By Charminae George
“Take the time to go out to the ocean,” Arica Hill, the Executive Director of the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) encouraged residents yesterday on World Ocean Day.
“The truth is that as a coastal nation, and as an island nation, we are connected to the sea. Even if you are not a beachgoer…we are still close to the sea because we are coastal.
“We need to make sure that we take care of what can take care of us,” she said.
Hill reminded residents that managing the wellbeing of the oceans is critical because it’s a source of income, an absorber of carbon from the atmosphere, and a recreation spot.
“The focus of Antigua and Barbuda has to be about how we are managing our oceans. So that it not only serves us in terms of being a great place for the capture of carbon, or being a source of income, or a source of recreation,” she stated.
She explained that despite the feats engineering has achieved, there is no replacement for the critical ecosystems that thrive within the ocean.
“[The ocean] holds ecosystems such as mangroves, wetlands, sea grass beds and coral reefs that are irreplaceable and even with our great assist of engineering, we cannot reengineer the functions that they serve,” she said.
Hill shared that the easiest way to protect the oceans is to respect the annual ban on lobster and parrotfish or ‘chub’, when it is in effect.
“The easiest thing is just to follow our closed seasons… follow the laws that protect our ocean. The laws not only protect our ocean, but make sure that we have the enjoyment of the resources long past our own initial ‘bellyful’,” she added.
World Ocean Day aims to inform the public of the impact that human actions have on oceans. It also encourages sustainable management of them, according to the UN.
In Antigua, the harvesting of all species of parrotfish is prohibited from May 1 to July 31. Also prohibited is the harvesting of lobster from May 1 to June 30.