Page 11 - HOH

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local Wednesday 17 august 2022

Aruba Alert: Sea urchins affected by a fatal disease

Loose individual sea urchins on the Loose sea urchins with heavy loss Fish and other marine species eat
Healthy sea urchins attached to the sand where they shed their long of spines and tissue and with their
surface of the rocks (tres trapi). spines. skeleton exposed dead sea urchins

OrAnjeStAd - In the past days, baseline to monitor the mortality encountered; ing reviewed, the photos and ur-
divers spotted many diseased or rate and potential recovery of the Image 1 - Healthy sea urchins at- chin count indicate that the seas
dying Long-spined sea urchins (di- infected sea urchins. tached to the surface of the rocks urchins in Aruba are not looking
adema antillarum) in many coast- The high mortality mainly affects (Tres Trapi). good.
al areas surrounding Aruba. the sea urchins, which are indica- Image 2 - Loose individual sea ur-
tors of a healthy ecosystem for chins on the sand where they shed They have planned the next count
This problem requires the help of the corals. Due to the ecological their long spines. to determine the mortality per-
the community. According to Mrs. importance of the sea urchins as Image 3 - Loose sea urchins with centage at Tres Trapi and the Man-
Tatiana Becker, Marine Ecologist, herbivores (algae eaters) similar to heavy loss of spines and tissue and gel Halto.
and Environmental Researcher, parrotfish, the urchin’s health has with their skeleton exposed
the shared observation and photos implications for the tourism sector Image 4 - Fish and other marine It is essential for planning and pol-
undoubtedly indicate an unknown and fishermen who depend on the species eat dead sea urchins icy-making to preserve the sea ur-
and fatal disease spreading in the coastal ecosystem. chins.
Caribbean and is causing devas- Marine conservation activist and
tating high mortality of sea urchins. Divers have observed many sea ur- Divemaster Albi Valdéz, BSc re- The DNM urges all divers to report
In July 2022, Mrs. Tatiana Becker chins who have lost their tissue and ported his findings on the website their observations and send pho-
conducted a sea urchin count, spines in at least 2 locations in Aru- of AGRRA, https://www.agrra.org/ tographs of the sea urchins to the
right before the discovery of the ba; Tres Trapi and Mangel Halto. sea-urchin-die-off/. AGRRA. It will verify the presence
significant number of dead sea of the disease and its spread in our
urchins. The count serves as the The pictures describe the situation While his observations are be- surrounding waters.q

Minister of energy, Glenbert Croes will meet with American

government regarding possibility to purhcase HFO from Venezuela

OrAnjeStAd – during his press conference yes- island be allowed to purchase HFO of Venezu- that he was hope that the efforts he is doing in
terday, during which he announced a reduc- elan origin and this way it would be possible to this area will contribute to the totality, to help
tion in the price of water and electricity, the lower the price of water and electricity. reach the moment in which it will be possible to
minister of energy mentioned that he will meet reduce the cost of water and electricity for the
shortly with representatives of the government To conclude, minister Glenbert Croes expressed entire Aruban community..q
of the United States in the area of energy, but
particularly the Office of Foreign Assets Control
OFAC, to see the possibility for Aruba to receive
a license to purchase heavy fuel oil from Ven-
ezuela for two and a half years, until the eagle
LnG project is ready to start supplying natural
gas to water company WeB.

According to a press release from minister of
Energy, Labor and Integration, Glenbert Croes,
the goal of this request is so that while there is
so much uncertainty as to the price of crude
oil because of diverse factors, it be possible
for Aruba to purchase HFO from Venezuela at
a preferential price, which in turn will be trans-
mitted into a substantial reduced fee for water
and electricity for the people of Aruba.

According to the minister, there are islands in
the Caribbean currently purchasing HFO of
Venezuelan origin at a much more favorable
price than what Aruba is paying right now. So
Croes said he will make this petition in the in-
terest of the people of Aruba, the economy of
Aruba, and in the interest of lowering the price
for water and electricity on the island, that the