By The Star Staff
Lajas community leader Jorge Echevarría Morales asked the Department of Natural and Environmental Resources and federal agencies to forbid owners of houseboats at La Parguera from lighting Christmas lights to protect the bioluminescence of the bay.
“For years, we have asked residents and visitors in the town of La Parguera to help protect the unique resource we have, such as the presence of the red mangrove and the unicellular dinoflagellate organism, responsible for light or bioluminescence in places like La Parguera,” the community leader said. “The lighting done every year has no environmental benefit whatsoever and goes against the protection of the ecosystem, requiring certain physical, chemical, biological and ecological conditions that have to exist for the phenomenon of bioluminescence to occur, as occurs in Mosquito Bay in Vieques, Moncio José in Lajas and Laguna Grande in Fajardo.”
Every year, Echevarría Morales said, “unscrupulous people sponsor not only the lighting of illegal boats in most houses in violation of the laws but use the practice of holding a procession or parades of boats adorned with lights, which exacerbates the light pollution problem and deteriorates the bioluminescence capacity unique in that tourism sector.”
Scientists and experts on marine life agree that the large-scale use of boats pollutes water resources and contributes to the disappearance of organisms that create the bioluminescence effect.
“The demonstration of force or defiance to the authorities made by a group of people who organize the parade of boats with lights in contempt of the effort made by humanity to protect its natural resources is nothing more than a mockery of the genuine interest that the good people of La Parguera have in maintaining an ecological balance in that sector,” Echevarría Morales said. “Specifically, a group of marine biologists from several countries who recently visited La Parguera were surprised by the ‘zero protection’ of marine life in the sector. Through a tour that was offered to the group, through all the areas impacted by the flow of tourists and boats, the scientists concluded that there is very little or no preventive measure that helps so that in five to 10 years the bioluminescence resource does not disappear.”
The indiscriminate use of boats and the leakage of fuel, oils and fecal waste into the sea off La Parguera are evident to the naked eye, the community leader said. There is evidence of sediment coming from the access routes created by a continuous increase in visitors, some of whom leave waste and other pollutants, which has become more evident, he noted.
“It is scientifically proven that the increasing lighting of the surroundings is a detrimental factor for the natural ecosystem of La Parguera,” Echevarría Morales said.
He said the Committee in Defense of the Bioluminescence of La Parguera Bay is available to meet with environmental protection authorities to coordinate efforts and put a permanent stop to the ecological abuse caused by a sector that only seeks economic benefit and contributes nothing to the protection of natural resources in La Parguera.
DNER Secretary Robert Méndez Martínez said the agency enforces existing regulations when it allows the Christmas lights at La Parguera. He also said the lights are put up for a short time.
Comentários