Walker's Cay

Walker 's Cay is an uninhabited island in the north of the Abaco Islands. The small sandy island belongs to the reserve Walker 's Cay, which is about 15 km ². This could be made ​​jointly by the population of the Abacos and environmental activists in the U.S. Shark Foundation under protection.

Tourism

The marine reserve has an extremely versatile marine fauna. The coral and fish are a major attraction for the tourists dar. important to mention here are the many sharks. A captured shark brings on the market today about 10 dollars. Since only be cut off and used its fins, this is out of proportion to its tourist market value. It estimates the value of a live shark in the waters of the Bahamas to about $ 15,000 per year. Because the Bahamas and its rich underwater world attract year after year to about 3.2 million swimmers and divers from around the world. The islands are considered one of the best Haireviere the world. The Government of the Bahamas is estimated that around 40 % of all sports divers come to the islands just because of the sharks.

Endangering

Especially foreign fishermen catch sharks today. So Walker's Cay lost almost half of the approximately 100 sharks that were to be found there regularly. About 40 sharks were caught and killed in one night. Animal rights activists they found with cut fins.

A special spectacle is the so-called shark rodeo. Here divers can watch the shark feeding. The sharks are fed with frozen fish. Once the feeding is over, it is up to the divers to collect the lost shark teeth as souvenirs on who have lost animals to their frozen prey. Feeding sharks are considered very dangerous because the animals fall into a feeding frenzy and snap at anything that moves. Also, the sharks get used to the place of feeding and are easy prey for illegal fishing.

The coral bleaching has not spared the reefs of the Bahamas. It was observed here already thirty years ago and went on locally limited.