Bermuda Conservation
Quote from "A Discovery of the Barmudas", the first book written about Bermuda, was an account of one of the Sea Venture ship wreck survivors Sylvester Jourdain. When the Sea Venture ship crashed on Bermuda in 1610 the survivors discovered a land of plenty despite the harsh weather and small size. As settlements developed, they quickly over exploited the birds, turtles, fish and plants of the island and strained the ecosystem. Several native species went extinct or became endangered from over harvesting, habitat destruction and invasive species such as hogs, rats and insects. Bermudians recognized the need to stop this destruction of their island’s rich biological resources early on, and enacted the first conservation laws of the new world. These laws in 1616 banned the killing of Cahow and other birds “against the spoyle and havocke of the cahows and other birds (Mastny)”, and in 1620 sea turtles “An act against the killinge of ouer young Tortoyse (Augustinovic) ”. As Be
