It has been dropped at the eye of the Saint Lucia National Trust, that unauthorised visits are being made to the Maria islands, with rubbish and human excrement being left behind.
These islands are a protected nature reserve and are home to endangered and endemic species together with, the Saint Lucia Whiptail lizard and Saint Lucia Racer. The latter being acknowledged because the world’s rarest snake, with an estimated inhabitants of solely 20 people.
Due to the critically endangered standing of the species on these islets, strict bio-security controls are in impact and visits to the Maria Islands are solely authorised by the National Trust. Further, the discarding of rubbish, together with glass bottles, not solely creates bio-security hazards however may result in fires on these islets and the doable extinction of those species.
Saint Lucia Whiptail lizard
Anyone discovered on the Maria Islands with out the permission of the National Trust shall be committing an unlawful act beneath the Wildlife Protection Act, No. 9 of 1980 and shall be liable on abstract conviction to a fantastic not exceeding 5 thousand {dollars} or to a time period of imprisonment not exceeding twelve months.
The Trust is appreciative of the general public curiosity in visiting the Maria Islands Nature Reserve, nonetheless, the islets are presently closed to visitation in the course of the breeding season of a few of these species. Tours to the islets will resume in 2024.
Please contact the Trust’s Southern Office for additional data or to report unlawful access to the Maria Islands.
The Saint Lucia National Trust thanks the Public for its continued help and assist in making certain that the Maria Islands Nature Reserve stays a National Treasure that each one Saint Lucians will be happy with for generations to return.
