Ylig snail relocation plan almost complete

by Janjeera Hail

Guam - The Safe Harbor Agreement is almost a done deal - the Department of Agriculture and the Department of Public Works have signed-on, but missing are the signatures of the attorney general, the governor and an unnamed Ylig landowner.  The agreement calls for a colony of the Pacific Tree Snails located near Route 4 to be relocated along the Ylig River on to private land for up to five years.

Fisheries biologist at the Department of Agriculture Brent Tibbatts says the agreement calls for the government to monitor the snails in their new and report their progress to the landowner and public works quarterly. "After five years, either the snails will be moved off the land or if they have to stay longer then the landowner will be paid a lease for the amount of land being occupied by the snails, not the entire portion of the land just the small parcel that will have the snails on it," he explained.

Tibbatts says the landowners' not responsible for anything that happens to the snails unless it's a direct cause of the landowner - if there is a natural disaster.  However, the landowner is not reliable. The monitoring of the snails is the most critical part of the project as they are likely to re-spread in the area they relocate to.