Stronger monitoring important to keeping out invasive species, says conservation biologist amid capture of green iguanas

Conservation biologist Joey Brown says it is important for Jamaica to allocate appropriate resources to effectively monitor the nation’s borders to prevent invasive species from entering the country.

His call follows the discovery of five green iguanas in a shipping container at the Kingston Harbour on Sunday.

He told The Gleaner that the reptiles, which are very prevalent in Florida in the United States, appeared to have gotten onto containers while it was in Miami, Florida, before they were shipped to Jamaica.

Luckily, he said staff at the Kingston Wharves discovered the iguanas and alerted him, as well as personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary Service Division, to remove them.

Brown stated that if the green iguanas had reached land and begun reproducing, they would have posed a serious threat to Jamaica’s biodiversity, agriculture, and infrastructure.

“If Green Iguanas could get here, then they could be established and outcompete the Jamaican Iguana, outcompete them for food and possibly even hybridise with them, which messes up the genetics of the Jamaican Iguana,” further stated.

The Jamaican Rock Iguana is classified as critically endangered, meaning they face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild.

“It’s very important for the wharves to have customs inspections to make sure these animals aren’t being brought into Jamaica,” he said, while lauding the current staff.

“Especially with Kingston being such a major harbour, when you’re down there you got maybe five or six giant ships coming to offload containers. So, it’s really important that you have enough inspection officers who are doing these checks,” he said.

Meanwhile, terrestrial biologist and conservation ecologist Damion Whyte raised concerns about what he says is growing illegal trade in exotic animals in Jamaica, noting that it poses serious risks to the country’s native wildlife.

He cited the example of the yellow-naped parrot, which was initially brought into the island as pets but has since become prevalent in interacting with wild populations.

“These birds are established in the wild right now, which is creating a problem for our local parrots and some other birds; they outcompete them for food and nesting, and we don’t know if they hybridising,” he said.

A consequence of this, he said, could be a dwindling of Jamaica’s endemic animal population over time, and the risk of disease transfer to humans.

“There are a lot of diseases that can come in, and some of these diseases are a threat to humans, some are a threat to agriculture, and some are a threat to our wildlife,” he said.

He is urging the relevant agencies to monitor social media platforms and launch educational campaigns to raise public awareness about invasive species and the threats they pose.

The Director responsible for Environmental Management and Conservation at the National Environment and Planning Agency told The Gleaner that while Jamaica’s borders can be considered “porous in a sense,” the agency is actively doing what it can to address the issue.

“We’ve had ongoing sensitising sessions, and in terms of the formal process, engagement with customs at our borders. And if it is that there is the identification of an individual or persons bringing in these species, then there is a process to deal with this formally,” he said.

- Sashana Small

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