Utila’s Conservation Organizations Come Together With A Brand New Initiative

  By Jennifer Orrange of Utila Guide In an effort to create positive information aimed at tourists arriving in Utila, a collaboration of Conservation organizations resulted in the creation of informative posters that were distributed to places of business throughout the island during the first week of June. The project, funded by the UCF (The Utila Conservation Fund) ,which is a partnership between the Utila Municipality, Coral Reef Alliance, BICA (Bay Islands Conservation Association), the Iguana Station and the WSORC (Whale Shark Oceanic and Research Center), was to design and distribute a method for providing positive advice on responsible tourism practices. The Utila project was inspired by the banners which greet visitors to the island of Roatan which inform people that they are entering a unique and special place and that they need to be aware of and responsible for their actions and their impact on the surrounding environment. The collaborative group (UCF), hopes that the Utila poster campaign will also generate a perception of ownership and create a sense of empowerment within the local community- by encouraging locals and residents to identify themselves as belonging to and coming from a protected area and instilling a passion to protect what Read More

Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) Utila looking for Comments on Infrastructure Funding

BICA is asking for input on top 5 “constructions” (infrastructure changes) need in Utila to improve the community. By “constructions”, they are looking specifically for infrastructure. Infrastructure includes any public works construction projects, eg, built by the government for use by and/or to benefit the people.

Utila Environmental Awareness Weekend: Cleaning, Recycling, and Reusing in Utila, Sept 16 and 17

Environmental Awareness Event: Cleaning, Recycling, and Reusing in Utila, Sept 16 and 17. Showing of the documentary “Plastic Planet” with discussion, followed by next day beach clean up and intro to turtle monitoring.

“Plastic Planet” -Special Environmental Awareness Event- Friday Sept 16

Special Environmental Awareness Event- Friday Sept 16: 6th of September, 7 pm at BICA (Bay Islands Conservation Assocation) office. “Plastic Planet: Documentary by Werner Boote” is an insightful journey around the globe to present the up-close and personal view of the controversial and fascinating material that has found its way into every facet of our daily lives: plastic.

Utila Lionfish Derby and Cookoff 2011~

Utila celebrated its first lionfish derby and cookoff!    Organized by Bay Islands Conservation Association (BICA) and Utila Center for Marine Ecology (UCME), with the involvement of multiple dive shops and other community members, this was a great first-time event.   Date of the catching derby was Friday, April 29th.  Teams were organized through the  dive shops, with  22 teams of four people participating. This resulted in 429 lionfish killed in just one day!  Lionfish are a highly invasive species in the Caribbean. Their presence and detrimental effects throughout the Caribbean, including Belize, and Bay Islands, have been well documented.  An “invasive species” means not only that the species was introduced to the area (in this case, “area” meaning the Caribbean at large;  the introduction likely being accidental  through aquariums in Florida and Bahamas), but ALSO that the introduced species has harmful impacts on the native species.   In the case of lionfish, they are native to Indian and Pacific oceans, but here, they have no substantial active predators, and they aggressively destroy the local fish populations. (Some preliminary research is being done on shark and grouper predation on lionfish, however the predation seems to be on an individual case by case basis and not at the levels needed to actively control lionfish populations- though that may change in the future.)    Read More

Utila Lionfish Derby and Cook off! April 29/ May 1

Friday April 29is the day for the first Utila Lionfish Derby! For this first derby, teams are only through dive shops- contact your dive shop or BICA (Bay Islands Conservation Association) for more information. Sunday May 1stat Chepes Public Beach is the Utila Cook Off for the captured Lionfish! Lionfish are safe to eat and tasty- the venom is in the spine, not the flesh and cooking destroys residual toxins. Care must be taken in preparing the the fish, as the spines can have a powerful sting, but guidance will be on hand to show newcomers how to safely prepare these fish. Lionfish are a highly invasive species which means they were introduced to this area (the Caribbean) AND have harmful impacts on the native species. In simple terms- Lionfish can destroy the local fish populations on a reef, and don’t have any substantial predators to keep their numbers in check. A recent Roatan Lionfish Derby and Cookoff resulted in over 1300 of these invasive species being removed from the reef~!