage to be stopped should be commended just like those who pick up garbage, take their batteries and recycling home, patrol beaches for the sea turtle hatchlings, campaign against overfishing, etc. It's the people who do nothing that should be reprimanded, don't you think?

You seem to want to pit one environmental problem against the other (i.e. garbage vs. sewage) when in fact it is all these problems together that will erode Bonaire's reputation as "leading by example." But if one were to prioritize what needs to be addressed immediately, sewage would be at the top because it kills a reef quickly. Just ask those who live in Florida and the U.S. Virgin Islands!

SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs

I am not trying to pit one environmental issue against another, I am only trying to be realistic. It is easy to advocate solutions which rely on spending other people's money. Just because environmental activism is trendy does not mean that all environmental activism should be commended.

Tourist dollars don't seem to have helped create any type of acceptable educational or social infrastructure on Bonaire. SOS is advocating spending other people's tax dollars on a sewage solution which will primarily benefit a specific group of foreign tourists (divers) and not the people who have lived on the island for generations. That is not very commendable.

Without the reefs Bonaire's tourism will merely shift and target another type of tourist. Without better infrastructure the locals will be forever slaves to their European, North American and other foreign masters.

If you want a pat on the back then try being an environmental activist on your own dime.

And Fid what exactly do you do on Bonaire to alleviate its environmental problems on your own dime? Or do you just like to take cynical pot-shots from the sidelines?

And it doesn't seem like you understand either the scope of the sewage project or how it benefits everyone, not just tourists (i.e. the health ramifications of leaking sewage affects everyone--does e coli ring a bell?)

Finally, let's just imagine the new kind of tourists Bonaire will target when the reefs are dead: cruise ship pods, folks who hate sandy beaches and love sharp rocks and green water, gamblers, etc. Sounds like a real savvy long-term tourist plan!

Pauline,

I know that I don't understand the scope of the sewage project or it's status because I don't remember seeing anything written up that attempts to explains them, at least recently.

I would appreciate a link(s) to the info, or a few words about the matters; others here likely would also.

Proper sewage disposal on Bonaire has been a problem, if not a priority in active solution, for years. I remember many years ago watching the 'surf' spouting up a hundred yards across the road from Sand Dollar, demonstrating the 'leaching field' being used at the time.

I hope that you are not alone in pushing this on island.

I don't mind donating a few hours to picking up garbage during my vacation. In fact, I'll bring my own garbage bags. Perhaps if dive shops encouraged donating time to pick up trash, and perhaps gave out or sold bags, they would find many guests willing to help.

That's good to hear Deborah! I assume many others would be willing to take a few hours out of their trip and help also. Now we're getting somewhere!

I'll be on the island from September to December this year and I want to organize a weekly cleanup effort of the southern end.

So the question is: What would be the best day of the week to do it so that we could maximize the number of visitors and locals? Saturday?

It might be reasonable to have local businesses sponsor some weekly Friday cleanup on the typical off-gas day. People who volunteer could get a lunch coupon - say 5 naf. Each Friday morning some lead volunteer would be at a scheduled beach or area for people to meet. Pickup trash on shore or underwater

Is Friday the typical off-gas day? It was Saturday for me.

Maybe we can truck some of the cruise ship coneheads down there too

See this link to Bonaire Insider for clean up projects.

It DOES happen folks. The island does work to take care of itself.

http://www.bonaireinsider.com/

More can always be done but the issue is not ignored.

Glen (and everyone else interested in the sewage problem and project on Bonaire),

Visit the current issue of The Bonaire Reporter at bonairereporter.com for the latest development: the Dutch Parliament is allocating 2 million guilders for a temporary sewage processing plant to purify the sewage trucked from shoreline hotels, resorts, condos, etc. Whether or not the shoreline properties will be compelled to truck their sewage to the plant by ordinance or law remains to be seen. Here is where all the Bonaire Talkers can help: ask your resort, hotel, condo, etc. if it is trucking its sewage regularly to be processed so it is not seeping onto the reef.

This is just a stop-gap measure that will hopefully reduce dramatically all the shoreline sewage damaging the reef. The main sewage project that has been in the works for 20 years and is funded by money from the European Union means digging up much of the shoreline from Hato to Punt Vierkant, will not be completed until 2011, not fully operational until 2013 (and that is if everything goes smoothly!)

By then, the reefs will be completely DEAD! (see Ramon de Leon's, STINAPA's Marine Park Manager, statement issued this past August).

A number of sanitation engineers, environmental-sustainability experts, etc. contend that this project is a big waste of money, comes too late, and that there are other cheaper and more effective alternatives that could be put in place much more quickly. However they are being ignored because, as they say "contracts have been signed...blah, blah, blah". It is too bad that the bureaucracy can not mesh quickly and effectively to stop all the sewage seepage now and not just 50%.

For further information, also see forumantilles.com for video of the sewage trenches at LVV where all the muck is dumped--disgusting!

If you want to help, contact
SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs
SOSBonaireReef@gmail.com

Pauline - I am confused by the 4th paragraph of your post. Which project is considered "a big waste of money, comes too late, etc."? The temporary sewage processing plant or the "main sewage project"? I'd also like to obtain Ramon's referenced statement. Do you have a link to that handy?

Also, does SOS Campaign To Save Bonaire's Reefs have a website or some other means of disseminating information to the general public? I'm interested in learning more, but not by sending email to a generic address. Who is involved with SOS? What is the organizational structure? What actions have been undertaken to date?

Most environmental organizations I've dealt with offer an independent information source (website, blog, something) that could be visited and referenced by others to obtain background information prior to making a commitment to contact the organization. That would be helpful for SOS, I think.

Thanks,
Liz

Liz, (1)sorry about the ambiguous pronoun reference! It is the main sewage project that a number of experts continue a "boondoggle."

(2)Go to STINAPA's web-site to find Ramon's August statement.

(3)The SOS Campaign is in the process of getting a web-site. We are a loosely-organized group of tourists and residents whose main mission is to provide information and to encourage lobbying of government officials, tourist officials, hotel and resort operators, condo owners, etc. on the increasing detrimental effects of sewage on the reef.

For further background, you can access articles on the sewage issue beginning in summer of 2007 in The Bonaire Reporter (with an article on Brian La Pointe's assessment of Bonaire's reefs--i.e. "they are at the point of no return") as well as forumantilles.com

Is this comment some kind of a joke????

"Without the reefs Bonaire's tourism will merely shift and target another type of tourist."

Bonair's ONLY reason to be in the tourist's world is the reef. It is VERY far from America compared to other Carribean destinations. It might become a vacation spot for Holland BUT there is very little money in that idea.

Tom there are more countries that visit Bonaire than the USA and the Netherlands.

There's no need to have a "cleanup day" to pick up trash. Each of us should just pick out a few hours whenever we want on the island. We don't have to be all together to pick up trash. It may not be as dramatically done, but it will get done. Lets pack out garbge bags and go for it.

I agree with you in theory Deborah. Bonaire doesn't "NEED" to have a cleanup day in order for people to want to pick up trash and/or participate.

BUT...it's not happening the other way. So maybe it will be accomplished if there is a organized effort.

Perhaps we can use garbage bags that are not plastic, seeing as though plastic is one of the big issues here.

I will look into acquiring some biodegradable trash bags.

I reckon both ideas, organized cleanup day and individual effort, rock. Put the two together and you got a "force multiplier" as we say in the Army. If I could get my hands on the biodegradable bags somehow, I'd have no problem pulling a little police call on the sites I'm diving.

Here's a link to biodegradable plastic bags:

www.biobagusa.com/biodegradable-bags.html

There are other kinds as well, but this brand is probably the best known at this point.

Thanks for the link Blue. I'll get some of these and give em a trial run during my April trip.

You're welcome!

I'm going to get some too and get busy on our local beach. Been using bags that are already washed up on the beach but they are usually pretty tattered and don't hold enough. I am not much fun to go for a walk with since I stop every five seconds to pick up something - LOL!

please don't think I am naive about biodegradable bags BUT,, if the stuff that you pick up is not biodegradeable what good is it?? won't the bag rot away and then all the stuff in it be exposed again?? Flip flops that are on every beach do not degrade as far as I know and neither do the plastic bags or balloons that are so prevalent.. I am all for picking up garbage just not sure what to do with it once I have it contained..please educate me on this matter.. thanks

Well, the idea is (at least from my perspective)that if you need bags to pick up the trash, it doesn't make sense to purchase plastics bags. To purchase them is to add to the manufacturing of them and therefore the demand for them. This in turn signals a need (from a manufacturers standpoint) to make more.

I don't want the makers of these bags to continue making them, therefore I won't purchase them. I will signal the manufacturer with my consumer purchasing power.

It is counter productive to add plastic to the landfill when your intended purpose is to clear the landscape (and hopefully ultimately the world)of the damaging effect all this plastic has on the environment.

Reduce, reuse and recycle...in that order.

The obvious desired outcome is that everyone eventually rejects the use of these plastics and demands, as consumer, s to have environmentally friendly products that were manufactured with sustainable processes.

Then nobody will have to clean up any garbage on any shoreline.

point taken Kevin.. thank you

That is a great point Freddie!

The way I think about it is that any way that the waste stream of non-biodegradable plastic can be reduced is a good thing. Plus it encourages alternative technologies which are so desperately needed. Balloons ARE a nightmare along with all the other crap that just stays and stays. It's best to not buy balloons! But trash like that is better concentrated in one place, like a landfill, than littering a beach or in the sea for animals to ingest.

Whoever invents the biodegradable flip-flop will become a gazillionaire!

As for picking up trash, the ideal approach if one has the time, inclination, and resources is to recycle whatever can be recycled from what is picked up and put the rest in the can, not in the sand!

thank you for posting back Blue.. hey lets see what we can do about the biodegradable flip flops.. they are not made to last forever anyway so why not make them so that in time they will in fact break down...goes for some cigarette butts too..I think that balloons should be outlawed within 500 miles of any sea....

Amen Kevin and Freddie!

See you at the grocery store with our cloth bags!

I did pick up garbage in Bonaire like I said I would, and am coming back for a month in Jan. Promise to pick up lots more.

There are organized clean-ups involving young people on Bonaire. For one CIEE involves their students from the US to do a beach clean up on the south side twice a year (pictures on their website). The other group, Sea Turtle Conservation Bonaire involves large numbers of young Bonairians (Jong Bonaire) twice a year to prepare Klein for the turtle nesting season. I was part of that effort in April. I was very impressed by the numbers of participants from Jong Bonaire and their eagerness to help.I believe the environmental efforts on Bonaire can only be successful if young Boanirians are educated and involved in these efforts. I salute the Group Jong Bonaire (jongbonaire.org) and their leaders. Involving young people in after school organized activities by giving them something to do is the first step to keeping them away from crime and have them take charge of the wonderful island of Bonaire and its challenges in the future. We can support this group by buying their calendar, see website. DFB is also involving local youngsters, teaching them why their island is such an asset in our world and worth every effort of preservation. And finally there are efforts to get a "Highway Adoption" program on the way (Bonaire Reporter page 12)http://bonairereporter.com/news/009pdfs/newcurrent.pdf. In a perfect world, everybody would have the same level of environmental awareness, but unfortunately this is not the case and we can only lead efforts by setting good examples and supporting the youngsters of Bonaire in preserving the island we all adopted and love so much.