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Montserrat is a Caribbean island that is a British Overseas Territory. It is located in the Leeward Islands, part of the chain of islands known as the Lesser Antilles, in the West Indies. The island measures approximately 16 km long and 11 km wide, with approximately 40 kilometers of coastline. Montserrat is nicknamed the Emerald Isle of the Caribbean both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of some of its inhabitants.
In 1995, the Soufrière Hills volcano became active. Eruptions impacted heavily on the island’s unique terrestrial and marine habitats and destroyed Montserrat's Georgian era capital city of Plymouth, forcing two-thirds of the island's population to relocate. The volcanic activity continues to the present although to a much lesser extent.
Coral Cay Conservation has launched an exciting new marine and terrestrial project on Montserrat for 2013. This 3-5 year “Ridge to Reef” project is a collaboration between the Ministry of Agriculture Trade, Land, Housing and the Environment (MAHLE) and the RSPB.
Why not join the RSPB today and save 10% on the cost of this programme?
Project Aims:
- Marine baseline survey programme
- Long-term marine monitoring
- Terrestrial surveying and monitoring
- Production of annual survey reports
- Development of stakeholder agreed management plans
- Promotion of eco-diving on the island
- Community outreach and engagement
- Training schemes for local people
Marine Programmes:
- Coral reef surveying
- Habitat mapping
- Long term reef monitoring
- Reef restoration options
Terrestrial Programmes
- Invasive species monitoring
- Bird, invertebrate & reptile surveys including support of annual Montserrat oriole surveys Habitat association studies
Community Programmes
- Community perception surveys
- Environmental open days for schools
- Teacher training
- Educational videos
- Environmental posters
- School children summer camps
- Stakeholder engagement workshops
Click here to watch a video on Montserrat.
This is your chance to get involved and really make a difference
helping to protect this island paradise!
The Montserrat Field Base is located at the "Taj Mahal" in Old Towne. Pre-volcano this spacious villa was frequented by celebrities recording at the nearby Air studios. Guests included Mark Knopfler, Sting and Elton John.
The Taj overlooks the Belham river which is one of the best birding spots on the island. The site can accommodate 40 volunteers and has classrooms and a diving training pool on-site. Accommodation is a mixture of double beds, twin rooms and dormitories. All rooms have en-suite bathrooms. Our marine programme’s boat is moored a short five minute walk away in Old Road Bay.
Coral Cay Conservation welcomes volunteers from all backgrounds and nationalities and individuals do not need to have any previous diving or science related knowledge to join an expedition as all of the necessary training is completed during the expedition.
Individuals booking on will need to be a minimum of 18 years of age but we are able to take on under 18’s if they are accompanied by parents. This is taken on a case by case basis.
This project is also suitable for medical elective students.
We are also able to assist under/post graduate students who wish to conduct research projects in conjunction with their Coral Cay expedition.
CCC offers local counterpart scholarship programmes on all of our sites. In Montserrat
this takes the format of:
- Swimming lessons
- Reef rangers
- Diving training
- Marine survey training
- Terrestrial survey training
- Ranger training programmes
These programmes are free to attend. Please Contact us for further information.
Launching in June 2013. click here for further details.
Governor’s Office gives £10'000 pounds to new conservation programme on Montserrat. Click here for further details.
Before booking please consider the following points:
1: Coral Cay’s Montserrat project site will be closed from mid-December until the end of January each year.
2: Non-diving volunteers joining a Coral Cay expedition for a two week period may not complete their skills development programme and may not get the opportunity to carry out any marine surveys.
Your flight will be the biggest environmental impact of the expedition. For example, in flying to Antigua from the UK, you will be responsible for releasing approximately 2.37 tonnes of carbon dioxide, the main gas responsible for global warming. CCC has teamed up with Rainforest Concern to try and help repair your flight's contribution to global warming. You now have the option to reduce your emissions by the same amount as the flight creates, making your flights 'climate neutral'.
CCC also offsets all of the emissions from the flights that our staff take on company business. By offsetting the CO2 emissions from our air travel you can be sure our recce’s aren’t adding to global warming. We operate as close to a “paperless” office as possible and send the majority of our paperwork via email. This also helps to keep the costs of our programmes to a minimum.
The Rainforest Concern Forest Credits system gives instant calculations allowing you to see the cost and emissions in real time. More importantly the money raised goes directly to help Rainforest Concern projects. Rainforest Concern is a Registered Charity in the UK, established to protect threatened natural habitats and the biodiversity they contain, together with the indigenous people who still depend on them for survival.
Should you wish to offset your carbon footprint, please click here.
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