Marine biology expert urges survey to assess sewage damage at Graeme Hall Sanctuary

The recent multimillion-dollar acquisition of Barbados’ largest remaining mangrove forest has been hailed by leading fisheries and marine expert Professor Robin Mahon as a significant move towards preserving this vital ecological site. 

But he has urged the new owner and authorities to prioritise an environmental survey to assess the long-term damage caused by years of sewage contamination on the site.

Following the announcement that prominent businessman and philanthropist Anthony Da Silva had acquired the property, with plans for the newly established Barbados Wetlands Trust to manage it as a national asset for nature conservation, the former director of the Centre for Resource Management and Environmental Studies (CERMES) at the University of the West Indies described the move as a positive step for all Barbadians committed to environmental preservation.

Professor Mahon told Barbados TODAY: “From any point of view, we are very pleased to see the Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary is going to continue as a nature sanctuary, which is what Mr Da Silva says he is going to do, and he says he is going to open it in March. We were concerned that it might be developed for other purposes, so we are very pleased about that.

“We don’t really know a whole lot more about what is going to happen, but we do know that with that [purchase], we are better able to look at the whole swamp, because Mr Da Silva has expressed interest in seeing Graeme Hall managed as an entire ecosystem, and hopefully [we can] see it become a natural heritage conservation area in the not too distant future.”

He noted, however, that there was a dire need for a thorough environmental survey to be done at the site, given the years of sewage contamination being recorded at the swamp, including as early as 2008, when failures at the South Coast sewage treatment system resulted in the dumping of raw sewage into Graeme Hall Nature Sanctuary.

Though the professor stressed that he was optimistic about the future plans for the site, he suggested a comprehensive environmental assessment to determine the general health of the swamp after years of neglect.

“If we are really serious about moving forward, [we should do] a baseline survey that would tell us where we are, and against which we can measure rehabilitation or impacts of any further damage. So that certainly needs to be done,” he said.

“We are optimistic too that the new sewage treatment plant, which will be a tertiary plant, is going to reduce the likelihood of a sewage impact on the swamp, and the emergency outfall that is there now being used, can be used if there is a [future] emergency to release sewage.”

He added that due to the lack of connection to the sea over the years, there was a real and present risk of the natural ecosystem of the swamp changing significantly if major steps were not taken to protect the space.

“One of the things that is happening with the swamp [because] it’s cut off from the sea now, is that it’s transitioning from a brackish coastal pond to a freshwater ecosystem. That, over time, can be a fairly big change. We would like to see it reconnected with the sea, either directly or indirectly through pipes, to bring it back towards a brackish coastal habitat, which is where mangroves thrive,” he said. 

shamarblunt@barbadostoday.bb