photo by Wilna Gronenboom THIS WEEK: Breaking News- A Big Step In addition it has been agreed that the Table of Contents Netherlands will deposit NAƒ 507 mil- to a New Bonaire s a result of meetings in St. lion on an account at the Central Bank Letters Maarten this week, The Nether- of the Netherlands Antilles as soon as Bermuda Model 4 A the financial supervisor has been ap- 69 Crime Solutions 5 lands is making available more than Cell Battle Victims 5 one billion Antillean guilders for fi- pointed. This money is reserved to pay Historical Buildings 5 nancial support for the Netherlands the shares of St. Maarten, Bonaire, Preserving the Past 7 Antilles (Central Government), St. Saba and St. Eustatius in the yet undi- A Real Splash 8 vided debt of the Netherlands Antilles. Envirowatch (Batteries) 9 Maarten, Bonaire, Saba and St. Eusta- BONHATA 10th Anniversary 10 tius. The transition date to the new con- Bonaire's share is NAƒ55 million. Bonaire District—Rent for Success 10 stitutional status moved out 18 months. Bonaire’s delegation leader Kids Karnaval 11 The island of Curaçao is not included Ramonsito Booi, after the signing Maritza St. Jago, MCB Anniversary 12 ceremony, said perseverance had Happy Birthday, Cactus Blue 13 and did not participate by choice. The Lost Dog-Tyson 14 target date for new relations in the overcome everything. Booi congratu- Shrink Studies SCUBA (Panic) 18 Kingdom of the Netherlands has lated the people of the four islands and erage, inability to contact some num- been set at December 15, 2008, the especially those of Bonaire. He said for bers, inability to receive calls, unex- WEEKLY FEATURES: Bonaire the accord meant that it could Flotsam & Jetsam 2 day traditionally celebrated as King- pectedly changed phone numbers, no Biologists Bubbles (Parrotfish) 3 dom Day, the day on which the present finally develop and get out of the hold off-island service, excessive SMS mes- Coral Glimpses 3 Charter was signed in 1954. St. of the (Central Government) Nether- sages and general confusion. Telbo Picture Yourself (Boulder, Colorado) 12 Maarten will become a country and the lands Antilles. He called on Bonaire’s customers who did not switch from Classifieds 12 Pet of the Week (Hazel) 14 three “smaller” islands-Bonaire, Saba people to pour a solid foundation. In an UTS to Digicel were supposed to have obvious reference to the upcoming is- Tide Table 14 and St. Eustatius-overseas municipali- their calls forwarded to their new 79x Reporter Masthead 14 ties of The Netherlands. land elections, he spoke of a brighter numbers, but some users were unable to What’s Happening 15 To make sure the islands have a future, something to which the people receive any calls. The companies were Movieland Film Schedule 15 Karneval Schedule 15 healthy start, the Netherlands is helping who had elected him had been looking working on the problems as we went to forward to. Shopping & Dining Guides 16 with debt relief. The four islands will press. Born on Bonaire (Johnny Leoneta) 17 Further details will be in the next is- receive NAƒ 71 million extra for social Sky Park (Valentine Trio) 19 and economic investments. NAƒ 15 sue of The Reporter. ► Queen Beatrix officially asked The Stars Have It 19 million is being made available in the caretaker Prime Minister Jan Peter short term for “concrete projects.” NAƒ ► Bonaire’s cell phone users were Balkenende to put together a Cabi- 13 million is being reserved for a one- the victims of poor management of an net, the Dutch Government Information time contribution to cover health care infrastructure switch by all the island’s Service said Friday. Balkenende and related expenses for the three “smaller” cell phone service providers, except his Christian Democrat CDA party islands, plus Bonaire is earmarked to MIO, when Telbo changed from UTS have reached agreement to form a cen- get 19 million for social-economic pur- to Digicel. It was “cell phone Purga- trist Dutch government with the left- poses. These monies are separate from tory” for just about everyone who leaning PvdA party and the small current aid funds from USONA. had to use their phone. Problems re- lated to The Reporter included: no cov- (Continued on page 4) Page 2 Bonaire Reporter - February 16 to February 23, 2007 (a bit of information about corals presented each week by naturalist Dee Scarr) id You Know… he reddish-purple spot There are some fish T (right) is sergeant-major D eggs, most of which were de- out there with fantastic sex posited on the side of an old lives? barrel. The eggs on the bottom We’re talking every day, sev- are deposited on the top of a eral times a day! Parrotfish are little star coral head. one of the luckiest fish in the sea. First of all, they get the In this closer shot we can see best of both worlds: they start off as females and then eventu- that the coral polyps on the ally turn into males. Secondly, bottom are alive. every day they have a set time, Female Stoplight parrotfish Photos by Jim Brandon depending on the species, when they get all excited and start their mating ritual. The colorful males begin to establish their territories by chasing each other and intensifying their colors. The females group together and do their best to ignore the males until their victor is the undis- puted champion. Then the male The coral polyps in the cups rises up, pumps his pectoral Male Stoplight parrotfish surrounded by white (naked) fins, quivers his tail and poops! skeleton are probably dead. If Yes, right there for all to see. Perhaps it’s a sign to the gals that he’s so brave and strong the coral were alive, it would have eaten the sergeant-major eggs. Perhaps there and fast that he doesn’t have to worry about predators. One female may rise up, but as he have been several nests there, and Dad in his preparations or patrols rubs against swoops down to escort her to the surface, she often completely ignores him and returns the living coral adjacent to his nesting spot. Eventually the polyps would expire, to the reef below to feed on algae. Perhaps she has a headache. and his nesting area would expand. After many unsuccessful attempts, finally one of the females will rise up. The male will swim with her upwards and they will quickly turn together at the apex. It’s at this Captions & photos by Dee Scarr. point that she releases her eggs and he quickly fertilizes them with his milt. Then they race back down to the safety of the reef. He keeps at this until all of the females have Correction: released their eggs. If I’m snorkeling between 11:30am and 12:30pm, I can almost assur- Yikes! That's obviously not a long-jawed edly find these beautiful fish doing their thing. As can you. Just look for males chasing purplemouth moray as captioned in the each other and any parrotfish that rises upwards. Then stay calm and don’t Diving with Dee article last week. That's get too close and you’re in for a peep show! Caren Eckrich the first of the two shots of the lit- Biologist Caren Eckrich founded and runs Sea & Discover, Bonaire's marine educa- tle spotted moray with the rebuilt tion center specializing in guided dives and snorkels for adults and adventure pro- jaw! D.S. grams for kids. You may call her at 717-5322. Bonaire Reporter - February 16 to February 23, 2007 Page 3 (Flotsam and Jetsam. Continued from page 2) While all other islands have agreed to Christian values Christian Union party. the conditions required by the debt as- The Queen’s request is the next step in sumption, Curaçao has yet to do so. REPLY: UNCONVINCED AND UPSET the formal procedure by which a new When I saw in the last issue of The Bon- Dutch administration will take office. aire Reporter a letter by Genady Filkovski, Balkenende will now select ministers for I began to read it first, expecting other inter- his cabinet. esting facts about the marine environment like in the previous letters of this young ► The final statements man. Unfortunately, to my disappointment, (Slotverklaringen) of October 11 and his poison-pen letter, reacting to my article November 2 last year, which are the “The Good Example of Bermuda,” pub- basis for the dissolution of the Nether- lished in the previous issue of BR, does not lands Antilles and Bonaire's new rela- say anything about important issues men- tionship with Holland, were added to tioned in my article, like protection of the the draft governing accord of the new fragile environment of this island sur- Dutch CDA, PvdA and ChristenUnie rounded by coral reefs. cabinet. The original accord didn't in- Instead, he dedicates the greater part of clude them. However, environmentalists his letter to the race question, in spite of the are concerned that there is still no fact that he himself mentions that the skin color has nothing to do with the issue. For The ‘trademark” Bermuda policeman stated policy on preserving the is- Bermuda Tourism photo land’s environment and unique cul- an unclear reason, he calls the information ture in the government platform. in my article, that 61% of Bermudians are blacks, a “slip of tongue” (according to the Bermuda’s national resources are its Iron Rita SP.NL photo Dictionary of American Idioms, “the slip of people and the government wants to protect ► During a seminar at the Central the tongue” means “the mistake of saying them.