?Quoted in Scientific American, July 3, by ecology researcher at the University of Maryland, David Luther, and Russell Greenberg, head of the Smithsonian National Zoo's Migratory Bird Centre: "Mangroves are threatened by development, pollution, mariculture and changes in sea level and salinity."
The impact on creatures that depend on mangroves remains poorly documented. Tangled woody mangrove forests cover about 65,637 square miles (170,000 square kilometres) around the world, but they are quickly disappearing. A 2007 UN report noted that 20 per cent of the globe's mangrove forests had vanished in the 25 years between 1980 and 2005, a rate that the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation's director called "alarming."
The article in your July 13 issue on the Claxton Bay mangroves and the foreseen impact on the fishing community and habitat of the wildlife and fishes brings into question the reason for destroying our mangroves. One further question needs answering: where will our Scarlet Ibises be nesting now? The mangroves in Trinidad were featured on a US wildlife channel in 2008 and now we plan to destroy this area to set up a steel mill and a port.
Desmond Smith
Swindon, England
