By Matthew Falloon, Staff ReporterEMERGING NATURE tourism in the Portland area is under threat due to excesses of bird-shooting, according to the Portland Environmental Protection Association (PEPA).
To stem the damage to existing bird populations and allow 'bird-watching' tourism to flourish, the group has called for a ban on all bird-shooting within the parish of Portland.
"Portland is trying to establish itself as a green, environmentally-friendly destination and bird-shooting does not fit with that," explained PEPA spokesperson, Harvey Webb. "The resolution that we came to was a culmination of all the complaints that we have received from people across the parish."
Chairperson of the Parish Development Committee, Sybil Rendle, told The Gleaner last Friday that the community of Port Antonio regularly has to tolerate early morning shooting on the weekend an activity that does not lend itself to creating a haven for tourists.
"We've had people shooting out of season and taking too much in catch," she said, before describing the "terrifying sound of shooting" that greets the town at the break of dawn on the weekend.
Local hotelier, Barbara Walker, explained that current efforts to attract bird-watching groups from the UK market could be thwarted if hunting continues in the parish. She noted that hunters often stray close to populated areas and have alarmed guests in the past.
"Jamaica has a bad reputation abroad," she said, explaining that the sound of gunshots does nothing to quell the fears of visitors. "I do not believe that bird-shooting and this type of tourism are compatible."
"I see bird-watching as a sustainable form of tourism," she continued, "and I see bird-killing as not sustainable and of no benefit to anyone."
According to sources at the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the agency has not been inundated with complaints about bird-hunting in Portland. NEPA advises putting up 'No Shooting' signs to deter hunters.
However, careless hunting is not unusual to the area. Last September, seven men from St. Thomas and St. Andrew were charged after NEPA seized 76 ring-tailed pigeons and one black-billed parrot from the hunters in the Parksmount area. Both species are endemic to Jamaica and are protected under the Wildlife Protection Act.
Webb applauded efforts made by NEPA to curtail illegal hunting but insisted that "not enough is being done to regulate" wayward hunters in the area, reasoning that a ban on hunting was necessary to allow the bird populations to recover.
