By Barb Whitman Hi.” My name is Barbara Whitman.” Some of my friends call me “B”. I”m a marine biologist.” I”ve been studying, teaching about and working in, around and on the sea for 35 years.” I love the sea and the creatures that live in it.” And I love this island that I have chosen as my home.” I was born in New England, USA and lived there for 46 years.” I lived there as a child with my parents and siblings.” I lived there as an adult with my husband and children.” When my children were grown it was finally my turn to choose for myself where I wanted to live. I chose Nevis because of its beauty, its rainforest, its sea and its people.” I also chose Nevis because of all the places in the world I have worked, studied and visited, Nevis appeared to be as close to environmentally undamaged as anywhere I had ever seen.”” I have been here ten years and hope to live here for the remainder of my life.” Nevis is my only home and I want to do what I can to protect it and keep it beautiful.” So I figured I could share my knowledge.”” Why am I doing this?” Because it is my nature to want to contribute.” But it is also in my best interest to do what I can to keep this island and the sea that surrounds it healthy and undamaged ” so that it works the way it is supposed to – because I live here.” Happily, my best interest is also yours – and your family’s and your children’s and your grandchildren’s ” forever onward. Unfortunately we only get one shot at doing the right thing because the sea is delicate and easily damaged and once it is badly damaged it cannot be fixed in our lifetimes or those of our children or grandchildren. – or maybe ever.” These are not scare tactics ” just a fact.” Let me give you an example you may be more able to identify with. Think of a rainforest.” Most of us can picture a healthy rainforest with birds and green plants, rich smelling soil, huge bat moths and colorful blossoms.” A lot of you live in one.” Now envision cutting down a big patch of that rainforest.” It doesn’t stay barren for long, does it?” Things grow almost immediately ” but not rainforest plants.” Plants like Acacia ” cusha ” among other fast growing plants like stinging nettle.” The acre is still green.” But it’s not the same is it?” A true rainforest takes many hundreds of years to develop.” Given the choice of living in the rainforest or in a cusha field, which would you choose? The same kind of thing happens in the sea.” When a coral reef is damaged that doesn’t mean it won’t be replaced by something.” Algae grows on the dead coral.” But an algae reef isn’t a coral reef.” And a true, healthy properly functioning coral reef takes hundreds, if not thousands, of years to grow. So I am going to be writing a few words every week so that you can watch out for your best interests.” No one will be able to fool you into believing things that aren’t true.” You will have the facts you need to make good decisions.” That’s what I will give you ” just the facts.” But don’t take my word for it.” Read what I have to share, research it if you want and decide for yourself.” Hope to see you here next week.””””” (Barb Whitman is a marine biologist, educator and proprietor of “Under the Sea,” located at Oualie Beach. For more information, call 869-662-9291.)
