Children to help lead the Conservation Campaign

Mon, Apr 20th 2015, 09:00 AM

When it comes to protecting our environment, it is important to get children involved, as the future is in their hands. As a result, when it came to promoting Conchservation, getting Bahamian children involved was a no brainer!

Conchservation is a national campaign whose ultimate goal is to make sure The Bahamas has a sustainable Queen Conch population.

The Sandals Foundation has been a supporter of the Conservation program since its inception, and has such, contributed to the production of the first conch Public Service Announcement (PSA), which was released yesterday on the BNT YouTube page at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RafO-HNmNQc.

“This PSA addresses the issue of harvesting juvenile conchs which have not had a chance to sexually reproduce,” said Regina Smith, BNT Marine Resources Coordinator. “Anyone harvesting juvenile conchs prohibits the future birth of millions of baby conchs and therefore conch populations will continue to decline.”

In addition to sponsoring the Conchservation PSA, the Sandals Foundation requested that a kid’s activity booklet be included in the campaign.

Local artist, Durelle Williams helped to create the activity booklet, and the BNT was thrilled to announce that the Wendy’s restaurants signed on to help distribute the booklet nationally in their kids’ meals this month and next, at all their locations in Grand Bahama and New Providence.

Wendy’s will also be playing the audio version of the PSA in their restaurants in support of sustainable harvests of this culturally important marine resource, as will Sandals and local radio stations and TV stations supporting this effort.

In addition to the PSA and activity booklet, the team have created a month long colouring competition for young children. The Tribune newspaper has also agreed to donate space in their paper for a Conch Coloring Competition entry form.

Weekly entries will have the opportunity to enter to win Wendy’s prizes with two grand prize packages to be won, which have been donated by Wendy’s, Conchservation and Harbourside Marine.

“We could not be happier to celebrate two great outreach activities which will help us spread the word about the need for a sustainable conch fishery in The Bahamas,” said Janet Johnson, BNT Deputy Director.

“These valuable public outreach tools will really help us get the word out to the public that taking juvenile conch from our waters could mean an end to our Conch Fishery.

We want to thank Wendy’s and the Sandal’s Foundation for their commitment and excitement in helping us educate Bahamians about the need for Conchservation! The commitment of corporate partners shows a tremendous commitment to The Bahamas and our natural resources.”

The Conchservation Campaign has been supported by a grant from the Moore Bahamas Foundation and the Knowledge Attitudes and Practices (KAP) Surveys which are being implemented over the next several months and are supported by the Bahamas Marine Exporters Association and The Nature Conservancy.

Other Conchservation partners include the Department of Marine Resources, BREEF, Friends of the Environment, Community Conch, Cape Eleuthera Institute, and the Shedd Aquarium.

You can learn more about Conchservation and join the Conchservation conversation on Facebook at www.facebook.com/Conchservation.

Additionally, the BNT encourages all parents to take their children to Wendy’s and purchase a Kid’s Meal, so they can learn all about Conchservation and to join the Conchservation conversation themselves by sharing the PSA or picking up the Tribune so their children can participate in the colouring competition.

The Bahamas National Trust was created by an Act of Parliament in 1959 to build and manage the national park system of the Bahamas. Possibly the only non-governmental organization in the world charged with such a responsibility the TRUST, as it is commonly known works daily to conserve and protect the natural resources of The Bahamas, through stewardship and education for present and future generations. There are currently 27 National Parks managed by the TRUST with more than 2 million acres of marine and terrestrial areas protected. Website: http://www.bnt.bs/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bahamas-National-Trust/25034035861?ref=hl

(Photo courtesy of BVS for Barefoot Marketing)

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