We applaud the Government of Jamaica for abandoning the proposal to build a transshipment port on the Goat Islands!

The Portland Bight Protected Area contains significant environmental assets.  The coastline includes the largest mangrove system in Jamaica (about 2/3 of all Jamaica’s mangroves, according to land use 1998) which together with extensive sea‐grass beds and coral reefs, likely contains the largest nursery area for fish and shellfish on the island. The land area includes 81 square miles of dry limestone forests and 32 square miles of wetlands. These areas are of high conservation value due to the numbers of vulnerable and endemic species that live there. Overlooking Portland Bight are three tropical dry forests including the largest remaining area of intact dry limestone forest in Jamaica, where 271 plant species have been identified, including 53 that are endemic and found nowhere else on Earth. The PBPA is also home to 44 communities with a total of 50,000 human inhabitants. The area also contains the highest concentration of fishers in Jamaica.