Kingston, 2 October 2018 – The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has welcomed the designation by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust of the Blue Lagoon in Portland as a National Monument.

The Jamaica National Heritage Trust — an agency of the Ministry of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport — completed the process of declaration in August 2018 following what Minister Grange says has been “six decades of effort to protect the Blue Lagoon.”

Minister Grange said:

“We have long recognised the importance of this national treasure and efforts to protect it began as early as 1958.  I am happy to be the Minister who has taken the process to this stage where the site is now declared a national monument.  This designation is critical to the process of preserving and protecting the Blue Lagoon for future generations and guaranteeing access to all Jamaicans to this natural lagoon with an aesthetic and historic value that can stand above similar sites in the hemisphere.”

The Blue Lagoon was declared a National Monument on the basis of its aesthetic and scientific values.

The declaration comes following the expiration of a Preservation Notice — giving temporary legal protection to the property — which was issued under the signature of Minister Grange in October 2017 and renewed in April 2018.  The declaration also follows consultation with stakeholders on the boundaries, purpose and effect of the declaration.

The Blue Lagoon National Monument declared area includes all those bodies of water up to the high water mark during high and low tide known as Unity Bay, Lime Kiln Bay and the inlet called the Blue Lagoon which together constitutes the Controlled Area.  The boundary also includes the parochial access road known as the Blue Hole Road.  It does not include the cay called Pellew Island.

Minister Grange has urged the JNHT to move to conclude consultations towards confirming the Preservation Scheme and Management Plan for the declared area as well as to move swiftly to conclude discussions with key government agencies regarding the sustainable management of activities at the national monument.

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