 The Cabinet of Ministers has approved a new protected area in St. Lucia. Hermadi Mark reports on what is considered the oldest historic site on Ireland. A portion of land and marine space at Dauphin Bay, located in Morsi Grosally, has been declared a protected area by the Cabinet of Ministers. The request was made by the National Conservation Authority, NCA, through the support of the parliamentary representative for Grosally, Hon. Leonard Spiderman Tute. With the approval of this request, the site is a protected area for the purpose of preserving and enhancing the natural beauty of the area, its fauna and flora, as well as creating a recreational area or national park. On Thursday, February 25, 2021, a team of 25 individuals representing 14 organisations conducted a site visit of the Dauphin Valley. Hon. Leonard Spiderman Tute explains the plans for the development of the area. Already, the areas, the certain parts of the area here have been designated protective areas by the Cabinet, and so we are going to look at the wider area with the assistance of fisheries, forestry and planning to establish the boundaries of the projects, the projects that will be taking place here, and of course, we want to ensure that we preserve quite a lot, like I said, the archaeological sites, like the petrocliff, and bring out the history of Dauphin as a whole, and what will happen ultimately is that we're going to have tours here in Dauphin, we're going to have, you know, there's some kind of development that will fit in with the natural environment that will not in any way destroy what is naturally here. As you can see, here is a naturally beautiful site that we want to preserve as much as possible. According to Justin Selie, General Manager of the NCE, the visit proved very productive due to the number of agencies represented. Today we had organizations representing a wide cross-section of the society here today. All of them will be part of this project because we want to make this area a national park, and as the minister said, we have the community, the community of Labon, Dufayne, Moshi, they will benefit from whatever it is that will be taking place here. Tourism Officer Timothy Ferdinand says the project is highly anticipated and exemplifies community tourism. We just want to encourage persons in the community who are seeing this to ensure they are part of the process. Don't be afraid to come and contribute to any level of development happening in your community. The Ministry of Tourism will see to it that we set the right foundation in terms of assisting the NCE, the Ministry of Social Transformation in putting together the right committee, the right set of individuals who will manage the process going forward. Cabinet also approved the establishment of a Dufayne Tourism Development Committee headed by the NCE. From the Government Information Service, Elmady Mark reporting.