Tourism and conservation of biodiversity: a case study of St. Martins Island, Bangladesh.

• Author: Hasan, Mohammad Mahmudul

Contents 1. Introduction 2. St. Martins Island 3. Global biodiversity significance and St. Martin's Island 4. Coral Reef and Sea Turtle status in St. Martin's Island 4.1 Threats to Coral Reefs and Sea Turtles in St. Martin's Island 4.2 Tourism & Threats to Coral Reefs and Sea Turtles in St. Martin's Island 5. Impact of Tourism on Biodiversity 6. Assimilating Tourism Management into Biodiversity Conservation 7. Government Policies, Laws and Legislations relating to Conservation of Biodiversity 8. Position of Bangladesh in the Convention on Biological Diversity 9. Conclusion and Recommendations Endnotes References 1. Introduction

Small St. Martin's Island is the only coral island of Bangladesh which has seen a massive increase in tourism over the last few years and the weak ecosystem on the island is not well equipped to handle it. Bangladesh embarked into the global Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) with the declaration of her Ecologically Critical Areas (ECA) in 1999. St. Martin's Island which referred as only one coral bearing reef of Bangladesh is declared ECA with other two coastal and one inland wetland areas. Now, around 3,000 tourists arrive every day and they are staying there overnight. The tourists are to and fro on this island with their own will and they are caught during illegal activities in respect of the island's biodiversity. It is noted that local officials see a certain risk in St. Martin's success with tourists, with some people hunting turtles and breaking off corals to sell to visitors which makes the island's biodiversity on stake. Coral, algae, different species of shells, star fish are collected by the tourists regularly. Corals and sea turtles are the main biodiversity of St. Martin's Island and these are threatened due to tourism, fishing and other anthropogenic activities. Local people also collect stone and rock daily for selling to the visitors and construction works, which is a threat for the existence of the island. Construction of buildings for hotels, restaurants, jetty for tourists are also making threats for this island's biodiversity. There are regular big ship services and engine boat, used for carrying of tourist, to the island and for this reason, a huge amount of rough oil, plastic and other non-biodegradable waste are discharged in the marine water adjacent to the island. Cyclones, storm surges, heavy fresh water runoff during monsoon and other anthropogenic activities, harmful boat anchoring practices and uses of destructive fishing gear has taken the island's flora and fauna in danger.

2. St. Martins Island

   St. Martin's Island is a very small island in the Bay of Bengal is located at 20034'-20038N and 92018'-92022'E, the southernmost slant of Bangladesh separated from the mainland by a channel which is about 9 km wide and 10 km south of the southern tilt of Teknaf peninsula and 34 kilometres from Teknaf mainland in Cox's Bazar district of Bangladesh (Islam, 2002). The island is located on a shallow continental shelf with a maximum depth of 25m. The maximum depth of coast of island is only 10m. It is said that in 1926, the District Collector of the British government Mr. Martin brought this island under settlement record following which the island was named 'St. Martin's Island'. The small island is locally known as Narikel Jinjira (Coconut Island) (Haider, 2008). This tiny island with beaches fringed with coconut palms and laid-back locals. There is a naval base near the centre of the island. The island was devastated by a cyclone in 1991 but has fully recovered, and was untouched by the 2004 tsunami. The subtropical cloudburst climate that prevails over Bangladesh chiefly controls the weather of the island. During May-August it receives the southwest and northeast monsoon climate which is characteristically warm. Currently, the island has a total population of 7000 inhabitants, of whom about 90% are fishermen (Haider, 2008) and between October and April fishermen from neighbouring areas bring their catch to the island's temporary wholesale market. Rice and coconuts are the other clip crops, and algae is collected and dried from the sea rocks and sold for consumption to Myanmar.

   This is the only island in Bangladesh which has coral colonies in the shallows. Enormous areas of sand ridge, some mangrove formations, Pandanus vegetation and scattered boulder/dead corals are the major characteristics of this island. The surface area of the island is about 8 kilometres depending on tidal level. The total beach length of island is about 14 kilometres and out of this, a very small lengthen about 2 kilometres (14%) is suitable and is visited by nesting turtles (Islam, 2002). The north portion of the island is called 'Cheradia Dwip', because during high tide, this portion of the island is separated from the other and also considered as the last southern landmark of Bangladesh (Haider, 2008).

   It's possible to walk around the island in a day since it measures only 8 km, shrinking to about 5 km during high tide. Most things are concentrated around the far north of the island, with the centre and south being mostly farmland and makeshift huts. There is no electricity on the island, though the larger hotels run generators in the evenings for a few hours. November to February is the main tourist season with the best weather. Corals and clear blue water have helped Bangladesh's only coral island becomes a major tourist attraction--just don't expect a lively nightlife. Few years ago, fewer than 200 people dared to cross the unreliable sea every day to land on the island and they mostly returned before nightfall. Now, more than 3,000 tourists (Haider, 2008) arrive every day and they are staying there at night. St. Martin's Island in the Bay of Bengal attracts thousands of local and foreign visitors every day thanks to its charming beauty and clean and tidy marine life. Local authorities recently introduced scuba diving and speedboat sailing to attract more tourists, and there are plans to bring water skiing and other sporting facilities to the island.

3. Global biodiversity significance and St. Martin's Island

   The word biodiversity is often used to describe all the species living in a particular area. Biodiversity can be defined as the variety of life on Earth at all its levels, from genes to ecosystems, and the ecological and evolutionary processes that sustain it. Article 2 of The Convention on Biological Diversity defines biodiversity as ''Biological Diversity' means the variability among living organisms from all sources, inter alia, terrestrial, marine and other ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part: this includes diversity within species, between species and of ecosystems.' The interactions between the individual organisms of a population or community, and their specialisations for their environment (including ways in which they might modify the environment itself) are important functional aspects of biodiversity. These functional aspects can determine the diversity of different communities and ecosystems. The processes of natural selection and species evolution, which may often be associated with the geological processes, also result in changes to local and global flora and fauna.

   Biodiversity influences people's economic, social and cultural development and hence their quality of life. The knowledge, cultural traditions, innovations and management practices of indigenous communities, and the traditional practices of farmers and rural communities concerning biodiversity, are being threatened in Bangladesh by the destruction and pollution of natural habitats due to our failure to recognize the social, economic and cultural value of bio-diversity. St. Martin's Island is gifted with extraterrestrial oceanic and land resources having global biodiversity significance. The island is a good example of co-occurrence of corals, algae, sea weeds, grasses and mangroves. It has been known from a study by Canadian coral biologist Dr. T. Tomasik in 1997 that notably the rocky sub-tidal habitat from the seaward margin to about 1000m offshore supports a diverse coral community represented by approximately 66 Scleractinian coral species, of which 19 are fossil corals, 36 are living corals and the rest are under families of subclass Octocorallia (11 species of soft corals). Although as many as 240 fish species were recorded from the catch landed on Narikel Jinjira, (DoZ, 1997), only 86 of them are coral reef associated (Tomascik, 1997; Department of Zoology, 1997). The most abundant coral or reef associated fish are Damsel, Parrot, Surgeon, Groupers, Snappers, Emperors and Butterfly fish (Haider, 2008).

   The main attraction for any coral island is their different, varieties of multi- colour ornamental fishes. It has been reported that nearly 25%-40% of the world marine fish resources came from coral reef area. Reef area is also a major nutrients supplier for primary production in marine food chain. The mollusc on the St. Martin's is the largest and most beautiful in Bangladesh. 186 species of mollusc & oyster, 7 species of crab, 9 species of echinoderms, 4 species of sea urchin, 1 species of sea cucumber & some brittle stars were reported. There are confirmed records of 5 species of marine mammals in the sea surrounding the St. Martin's Island as well as Bay of Bengal which are globally threatened according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red data book. The island has its fame as an important nesting ground for 3 marine turtles, including Olive Ridly, all of

   them are considered as globally endangered by IUCN. So far, 14 species of algae have been recorded from the St. Martin's Island. Coastal swamps Biodiversity Management Project and Marine Life Alliance have been breeding turtles in hatcheries by collecting turtle eggs from the beach for the last two years and also works on creation of a congenial environment for turtles...