Southwest Marine Park Photo Courtesy of Stuart Cove

Southwest Marine Park Project Summary

The Bahamas National Trust was formed in 1959 by an act of Parliament to manage The Bahamas' national park systems. The Bahamas' National Park System is at the heart of the Trust's mandate. With 25 National Parks encompassing more than 700,000 acres of land and sea areas, the National Parks have tremendous value to The Bahamas that spans economic, ecological and social realms.

The Bahamas National Trust is in the process of developing a proposal for a National Park to be developed off the Southwest coast of New Providence Island. This area is highly significant for The Bahamas because of its proximity to Nassau; and as a result, can pose both threats to the marine resources and opportunity for sustainable use of these resources. The proposed location is accessible to the majority of Bahamians and tourists to The Bahamas. Thus, creating a marine park in this area has the potential to serve multiple purposes of protecting resources, providing non-destructive economic benefits, and providing both recreational and educational opportunities for Bahamians. The accessibility of this park to the majority of the Bahamian population also has the potential to make this park a cornerstone marine park of The Bahamas National Park System.

A thorough quantitative assessment of the marine environment and resources in the area being considered for a park would greatly facilitate the park planning process. A comprehensive Rapid Ecological Assessment (REA) was conducted during the month of July 2009. The study was designed to provide more relevant quantitative data on the ecology of the area and surrounding marine ecosystems (e.g. from the shelf edge to the shoreline and coastal wetlands of Southwest New Providence), including information on the habitats and living marine resources, their current status, and the threats that they face. Understanding the distribution of habitats and species, the diversity of species, the status of populations of key species, and the overall health of marine resources throughout the proposed park and surrounding areas (at sites used by key stakeholders and sites throughout the rest of the proposed park area) is critical for assessing the value of the proposed area for meeting specific goals and objectives as a national park. To review the full report of the project please click on the link below.

http://www.bnt.bs/SouthwestMarineParkREA.html