Why govt plans to save St Martins is falling by the wayside

Highlights:

• There is a government ban on travelling to Chhera Dwip. But visiting Chhera Dwip never really stopped.
• The coral of the island is being wiped out by crowds of tourists.
• Staying overnight in St Martin may soon be banned.

On 21 December, five water boats were ready to transport approximately 100 tourists to Chhera Dwip from St Martin Island's southern beach.

As the boats prepared to board the tourists, many more crowded the area for tickets. But they were denied as the boats had already run out of space.

We asked some tourists, who queued on the shoreline, if they knew that visiting Chhera Dwip was banned, and if they knew anything about the ecological damage their visit would cause to the ailing island. 

Most tourists laughed it off, while some were visibly annoyed about being questioned about  their choice of holiday destination.

A young man named Ismail, who was facilitating the tickets to Chhera Dwip, came to their rescue.

"If you follow the government instructions while travelling to St Martin, you cannot have any fun at all. You cannot ride a motorbike and bicycle on the beach, go to Chhera Dwip, or fly lanterns," Ismail said. "If you cannot have fun, what is the point of coming here?"

The Department of Environment (DoE), which has owned the island since the early 2000s, has deemed some activities as prohibited in St. Martin and put a notice, with the list, on almost every hotel and resort door.

A dozen such prohibited activities include visiting the Chhera Dwip.

But after spending nearly a week on the island, TBS found that most of the DoE's instructions, especially in terms of travelling to Chhera Dwip, are largely ignored.

The government ban on travelling to the island was announced in October 2020. But the tourists have persistently paid a visit to the southernmost point of Bangladesh anyways.

Earlier on 31 January last year, the local tourism-related businessmen called a strike when the DoE, with the coast guard's support, moved on to strictly implement the travel ban to Chhera Dwip. They called off the strike in three days at the behest of the Teknaf UNO.

However, speaking to the tourists who travelled to St Martin after the strike, TBS has learned that the travel bans to Chhera Dwip have mostly remained ineffective ever since.

Why this ban is necessary

"The DoE has bought the island for the restoration of the environment and ecology. It cannot be used for any other purposes. As long as the environment and ecology of this Island are not restored, the ban will continue," said Nazmul Huda, a deputy director at the DoE, Cox's Bazar.

"The island gets very noisy due to the tourists' presence that scare the marine animals, especially the sea turtles, who leave the island without laying eggs.

If a turtle leaves without laying eggs, it dies. It is not only about the turtles. All other marine animals are equally disturbed, and hence the ban is there to save them," Huda explained.

"Also, the tourists often damage the coral reefs. Moreover, coral trafficking is a reality. The ban is also there to save the coral and to transform the area into a marine animal sanctuary," Huda said.

"The DoE believes that if tourists can be stopped from going there, it would be possible to restore the environment and ecology of the island," he added.

According to environmentalists and DoE officials, the island, which had once hosted 154 species of marine algae, 157 species of aquatic plant, 157–191 species of snail, 240 species of fish and 120 species of birds, four species of amphibious creatures and 29 species of serpentines, has lost many of them.

Recent research also found that in 37 years, the coral cover on the island has decreased from 1.32 sq km to 0.39 sq km. The number of coral species has come down from 141 to 40. The area covered by trees has been reduced from 4 and a half sq km to 3 sq km.

Although it is not possible to stay overnight at Chhera Dwip, numerous tourists flock here every day by wooden boats and speedboats, polluting the environment and damaging the corals.

Consequently, the island's surviving corals are in danger of extinction.

The nexus: Lack of awareness, livelihood and ineffective measures

St. Martin's Island was declared an Environmentally Critical Area by the government in 1999 to protect its ecology and biodiversity.

However, in the last two decades, the number of tourists persistently increased in this environmentally vulnerable island.

On some counts, around 8,000 to 10,000 tourists flock there every day during the season. The number was around only 200 in the 1990s. Similarly, the number of hotels and resorts also increased proportionally. In 2012, there were 16 hotels and resorts in St. Martin whereas at present, there are more than 120 hotels, resorts and cottages.

This huge number of tourists, coupled with roughly 10,000 permanent inhabitants of the island have had an adverse impact on the island.

In the backdrop of such demand to visit St Martin, today, the livelihood of the locals is largely tourism centric.

Although the outsiders own most of the attractive resorts, many of the locals are gradually getting into the hotel/resorts businesses where most locals have secured employment in the sector.

From van and auto-rickshaw drivers to boatmen who carry the passengers to Chhera Dwip, tourism is the main source of income.

Many families run an entire year based on the money they make during the four main tourist months.

So the DoE's ban on travel to Chhera Dwip has neither been welcomed by the local inhabitants nor by influential outsiders who own resorts there.

Also, most tourists in Bangladesh are not very mindful of the impact of their thrown-away plastic waste on the environment. If you walk down the shore for a few minutes, you will inevitably cross a tourist who would throw a plastic packet into the water or on the beach.

Our conversation with Chhera Dwip bound tourists also revealed this ignorance or complete lack of awareness of what travelling to the island does to its ecology.

The DoE's Nazmul Huda told us that "If the tourists do not follow the rules despite the awareness campaign, we employ law and order personnel. One of our magistrates is working there to ensure this."

Later, we asked Mohiuddin Ahmed, an additional SP of the Tourist Police in Cox's Bazar why despite the deployment of such forces, the waves of tourists to the Chhera Dwip cannot be resisted.

"There needs to be a coordinated effort [of all forces] in this regard. We have been talking about addressing the absence of coordination already," Ahmed replied. 

Solaiman Haider, the Director (Planning) of the DoE, told The Business Standard that they [the officers] rarely interfere if someone walks towards the Chhera Dwip.

"Although we do not condone walking there either, (as per the DoE instructions, walking there is also illegal) very few can actually undertake such an endeavour! We actively interfere if someone cycles or takes a motorbike or speedboat to the island," said Haider.

The DoE director said that the government is mulling over reducing the overall tourists' pressure on St Martin.

"We will limit the tourist number to 1,200 and they will not be allowed to stay the night. The decision-makers in the government are definitely considering this. We cannot say for sure when it will be implemented but it can happen within a month," Haider said.

When mentioning the boats that go from different points with tourists in the presence of law enforcement officers, the director said that he was aware of it.

"We are taking different steps to stop all the harmful activities in St Martin. Give us some time. Everything will be sorted out soon," Haider added.