Environmental health officials are ramping up monitoring efforts to prevent yachts from illegally dumping waste into the sea at English Harbour during the peak yachting season, with strict protocols in place to detect and penalize polluters.
Senior Health Officer Tajah Edwards said that the Central Board of Health (CBH) conducts specialized water testing throughout the season to detect any increase in bacterial contamination that would indicate vessels are releasing waste into the marine environment.
“Whenever in season, like we are now, another school of testing is done in terms of the marine environment to see if there is any increase in the bacteria load,” Edwards explained. “This is how we ascertain whether or not the yachts are releasing into the environment, because they may not do it in the day, but you can see what they may do in the night. So this is how we monitor.”
