Residents of the Placencia Peninsula are concerned after a Facebook post showed deforestation and dredging on the Placencia Caye. Monique Vernon, the founder of Mr Goby and Friends Recycling, explained that she usually goes out to the Caye to clean up trash, but was shocked when she realized she could see through the normally thick mangroves. When she got onto the island, she realized that the mangroves had been dug up and a channel was being dredged.
The sight surprised her, and angered many other residents who feel that this development was destroying the environment. Via Zoom today, Vernon explained that she has been trying to figure out who the developers are and whether they have their permits:
Monique Vernon, Concerned Resident
"It serves as a buffer for storm surges and hurricanes and a lot of boats, sail boats, always harbor behind that Caye for the same reason. And then we had Lobster Fest coming up, lobsters among many other critters, that's their home before they actually go out into the reef so if you have that completely destroyed, it is very worrisome, I feel like it's destroying our culture, our fisheries, our way of life practically."
"I reached out to Southern Environmental Association and a member from that organization called on behalf just trying to check the details and she told me that according to the Department of Environment, they gave them permission to dredge and the Forest Department, I believe, gave them permits to take out the mangroves. I sent in a letter today with several questions because I'm still not certain, like, I don't have any details because there were no consultations done, when I went on the island there, I didn't see a sign, normally if you have a permit, you should have a 4X4 foot sign with the permit embedded on that sign saying that you're doing mangrove work and here's that permission."
"I felt disempowered, I felt voiceless, I felt sad, I feel like I can't do anything but this is me trying to do what I could do to save Placencia Caye, to save the Peninsula."
We reached out to Chief Environmental Officer, Anthony Mai, today but he is currently out of the country. He directed us to call the Department of Environment, but those calls went unanswered, as well as a text to Minister Orlando Habet. We'll follow up with more tomorrow.
