Monthly Archives: March 2017

A female plover named VC who spends the summer on a beach at Cross River, P.E.I. has been spotted in the Bahamas.

The sighting of VC is especially exciting because the Atlantic piping plover population took a devastating hit from Hurricane Matthew in October 2016. The Category 4 storm hit Andros, one of the largest islands in the Bahamas, where many of the endangered plovers spend the winter.

"We were concerned, a lot of our plovers end up in the Bahamas over the winter," said Julie-Lynn Zahavich, stewardship coordinator for the Island Nature Trust. Since 1995, the Trust has run apiping plover guardian program where volunteers monitor the endangered shorebird and do an annual census.

"Definitely it's very exciting," said Zahavich.

"We work with the plovers all summer long so it's kind of neat when they show up in another part of the world."

In 2011, the first piping plover census in the Bahamas counted more than a thousand piping plovers.There was even a park created in Joulter Cays in 2015 to protect the over-wintering plovers and other species.

VC with her mate and chicks at Cross River in 2016. (Isobel Fitzpatrick/Island Nature Trust)

After the storm, more than half of the plovers were missing in the key wintering area, raising concerns about what had happened to the birds from Atlantic Canada.

"We're still waiting to hear back on that area, but we're really not sure what the season will bring," said Zahavich.

"We'll have to probably wait until a full breeding season has gone to really assess the impact of the hurricane on our plovers," said Zahavich.

Volunteers with the Island Nature Trust act as guardians for the nests on P.E.I. beaches. (Submitted by Island Nature Trust)

VC has spent the last two summers on the beach in Cross River and in 2015, she and her mate hatched and fledged four chicks. Fledging is when the bird reaches an age where it has flight feathers and is capable of flying, about 20 days for piping plovers.

VC hatched at least three chicks in 2016, out of four eggs, but only two fledged.

VC has become a bit of a local celebrity. Her story was shared with Grade 4 students at nearby Souris Regional School, and they made special signs to alert people on the beach to the presence of the plovers.

These Grade 4 students at Souris Regional School created signs about the plovers, including VC, that were posted on the beach at Cross River. (Submitted by the Island Nature Trust)

"In school, we learn about endangered species and sometimes we learn about tigers and pandas and we wanted to connect that lesson to something in their area," explained Zahavich.

"We do have endangered species on P.E.I., the piping plover nests on a beach not far from their school, so it was interesting for them to make that local connection."

VC and her chicks were also featured at an Island Nature Trust event at Rock Barra called Stories from the Shore, talking about the beach ecosystem. Scopes were set up at a safe distance so that participants could see the plovers.

"There's a group of people that have that personal connection with this bird now so it's particularly exciting to those people that attended to know that VC is in the Bahamas," said Zahavich.

Through the piping plover guardian program, the Island Nature Trust tries to protect hatchlings like this one on P.E.I. beaches. (Submitted/Bird Studies Canada)

VC was banded in 2014 at St. Peter's Lake Run, near Lakeside Beach, part of a movement eastward of P.E.I.'s piping plover population.

"Where we used to see them in the national park and sometimes further west, we're definitely seeing them move east and wrapping around that northeast corner as well," said Zahavich, who notes that piping plovers are now seen on beaches around Souris, Panmure Island and Wood Islands.

The Island Nature Trust held an event at Rock Barra last summer where participants could observe the plovers, including VC, through scopes. (Submitted by the Island Nature Trust)

The plovers are each given a two character code, printed on the bands. About 30 of 60 plovers on P.E.I. have been banded over a couple of years, though not all of them have returned.

"Before we started banding, we actually didn't know where a large portion of our piping plovers were spending the winter so this banding is really important because we're now working with the Bahamas National Trust to protect them at the other end of their range," said Zahavich.

Without banding, says Zahavich, Islanders would never have known that VC was safe in the Bahamas.

"Piping plover banding stories are really great for us, people really like hearing about them," she said.

"It's not that often that you get to connect with an individual animal like that and I think that has a certain appeal to people and people get really excited."

The piping plovers are moving eastward on P.E.I. and can now be found on beaches near Souris, Panmure Island and Wood Islands. (Submitted by Martin Paquet/Island Nature Trust)

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PEI piping plover survives hurricane, spotted in the Bahamas - CBC.ca

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For Sale: $8.75M beachfront property in the Bahamas - National Post

Carnival Splendor docked at Miami as planned on Sunday morning, disembarking those passengers who sailed on last week's less-port-intensive cruise.

Due to propulsion issues, the line had beenforced to cancel port calls at St. Thomas and Amber Cove.

Guests on thatvoyage endingSunday received a 50 percent refund and a 50 percent credit toward a future cruise, as well as a $100 per person shipboard credit.

Over the weekend, though, the line confirmed that Carnival Splendoris still experiencing thattechnical issue that's affecting the vessels maximum cruising speed. "The ships technical team is currently working on assessing the repairs," the statement said.

So, the seven-day cruisethat departed on Sunday has a sizably modified itinerary. With its engine issues, the ship simply can't go as fast as planned.

The new, modified itinerary will include an overnight stay in Nassau and a full day in Freeport, both in the Bahamas.

That's a big change, as the ship won't even get to the Caribbean.Originally, this cruise's itinerary included port calls inGrand Cayman; Belize City; Mahogany Bay in Roatan, Honduras andCozumel, Mexico.

In addition to being closer to south Florida, the Bahamas is also home to Grand Bahama shipyard, where Carnival Splendorreceived a drydock update last year. Those shipyard resources could prove helpful to Carnival as it works to fix the propulsion issue.

Guests who opted to sail on this revised itinerary are now receiving a 50 percent refund of their cruise fare and a 50 percent future cruise credit, as well as a $100 per person credit posted to their shipboard accounts.

Carnival also said it had allowed guests on thiscruise the option of canceling and receiving a full refund.

"Wesincerely apologize for this disruption to our guests vacation plans," Carnival said in its statement.

Visit goccl.com

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Carnival Splendor Is Sailing on Revised Itinerary to the Bahamas - Travel Agent

NASSAU, Bahamas (CMC) The Bahamas government has taken issue with the reports of the United States and Amnesty International on human rights issues in the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) country.

The Perry Christie government in separate statements said that it is preparing an official response and intends to issue a formal protest on the matter.

The government said that prior to the release of the US State Departments 2016 report on human rights in The Bahamas, the government spoke with representatives of the United States government prior to the release of the report on human rights in the Bahamas.

During those conversations, it was made clear to the US that the proposed report contained significant inaccurate information with no basis in fact and in some cases incomplete information.

Now that the US report has been publically released, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Immigration is preparing an official response from The Bahamas Government and intends to issue a formal protest in this regard.

In the report, Washington noted that on July 8, last year, a foreign citizen reported he had been beaten by two or more corrections officers at the Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDOC).

He said that following an altercation with an inmate, prison guards placed him in handcuffs, bent him over a cart, beat him with a PVC plumbing pipe wrapped in duct tape, and then took him back to his cell without providing any medical attention.

The report also indicated that a migrant held in the immigration detention centre in Freeport faced alleged unprompted, regular beatings from the guards, as well as inappropriate sexual behaviour toward female detainees.

Prison and detention centre conditions failed to meet international standards in some areas, and conditions at the governments only prison remained harsh due to overcrowding.

Overcrowding, poor sanitation, and inadequate access to medical care remained problems in the mens maximum-security block. In October 2015 the commissioner of corrections reported the maximum-security block of the prison held 625 inmates in spaces designed to hold approximately 375 inmates when constructed in 1953. The minister of national security reported that the BDOC, which was originally built to hold 1,000 prisoners, held 1,727 inmates as of October 2016.

The report noted that inmates reported receiving only two meals per day, and often only one, with a meal sometimes consisting only of bread and tea.

Fresh fruit and vegetables were rare to non-existent. Prisoners also reported infrequent access to drinking water and inability to save potable water due to lack of storage containers for the prisoners. A few cells also lacked running water, and in those cells, inmates removed human waste by bucket.

The report also noted that prison guards complained about the lack of a full-time dentist and a failure to appoint a staff psychiatrist.

There were four inmate deaths through October 2015, reportedly due to HIV infection, natural causes, an apparent suicide, and injuries resulting from fighting. Reports from the coroners court were pending on the latter two deaths.

The government did not provide updated statistics in 2016. In August 2016, upon the conclusion of a Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) hearing that was closed to the public, the Bahamian government cleared five RBDF marines accused of beating five Cuban detainees at the CRDC in 2013, Washington reported.

It also noted that numerous Haitian migrants reported being detained by immigration officials and solicited for bribes of B$1,000 to B$3,000 (One Bahamas dollar =US$1.00), with the CRDC front office functioning as a clearinghouse.

Many claimed that immigration officers targeted their dwellings once their undocumented status was discovered demanding multiple bribes. Haitian migrants and civil society organizations complained of frequent warrantless searches of Haitian homes without probable cause.

Regarding the 2016-17 Amnesty International report, the London-based human rights group criticised Nassau for its discriminatory posture towards lesbian, gay, bisexual transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and for the countrys constitutional referendum on gender equality.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the government takes no acts to discriminate against people based on their orientation, race, colour, creed, gender or religion.

The Bahamas Government shows that it is an equal opportunity protector of all citizens and residents of this country. In addition, the Government takes all appropriate steps to ensure that its citizens of whatever description are safe.

It is unfortunate, even in countries which are strong democracies with good human rights records, when there are public views espoused that are discriminatory. Nevertheless, The Bahamas Government is firmly committed to the protection of all its citizens.

On the question of right to privacy of citizens, the Bahamas government said it wanted to reiterate without qualification there is no threat to privacy in the Bahamas.

The reports of any such threat are entirely misplaced, it added.

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Bahamas govt denies US and Amnesty human rights reports - Jamaica Observer