Kid Power! Roatan youth come together to clean their beaches

WEST END – The reef, sea grass and beach at Half Moon Bay are now a little cleaner, thanks to the efforts of local school children and volunteers.

About 30 students from the West End Public School armed themselves with garbage bags and snorkel gear on Friday March 20th to do their part in the fight against pollution. The children collected a dozen large bags full of plastic bottles, food wrappers, paper, metal debris and cans.

They were joined in the cleanup by a handful of volunteers, including vacationers like Trevor Kinley of Canada. He and his family had been snorkeling in Half Moon Bay a few days earlier, and had noticed plastic bags and aluminum cans strewn amid the sea grass.

“We know from being here that tourism and recreation causes damage to the reef, so we thought it would be nice to come help out, do a little bit to clean it up,” Kinley said. The beach and underwater cleanup was organized by the Roatan Marine Park. Since 2005, the organization has been working to protect the coral reef ecosystem in the Sandy Bay, West End and West Bay areas.

“The worst part within the Marine Park is in Sandy Bay,” said Grazzia Matamoros, the Marine Park’s education director. “The creeks bring all the garbage from the neighborhoods that are uphill. That’s a major problem.”

Regular beach cleanups are just one way the organization is working with local children to help protect the reef and preserve the environment in Roatan.

“We tell the kids – turtles like to eat jellyfish and they get confused between the plastic bags and jellyfish,” explained Matamoros. “If they see a plastic bag in the water they try to eat it and they die.”

The Roatan Marine Park has also started a program called “Education for Kids by Kids.” They teach students in the ninth grade about reef conservation, then those students in turn go to the elementary schools and teach younger students what they have learned. The ninth graders voted best group are given a free open water course, which is a precursor to dive training.

Matamoros said the real challenge lies in areas like French Harbour, where many families rely on the reef and its inhabitants for their livelihoods. She said it can be hard to convince the children that certain species are endangered, and that others must be of legal size before they can be eaten.

“The kids are seven years old and they can already fish,” said Matamoros. “They’re like – you’re telling us we can’t eat fish and lobster? What will we eat?”

In West End though, the children seem to be getting the message – and if this latest cleanup is any indication, the future of Roatan’s reefs and marine life is in good hands.