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Thursday, March 28, 2024

World Down Syndrome Day

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No, no, no to offshore drilling!

FeaturesNo, no, no to offshore drilling!
This undated handout image provided by the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France, shows a blind new species, distantly related to the squat lobster family, which was found in 2005 in hydrothermal vents where the East Pacific Rise meets Antarctica. We live in a much wilder world than it looks. A new study estimates that Earth has almost 8.8 million species, but the vast majority of those species are types of animals yet to be discovered. And they could be in our own backyard, scientists say. (AP Photo/Michel Segonzac, National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France)
   
The weird looking creature above rekindles memories of days spent looking through a light microscope at the Nova shrimp farm lab in Ladyville, and examining the many strange looking creatures that live out their existence on the soil surface at the bottom of the shrimp ponds; creatures that, like the one above, can appear quite threatening, especially in the aggressive behavior of some, until one remembers that they are all so tiny, they cannot be seen by the naked eye. It was a pet dream of ours, to secure a video-fitted microscope, so the microscope picture could be projected on to a large screen for discussion and education of farm workers, especially those who feed the shrimp, for them to better appreciate the amazing underwater and invisible ecosystem that they were becoming a part of with their daily feed application and monitoring of water quality parameters in the ponds. On a tangent, I daresay that the Nova staff had achieved a remarkably high level of skill in semi-intensive shrimp farm management and production, and their records are there to prove it.
  
Why I feel the need to focus on this matter now, is because I sense that there are many people, including some in high places, who do not yet fully appreciate the enormity and complexity, and the delicateness of the wonderful microscopic world of living organisms, that form the base of what we see and enjoy as the beautiful and bountiful barrier reef, with fish, and conch, and lobster, and white sand beaches, etc. The all encompassing and pervading effect of chemical pollution on this entire living system that we have inherited, cannot be discounted or taken lightly. This is not a matter of “litigation risk”, or where you can “wheel and come again”, if the first go was not successful. There are some things in life that we are given only one chance at. If you lose it, it’s lost. This is not a UDP or PUP thing; the past government is just as guilty in recklessly leasing and licensing the exploitation of our marine and protected areas.
  
Protecting what’s left of the barrier reef, is protecting the livelihood of all Belizeans, starting with fishermen and those directly or indirectly involved in the tourist industry, but ending with everyone who considers the fresh sea food an important part of our life and heritage.
  
The indirect impact of agricultural chemical run-offs, and tons of river-borne suspended clay particles during the rainy season from un-secured land filling is already a significant burden on the reef’s ability to survive. Oil drilling in the actual water of our reef would be taking it to another level. For that “golden egg” of short term profits and millions in legal fees for certain law firms, we run the real risk of killing what’s left of the barrier reef “goose” that “God’s goodness” gave to all of us, to pass on to unborn generations of Belizeans.
  
Rather than gambling in our search underneath the sea floor for oil treasures that will surely end after a few years pumping, why not redouble our efforts to secure what we already have, and enhance the sustainable production of our waters and reef resources, which are being burdened by overfishing and inadequate enforcement of closed seasons, protected areas like river mouths, and the wanton taking of juveniles. We can help our fishing industry to increase in bountiful supplies of seafood into the distant future, for posterity. Or we can gamble with polluting it all for some oil money now.   
  
No, no, no to any offshore or wet lands drilling for oil in “my old home, Belize”.   

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