regularly run aground, especially in the narrow passage

into the bay between Bovoni and Bird Cays (Figure 2).

Several requests have been made by boat owners and area

businessmen to dredge and deepen the channel.

 Marinas and other good anchorages. which are used by

 large numbers of boats are inevitably sites of extremely

 poor water quality and an impoverished biota. Motor ves-

 sels contribute appreciable quantities of various pollu-

 tants to the water, especially when engines are running

 slowly or at idle as they usually are within the anchorage.

 Exhaust gases and unburned hydrocarbons are continuously

 injected into the water at higher than ambient temperatures

 and pressures. This material dissolves or is finely dis-

 persed in the water and kills living things. In addition

 to combustion products there is sewage (none of the marinas

 on the island have pump-off facilities and very few craft

 have holding tanks, in any case), other refuse and some un-

 avoidable fuel and oil spillage. The significance of these

 additions to the water can really be appreciated only if

 other attendant facts are considered. The first is the

 number, and, more important, the density of boats in most

 anchorages where their combined effects are concentrated in

 a relatively small area. The second factor is that places

best suited for docking and anchoring are usually least

capable of tolerating the ensuing stresses placed upon them.


P ae 2