Sea Turtle Recovery Action Plan for St. Kitts and Nevis - WIDECAST

St. Kitts and Nevis Sea Turtles…
towing cable snapped. The following discussion is taken from Simmonds (1991b). The initial
oil slick was more than 30 miles long. A response committee met on 10 March and decided that
priority actions were to conduct an aerial survey, determine whether or not to use chemical
dispersants, and closely monitor the spill. Later that day, a French Naval patrol boat applied the
dispersant Finasol 0SR7. The decision was made to proceed with the application of the
dispersant, with the condition that the effects of the chemical were to "be monitored to validate
toxicity on local organisms". By 13 March, oil, tar balls, and tar balls mixed with seaweed
washed ashore on sea turtle nesting beaches on the north shore of St. Kitts, including Conaree.
Many of St. Kitts’ Atlantic beaches were "severely impacted by tar balls", including Dieppe Bay,
Sand Bank Bay, and Frigate Bay. Most of the high energy, rocky beaches (e.g., Black Rock)
were also oiled but the effects appeared transitory.
On 14 March 1991, marine surveys were conducted to assess Vestabella-related damage
and samples collected were sent to Dr. D. D. Ibeibele, Environmental Toxicologist (CERMES,
UWI), to be analyzed for damage done to fish larvae and plankton living in the water column
near affected coral reefs. On 22 March fish kills in the Banana Bay area were reported to the
Coast Guard. On 26 March fishermen in the Dieppe Bay area reported their observations that tar
could be found on "some of their surface gear", such as buoys and rope (Simmonds, 1991b). In
Nevis, homeowners in the Almond Beach area reported oil in weeds offshore and a "slick" about
10 yd long on the beach at Long Haul Bay. On 28 March, prisoners cleaned oil-soaked weeds
from the beach at Newcastle airport (John Titley, pers. comm. to Robert Young). On the same
day, "large numbers" of tar balls about 1.5 inches in diameter could be seen at the tide lines,
mostly mixed with sea grass. By 4 April, there was "extensive oil cover on nearshore sea grass
beds and on the beach for a mile in each direction from the Almond Garden site west to Nisbet
Plantation" (R. Young, pers. comm., 1992). Robert Young swam out to Rocky Point from
Oualie Beach (Mosquito Bay) and photographed tar washing ashore in floating mats of sea grass.
Wildlife casualties will never be fully known, but there were two confirmed reports of fatally
oiled pelicans at Tamarind Bay; no oiled turtles were reported.
Several St. Kitts businesses, including the Turtle Beach Bar and Grill at Mosquito Bay
and Mrs. Katzen's beach cottages (Coral Reef and Vientomarsol) at Conaree, lost profits to the
spill. People went elsewhere rather than venture out into areas where the oil was clearly visible
and risk returning with tar on their snorkeling gear and clothing. Cleaning solvent was made
available at the Turtle Beach Bar and Grill for several months following the accident so that
beach-goers could clean themselves. Sun 'n Sand Hotel on North Frigate Bay had to provide
large quantities of cleaner to customers and guests (Kate Orchard, pers. comm., 1992). As late
as January 1992, visitors to the north shore of St. Kitts (e.g., Dieppe Bay) reported oiled beach
areas and soiled shoes and feet (J. Simmonds, pers. comm., 1992). As of October 1992, there
were still "big lumps" of tar on the beaches at North Frigate Bay, North Friar's Bay, and Conaree
(K. Orchard, pers. comm.).
The Vestabella spill was not an isolated incident. The recent reality of repeated oil spills
in the northeastern Caribbean indicate the very serious nature of this threat. In September 1989,
following Hurricane Hugo, a 42,000 gallon spill of #6 fuel oil (heavy crude oil) at the Water and
Power Authority facility in Christiansted, St. Croix, left south coast beaches on that island
heavily oiled. Pelican Cove, a hawksbill nesting beach on St. Croix, was buried under 0.3 m of
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