Our annual Earth Day Science fair was a huge success. More than 400 students, teachers and parents all came out to support local school students as they competed in one of four categories. The theme for this year was: "Conserving Abaco's Lobster Populations Now & for the Future".

Miss Earth Bahamas, Krystle Brown did an excellent job speaking to the students. Everyone was attentive during her speech and commented that she really had a way of speaking with the students at their level. She was also a big hit with the students, who surrounded her waiting in line for an autograph. She really had a difficult time serving as a judge as most students were busy trying to get an autograph or a picture. She spoke well of the campaign and the "need to protect baby crawfish if we want to have cracked lobsters, crawfish salad and minced crawfish on our plates". I was amazed at how much she knew of our campaign. Her presence alone further endorsed our message especially with the youth. There was evidence in many of the project of the campaigns impact over the entire island in many of the presentations. Some students even interviewed fishermen and the Abaco community about threats facing local lobster populations and methods to protect them from juvenile fishing. In one of the project brochures, the school mentioned Spike the crawfish, our mascot! I tested the demo of the campaign song and as Spike was unable to join us, I invited schools to invite Spike to come to them and make an appearance. When I announced this hands quickly went up and shouts were heard.

This year was also the first time we had major sponsors invloved. The Ministry of Tourism, marked our science fair on their calendar of activities for the national Coastal Awareness Month and sponsored transportation for students and teachers travelling via ferry, or buses from the south and north of the island. They also flew in the national television station ZNS who televised the entire event and aired it on the Monday night evening news. The local television station BCN also televised the event and aired it on tv and radio broadcast on Monday as well. The local paper was also there and covered the event. This broadcast ensured that the entire island heard about the campaign. Funding for prizes such as laptop computers, projectors and DVD players were provided by a local insurance company, Colina and the Bahamas National Trust.

Below are some of the fantastic project displays: