Figure 41: Map of the East End Marine Park

Figure 41: Map of the East End Marine Park.

The Park represents the culmination of forty years of vision and three years of collaboration to establish (St. Croix East End Marine Park, 2009). This effort involved a number of stakeholders, organizations and institutions with the goal of preserving one of the most beautiful landscapes in St. Croix, an area rich in coastal and marine resources. Contrary to our expectations, many fishermen claimed that they supported the development of the EEMP,54 despite the fact that when it is combined with Buck Island the area becomes difficult to navigate and forces the fishers to seek new fishing grounds. One of the main reasons for their support is that the coastal areas

54 “Fishermen participating in the community workshops identified the proposed No-Take Areas as light fishing areas and agreed that these areas would be appropriate to a No-Take Area (Pers. Comm. Thomas Daley, Gerson Martinez , Robert McAuliffe, and Jose Sanchez.) (EEMP Management Plan 2003: 15).

protected by the park have been targeted by illegal fishermen, recreational fishers, and what they call “weekend warriors”: part-timers, illegal aliens, sport fishers, and others that go after small lobsters, whelk, conch, and small fry (The Nature Conservancy 2002: 18-19).55 In their view, weekend warriors create a lot of damage, “sprat and fry are wiped out,” and “everybody dives, spears, gets conch every weekend.” Many fishermen feel that weekend warriors place enormous pressure on the resource. As one SCUBA operator from the West End recounts “the guy that goes fishing over a weekend and has eight to ten unidentified traps in the water.” Below we transcribe some notes by Kathi Kitner on this phenomenon:

There also are innumerable locals that catch their own fish for their own consumption, using either hook and line or spear guns; whether this activity is defined as subsistence fishing or recreational fishing for personal consumption is unclear at this point. I did question various different people about how they obtained fish for themselves.

Some indicated that they bought at the Central Market in Sunny Isle, and others bought from fishermen they knew. Others said that they sometimes catch their own fish, or they will eat fish at restaurants. No one said that fish was too expensive to eat as is sometimes noted on the mainland United States. No one noted that fish was scarce.

I had brief interviews with two men who both fish on the weekends from their sailboats by trolling a handline; both indicated that the creation of protected areas in the U.S.V.I. had made such practice difficult as they were unsure what they were allowed to catch in what area, or if they were allowed to fish at all. One man told me he had mostly stopped fishing all together because he was too afraid of being caught doing something illegal. He was very upset about losing his access to fishing in this way, and claimed that his taking “of a few fish can’t hurt anything.”

At a seaside park frequented by locals, east of Christiansted, I observed many boys bringing in fish that they had speared offshore (Figure 42). They told me

55 EEMP map available at http://www.viczmp.com/vi_park_map.htm