A group of young volunteers have come together to raise awareness about the proposed marine parks enhancement with the assistance of an innovative new website called Speak Up Cayman.

The website is a public, user-friendly platform that seeks to provide an avenue for constituents to communicate their concerns with their elected officials. Speak Up Cayman already has been picked up to forward the cause for improved protections for Cayman’s marine parks.

The current volunteers, comprised of Morgan Ebanks, Laura Butz, Gabriella Hernandez, Rory McDonough and Melissa Jackson, believe that Speak Up Cayman will be a useful platform for individuals to voices their support, concerns, or rejection of the proposed enhancements.

“This is a topic that has environmental, social, and economic components,” said 24-year old Hernandez. “We know that there are many who would like to learn more and possibly see improvements to the plan.”

“For a long time we were regarded as leaders in terms of our marine conservation efforts. Our existing legislation has made significant strides over the past 30 years in preserving our invaluable marine resources,” said Butz, a young local environmental blogger. “However, they are sorely outdated and unsustainable. If we want to ensure that our fishermen can continue to make a living and ensure we protect our environment for the enjoyment of Caymanians and tourists alike, we hope the proposals will be passed with haste.”

The volunteers are also advocating for increased enforcement and hope to see avenues created in which Caymanians can transition from potentially unsustainable practices to areas such as enforcement, conservation, and tourism so as to ensure the long-term success of the expansion. The plans, they explain, are expected to target those who irresponsibly or ignorantly utilize unsustainable practices that negatively affect the protected areas. They note that most Caymanian commercial fishermen do not utilize such practices.

They are grateful for the development of the platform by Speak Up Cayman and look forward to sharing the page with the public to create more dialogue and collaboration between the people and their leadership.

When asked what inspired the current campaign, the volunteers voiced their own personal concerns and hopes for the future.

“Cayman is currently in a very delicate situation environmentally. We must preserve our unique environment and way of life for Caymanians, now.” Says 21 year old Ebanks, “Our relationship with the sea will only last as long as we continue to nurture and conserve its blessings; when the sea dies, we die too… We wish to ensure that our people of today and tomorrow will be able to benefit from its resources and continue to express our heritage.”

Members of the group will be visiting public spaces to reach out to the public for feedback and to discuss other topics of concerns for the public the site may be used for in the future.

The group is encouraging the public to visit the page www.speakupcayman.com to learn more and share their input. You may also find it on Facebook at www.facebook.com/speakupcayman or contact the page administrators at [email protected].