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The sunrise is so heavenly beautiful breaking in the greenish water of the sea. It is so divinely pleasant at a small island with long rows of coconut trees along the line of sandy beach. The first rays of the sun so clearly reflect on a combination of stones of different colours and sizes. We are talking about Sat. Martin’s Island, the country’s lone coral island. Locals call this treasure trove of nature Narikel Jinjira. But as a visitor you will no more have to step in on the typical rocks of the island when you get down from the boat. Rather the concrete is now gradually changing the typical Narikel Dip, once famed for its rich bio-diversity and excellent natural beauty.
Surrounded by the rough sea St. Martin’s is a unique creation of nature having 66 different types of rocks around it. Apart from sea fishes, the island is a hub for 300 species of snails and jhinuk, five species of amphibian lizards, five species of sea tortoises, 15 species of snakes, 20 different birds and 20 mammals. Besides 483 of species of plants enriched the biodiversity of the island. The environment ministry literatures said no islands in the Indian Ocean have so much bio-diversity within such a small land area.
Scientists assume that Narikel Jinjira is actually an extended part of the Chittagong hills, which remained as an island in the Bay of Bengal. The exponents of this concept believe that St. Martin’s is not actually a coral island. That means it is not based on coral reefs at the bottom of the sea. Historical documents show that the island was named after a governor of Chittagong, Martin.
Director of the biodiversity conservation and eco-park project of the island, Qamar Munir, said that proper care would be taken up by the Ministry of Environment and Forest for the protection of this gift of the nature by preserving all aspects of its biodiversity.
Rainwater is the lone source of drinking water in the island and it is deposited beneath the surface line of sands. Qamar Munir said due to unplanned sewerage system the entire deposit of the sweet water could get polluted anytime making the island unliveable.
He also expressed concern at the massive growth of human settlements and infrastructures and said the government was officially notified of the concern last year following a meeting with Environment Minister Shajahan Siraj, who later formed a 10-member expert committee to suggest remedies.
A report prepared by the committee said the very existence of the island is now at stake because of the extraction of coral rocks to construct buildings and roads there. The report called it a suicidal act and feared that unless the extraction of coral rocks are stopped immediately, there will be no sign of St. Martin’s Island or Jinjira Dip in Bangladesh’s map in the near future.
Though the government declared this island as ecologically endangered area last year, rich people are buying the shorelines of the eight-square-kilometre small island. Environmentally critical Saint Martin’s is losing its natural look as buildings are replacing the corals, which emerge from the bottom of the sea.
The promise of the government to protect the island is apparently more in paper than in action. The island is eroding slowly.
Dr. Mohammad Ali Reza, an eminent nature scientist, has called for preserving this unique gift of the nature with its rich biodiversity. About the plight of the marine turtles, he said when the baby turtles break out of the eggshells the first thing they do is to move towards the light seen on the sea and breaking waves. But if the baby turtles see the electric lights on different buildings dotting the beach, they get confused. They cannot survive without going into the water first, he added.
According to official statistics, the population of the island is 5,500, while the figure is, unofficially, 6,000. Some 750 people live in one square kilometre area.
Local residents and officials said different plots of the small island were transferred for 20 times on an average. The affluent people of the capital Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are purchasing the attractive shorelines and developing hotel businesses. Hossain Ali, an elderly islander, said the hotels did not require so much of land and wondered why they are purchasing all the lands here? But he had no answer to the question why the islanders are selling their land. He, however, hastened to add that money has made people here crazy. A hotel owner said two years ago he bought 40 decimals of land at a cost of Taka one lakh while the piece of land would have cost only Taka 7,000 five years ago.
Abul Kashem Chowdhury, a 72-year old former union parishad chairman and schoolteacher, regretted that the islanders could not realise that though the islanders who sold out their land were initially benefitted in terms of money, their posterities would become land starved in the near future and will have no alternative to leaving the island.
The islanders are mainly fishermen and sea is the main source of their livelihood. A number of islanders go to the deep sea in trawlers to catch fish as the stock around the island is apparently dwindling. There are numerous ghers of shrimps and dry fishes along the beach. But many families still run by selling species like Rupchanda, Vetki and Coral fishes. Coconut trees are another major source of income of the islanders.
People in the past did not use to take much interest in visiting the island because of lack of accommodation facilities. But the situation has changed now. The small island has at present some 12 hotels with good menu chart. There are two- or three-storied hotels as well as small cottages in the island. The rent of the rooms ranges from Taka 200 to Taka 600.
Defying the rough sea, a sea truck operates between Teknaf and St. Martin’s Island every day, excepting in the summer and the rainy season. It leaves Teknaf at 10 in the morning reaches St. Martin’s after nearly three hours. The travel cost of the truck is rather high – Taka 200 for return journey. The locally made country boats are the other mode of transport, which operate round the year and charge Taka 50 for one-way journey.