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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM FACILITATES CONCH VENDORS AND SUPPLIERS WORKSHOP

This week representatives from the Ministry of Tourism, along with The Bahamas National Trust, held a press conference at the Rand Nature Center to announce a special conch vendor’s workshop to be held on Thursday, June 29th from 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.

Nicole B. Colebrook, Customer Relations Manager, Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA); Jeffrey Pinder, Senior Executive for Sustainable Tourism, MOT; Ellsworth Weir, Senior Park Warden, BNT; Clement Campbell, Assistant Supt. Department of Fisheries, Grand Bahama. 

Senior Executive for Sustainable Tourism, Jeffrey Pinder, explained that the workshop is targeted to persons who are harvesting and reselling the conch, along with those who make various products using conchshell.

Acknowledging that 2017 has been declared as the year of Sustainable Tourism Development, Pinder said, “The workshop is in keeping with the sustainable development goals from the United Nations.” 

“We are focusing, with this workshop, on goal number 12, which is the responsible consumption and product.”

Senior Park Warden for the Bahamas National Trust, Ellsworth Weir, said that the pending workshop ties in perfectly to BNT’s new Conchservation campaign, which seeks to educate locals on the importance of protecting, preserving and employing proper harvesting techniques of the conch.

Speaking to the harvesting techniques, he explained, “The lip thickness of a conch should be at least 15mm before it is harvested.”

According to Pinder, the workshop will address environmental concerns related to harvesting and proper management of conch; encourage proper customer service techniques to persons who sell conch salad and related products, and standardize the industry through training, proper licensing and permitting.

The workshop will feature presentations from the Department of Environmental Health Services, Department of Marine Resources, Grand Bahama Port Authority’s Licensing Department, Royal Bahamas Defense and Police Forces, Inland Administrators for East and West GB, Bahamas National Trust (Conchservation) and the Ministry of Tourism’s Training and Education Department.

Registration for the conch vendors and suppliers workshop is free and interested persons can contact the Ministry of Tourism’s office at 350-8600 to register before the end of the work day on Wednesday, June 28th. 

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