The Grenada CARYFED 2019 Project

CARYFED is a yearly event run by Project Discovery, which brings together members of various islands in the Caribbean that creates a rich environment of social and cultural integration. Each year, the participants from each island are required to complete a certain amount of community service before getting to the designated island. In 2019, this theme was ‘Sustainable Tourism Blue Economy’. Grenada depends highly on tourism as a major contributing factor to our economic development and sustainability. It is our imperative to safeguard, preserve and sustain the characteristics of our tri-island state that are the driving forces of our tourism sector. With this in mind, we came together with the general objective of mitigating identified issues that would pose a threat to the diversity of tourism pertaining to the blue economy.

Subsequently, we began brainstorming and researching the pertinent threats that faced our blue economy. These threats were:

·         Mercury and municipal waste in the ecosystem

·         The abundance of lion fish in our waters affecting the aquatic ecosystem

·         The endangerment of aquatic species, such as: turtles, sharks and bill fish.

Identifying these threats was only the tip of the iceberg. At this stage we were tasked with understanding how these issues truly affect our tourist attractions and activities and the links between the issues. The pollution that arises from municipal waste decreases the quality of our waters and damages aquatic life that are a main attraction for tourism. This municipal waste can contain mercury which bioaccumulates within aquatic species that live in these bodies of water. Although, the main contributor to mercury in our environment are the burning of fossil fuels and medical waste. The bioaccumulation of methyl-mercury in fish species that are used as food or resources for manufacturing products, not only poses a serious health risk to consumers but can also deter tourists from purchasing these local products. Aside from the waste generated by us humans, we also took a look at the effect that the invasive lionfish pose to our ecosystem and economy. Much of our small fish species are being threatened by the invasive and pervasive lionfish. As there is no natural predator to the lionfish in our waters, their population has exploded as they continue to ravage the native fish species; endangering their populations in Grenada. Unfortunately, these small fish species are not the only ones to be put in danger. Due mainly to the activities of humans, many of our aquatic lives have become endangered. Among these include: sharks, bill fish and our iconic leatherback turtles that often nest on our beaches. These organisms, especially the leatherback turtles, are a large selling point to our tourists and their endangerment can spell disastrous effects on the ecosystem as well as our economy.

Now that we identified our threats, we needed to come together and figure out how our group could make an impact by protecting our aquatic life and preventing further contamination and degradation of our blue economy. To do this, we relied on the most effective tool throughout human history; education. We resolved to educate the general populace on the dangers of each of our identified threats. To achieve this, we sought guidance from the Ministry of Environment and the Grenada Tourism Authority in order to develop strategies to most effectively execute our plan. From these meetings, the activities that were decided upon were:

·         Creating articles based on the bioaccumulation of methyl-mercury in our aquatic species.

·         Cleaning beach areas of municipal waste.

·         Conducting interviews on radio stations.

·         Culinary product testing of lionfish dishes.

·         Rendering a model showing the cycle of methyl-mercury within aquatic species.

·         The creation of an educational video focused on methyl-mercury.

Articles

The articles that were to be created each focused on a different aspect of our research on methyl-mercury in our aquatic species. The first was to be focused on the bioaccumulation of methyl-mercury within large fishes; they tend to have a higher concentration due to them consuming many smaller fishes containing methyl-mercury. The second was to be focused on encouraging the consumption of healthier fish that generally contain low levels of methyl-mercury. One of these low level methyl-mercury fish is the lionfish; the consumption of which can help control their population. The third was to be focused on the state of methyl-mercury in Grenada; effectively advertising our relatively low levels while also encouraging the populace to take action to prevent our levels from rising to a worrying degree. The final article was to be focused on the growing issue of skin bleaching as these products tend to contain mercury in them.

Beach Clean-Up

As a large part of our project was focused on municipal waste in our waters, as a group, we visited three beaches where we conducted clean ups. These beaches were, La Sagesse, Petite Bacaye and Fort Judy. We chose these beaches as they were popular spots for locals and tourists but also suffered serious mismanagement of regular cleaning, so we decided to take it into our own hands!

Media Coverage

In order to pioneer our goal of education, we partnered with Power FM 98.5 radio station and GBN’s Good Morning Grenada to conduct segments where we explained the goal of our project and progress thus far. These segments allowed us to broadcast ourselves to the Grenadian populace and even had the listeners of the broadcast vote on our slogan; “If you want your mercury low, Pure Grenada is the place to go!”.

Encouragement of Lionfish as a Culinary Dish

Our group was very passionate on the issue of lionfish being a pervasive problem to our local ecosystem. For a large amount of time there has been a stigma around eating the lionfish as they have venomous spikes on their backs. Recently though, there has been a campaign in order to educate the populous that the fish are safe to eat once prepared correctly. This was done to urge citizens to consume the fish more to help control their population. In order to assist with this endeavor,  we decided to contact a local food establishment known as Sails Restaurant. As they are most well known for their seafood dishes, we decided to contact them and observe their process of preparing the lionfish and tatste taste it for ourselves. We filmed ourselves in the restaurant and used the footage in our video. Furthermore, our group also identified Grenada’s annual Bill Fish Tournament as a possible event to further the normalization of lionfish consumption. The Bill Fish Tournament normally operates under a catch and release system, however, it can also be used to encourage the catching, preparing and consumption of lionfish. Using an event like this would promote the culinary tourism dynamic of our country whilst also educating the population of their devastating effects.

Model Rendering

To further our educational prospects, we created a model which depicted a food chain that displays how mercury gets into our waters and goes through the food cycle. It’s intended to be used for young people in order to give them a visual representation for further understanding the process of bioaccumulation and ways in which mercury enters the waters. The ministry of education also provided an avenue for the model to be used for school visitations geared towards sensitizing the youth and vulnerable individuals.

Educational Video

Finally, we undertook the task of creating an educational video that explained the process of how methyl-mercury gets into aquatic life and its effects on the human body, especially those of vulnerable groups, and our economy. It also details information pertinent to the aspect of our project revolving around the lionfish and encourages fishermen, food establishments and the general public to prepare and consume lionfish; emphasizing its low mercury content.

In conclusion, the issues our group identified are pressing matters that must be globally addressed in order to preserve our natural aquatic resources. For small island states such as Grenada which rely so heavily on tourism, this initiative is even more imperative for the maintenance of our tourism sector and economy. Through the activities of our project, we sought to educate Grenadians on how they can help keep themselves and their environment safe. It is our belief that through continuous work and education, Grenada, will be looked upon as an example of an excellent blue economy and sustainable tourism sector. If you want your mercury low, Pure Grenada is the place to go!