Bonaire, an island that has always been very concerned with environmental issues, had always been actively promoting the protection of various sea creatures. It made perfect sense then to create an area to solely concentrate on this activity. In 1979, the government of Bonaire created the Bonaire Marine Park.

The Marine Park is governed by STINAPA, (Stichting National Parken Nederlandse Antillen) and it's primary role is that of a nature conservancy organization. STINAPA is a non-governmental, not for profit organization run by a board of local professionals who donate their spare time protecting and conserving their surrounding natural environment, both above and below the sea.
The management strategy of the Park is based on the fact that few people actually wish to damage the environment. The Function of the Marine Park is to ensure that the marine resources of the island, including the coral reefs, seagrass beds and mangroves, are used in a sustainable way in order to prevent degradation.

The park has five full time staff, with more than seventy-five public moorings to maintain and over seventy thousand visitors annually. Most of the time spent is dedicated to giving out information to Park visitors. Also, formal and informal talks are given to visitors, as well as locals, school children, and even the police. The park, on various occasions brought the school children snorkeling.
The Bonaire Marine Park also keeps substantial research records. They collect information varying from dive boat statistics to pleasure craft. In addition, a long-term monitoring programme has been established that will evaluate the changes taking place on the reefs over a long period of time. In addition, they have mapped the distribution of a colonial ascidian that seems to be causing problems in the reefs. Diver impact surveys have been given, as well as a fish census.

Education is an important aspect of the Bonaire Marine Park. The park provides brochures, leaflets on small craft, boating, fishing regulations and diving etiquette information at hotels, dive operations, customs, harbor offices and TCB. The Park has also created a slide show of the park, and billboards are on display throughout the island.

The park hosts talks at schools, and a program is offered to the school children, that teaches them about the basic marine environment and snorkeling skills. There is even a course offered to the island's schoolteachers, focusing on the basic ecology of coral reefs, seagrasses and mangroves. The dive staff operating in the Park also receives the most recent education on rules and regulations.
The Park has the following Code of Conduct for visitors to follow:

• No anchoring. Anchoring is prohibited everywhere except between the customs dock and the marina;
• Any vessel up to 38' may use public moorings on a first come first serve basis for up to two hours. You must put out a scope line, which is as long as your vessel, if you want to use our moorings;
• Spearfishing is completely prohibited;
• Do not take anything out of the water (except recently garbage);
• Divers, snorkelers please do not make any contact with the reef-especially do not sit, stand, or hold on to the corals;
• Divers, make sure you are neutrally buoyant and stow those gloves;
• Please do not try to take any corals, sefans, shells, or the like out of Bonaire;
• Turtles are completely and internationally protected-do not be tempted to buy shells or other by products of turtles-if found you will be fined-heavily;
• Conch are also internationally protected-taking back one shell may cost you dearly;
• Finally, please be sure to take all your garbage home with you from your outings-our motto is "tene Boneiru limpi" (Keep Bonaire Clean).

In regards to looking towards the future, the Marine Park recommends that they take new/further action in the following:

• Work towards a situation where Bonaire has waste treatment facilities to tertiary level, and continue to support Selibon and Island Government initiatives to modify waste water disposal practices on Bonaire;
• Prohibiting the extraction of nonrenewable resources by ensuring that nonrenewable resources, such as sand, are not removed from the marine park;
• Modifying coastal zone construction practices by providing leaflets/and or a manual to the house buying public and information to applicants for construction permits, etc;
• Support the greening of Bonaire's tourism industry;
• Minimize the impacts of landscaping;
• Execute the management plan for the Lac Bay project;
• Improve the financial situation of the Marine Park;
• Work with other local organizations to find a solution for the continuing cash deficit;
• Educate islanders and visitors about the need for marine conservation. This could be done by constructing a homepage, providing courses for local teachers, and provide new interpretative materials on our current projects;
• Complete the manual for using volunteers to collect data in support of MPA management;
• Continue to work towards National Park status.

Information provided in this section can be attributed to the following:
Bonaire Marine Park Website
Elsmarie Beukenboom, Director of Tourism

BACK TO INTRODUCTION