Caribbean nations plan marine parks

Caribbean islands will create new protected areas for fish and coral reefs under a €45 million plan that will help safeguard tourism-backed economies.

"This is a trust fund for the future benefit of society," Bahamas Minister of Works and Transport Earl Deveaux told Reuters of the project. "Our economy is based on tourism and our greatest natural resource is our environment."

Inspired by a 2006 plan to protect part of the Pacific Ocean and a "Coral Triangle" project launched last year for southeast Asia, nine Caribbean nations agreed to extend protected areas to 10 per cent of their marine and coastal habitats by 2012.

The Bahamas, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Antigua and Barbuda, St Kitts and Nevis, Dominica, Saint Lucia, Grenada, St Vincent and the Grenadines aim to set aside about 32,000 square km, according to the US-based Nature Conservancy which is advising Caribbean governments.