Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park
Judy and Tom Barbernitz
Judy is Office Manager while Tom is Acting Park Superintendent (Exuma Park Volunteer)
Warderick Wells, Exumas, Bahamas

Tom and Judy were enjoying life aboard their sailboat in the Abacos, Bahamas when a friend asked for Tom's help. The Park Ranger at Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park needed to leave the park for a month. So, Tom and a friend both agreed they would come down and help out 2 weeks each. Tom's buddy left but Tom and Judy stayed. That was 4 years ago. Now that's committment. Tom and Judy, who also now works in the park, are both passionate about the park and are a welcoming voice to all new visitors. Thanks Tom and Judy for your commitment from the Floating classroom.

Why are Parks important? And specifically, why is this park important?

In general, they give us a sense of how the whole system works. The complete ecosystem tries to remain intact here. It helps preserve part of the earth that otherwise we forget even exists.We see how it use to be and what it could be especially if we preserve it.

The Exuma Cays Land and Sea Park in particular is important because it is the first Land and sea park that was established in the Wider Caribbean. One of the steps they took when they formed this park was to limit fishing immediately. And even after about 30 years of limited fishing they realized that wasn't enough to really preserve the ecosystem that was intact here. So, starting in '86, all fishing was banned inside the Park boundaries. So it is a complete no take area, the first marine protected area in the Wider Caribbean and it serves as a replenishing area for the fish stocks throughout the Bahamas and the Wider Caribbean. So, the real importance of this park is that it has protected marine resources and it is protecting the land at the same time. So, as a research area, it's a great place for Scientists to study land, sea, and birds all at once and as close to a native, pristine environment as they can have.

Give us an overview of what the Park encompasses.

The Park encompasses 176 square miles roughly 365 smaller Cays and the marines resources and seabed that surrounds them. So it is a 22 mile stretch up and down the Exuma chain and approximately 4 nautical miles on either side of the Cay.

What are the key things you are trying to protect?

Just about everything within the boundaries, actually. We protect the land by stopping people from cutting trees or clearing the land, the seabed by trying to prevent anchor damage to the coral reefs, we protect bird nesting sites and keep them free from feral dogs or raccoons or other animals of that nature, because those aren't natural to their environment.

This park has a lot of Unique challenges because it is trying to protect both Land and Sea.

Yes, it has alot of unique challenges. Probably the two big challenges we're faced with here is One, there is some private landholdings within the Park boundaries. Some of the islands are privately owned. They were privately owned in the '50's when the Park was first established. And Parliament, at that time, decided that private landowners were entitled to have their land and do with it what any other private landholder was entitled to do. So that's one challenge.

The second challenge is we can't control access. Like many of the Parks we are used to, you can go out and put up fences and gates and access roads to allow people in and make sure people have left at the end of the day or weekend. Here there is no clearly defined boundary line. There's an invisible boundary line if you follow the GPS co-ordinates or look on the maps. But there's no clear defined boundary that says you have to come through "here" in order to come into the park. So, it's a wide open space.

How many people come through the park on an annual basis?

Roughly, we estimate that 18 - 20,000 people are in the park in any given year. Primarily during the peak season which is December through June we typically have 250 - 300 people per day in the boundaries of the park.

Do you hope to increase that or what's the thinking as you go forward?

That's probably about the right balance. We don't want to overload the marine resources because even the visiting Yachtman who is the primary visitor to the park has an impact on the environment. Although they try to minimize it by navigating correctly, not running their boats aground or not discharging into the waters. There's still impact on the environment everytime somebody drops an anchor, everytime somebody washes their dishes and discharges water into the sea. We're not drastically trying to increase the number of people who come here because we want it to remain this wide open beautiful spot that it is today.

What are some of the exciting things you're going forward with in the future for the Park?

One that I'm pretty excited about is our new Mooring Ball program. We're trying to put in new mooring balls through the entire length of the Park. Ultimately to ban anchoring within most of the major anchorages today because of the damage that anchors, chains and lines do to the bottom. Even carefully anchoring in the sand disturbs the habitat of alot of the creatures that burrow and feed in those areas as well as the coral heads. So, the mooring program is going to protect the seabed and reefs and allow people to enjoy the park with even greater ease than there is today.

Also, I'm excited by the general progress the Park is making towards protection and conservation. We're actively trying to rid the park of Invasive Species, to make sure the trails are well maintained that we have on the island so people can see what we have to offer and to expand our educational offerings.

One of the really neat things you have here is a Volunteer Program.

We have a really active Volunteer program which is unique in many ways. Volunteers have built this park. The park Headquarters where we're sitting was built by volunteers. Most of the trails were built by volunteers and maintained by volunteers. A number of people who are working here day to day are actually volunteers. You wouldn't know by looking at them. They are not paid for the efforts other than with our thanks and gratitude. And yes, I am one of them.