Bermuda's caves and cave dwellers are under threat of extinction if the Island does not step up enforcement of its environmental laws, according a visiting cave specialist.

A standing-room only audience heard Tuesday night that Bermuda has probably already lost untold numbers of unique, cave-dwelling species from practices common in the past - such as dumping of trash, oil and sewage - which were extremely hazardous to the caves.

Modern practices such as quarrying, vandalism and water pollution are also costing Bermuda dearly, with over a third of cave species unique to Bermuda considered endangered.

And often ultrawealthy foreign developers are the only people to realise a benefit for this destruction, it was said.

Dr. Tom Iliffe of the Department of Marine Biology at Texas A & M University spoke at the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute Tuesday night for the second time in two weeks to meet spillover demand from his first lecture.

A former Bermuda Biological Station for Research scientist, Dr. Iliffe has been diving Bermuda's caves for decades with the aim of unlocking the mysteries of the age-old natural formations.

What he and other have found in Bermuda's myriad caves has been fabulous - dozens of sea creatures unique to Bermuda, massive and beautiful stalactites and stalagmites - but also frightening.

Caves have been filled with garbage and collapsed onto themselves.

All manner of things preferred out of sight have been stashed in Bermuda's caves throughout Bermuda's history of habitation.

Dr. Iliffe described the state of one of Bermuda's most abused caves - Bassett's cave at the former US Naval Annex - as follows:

"I visited years ago. There was a large room with a lake in the bottom but unlike other cave lakes it was not crystal clear water.

"It was a lake of oil. It was so thick and pervasive we threw a rock in and it is just went 'splat'. We didn't see any water at all.

"There was a black tide mark on the cave wall from this lake of oil going up and down with the tide.

"A sewage pipe was running into the cave and it disappeared into this lake of oil."

Most frighteningly, he said, the former base commander had been approached about a plan to clean the cave only to respond that to take action would be to admit the base had created the mess in the first place.

While the problems at Bassett's Cave - and others such as the Government Quarry - are the direct results of practices hopefully abandoned by a more environmentally conscious era, the Island's caves are still in danger from at least four serious threats, Dr. Iliffe said.

Among these are deep-well injection of waste.

Dr. Iliffe told The Royal Gazette the practice should actually be referred to as shallow-well injection in Bermuda because the wells are only 100 to 150 feet deep, as opposed to almost 2,000 feet in other parts of the world.

It is dangerous to both the caves and Bermuda's freshwater lenses, he said, as waste can leak from cesspits into cave water and be easily transported to larger bodies.

Other serious threats to Bermuda's caves include vandalism, dumping and construction and quarrying activities.

A cave which was formed millions of years ago can be eradicated in hours, Dr. Iliffe said, taking with it clues to Bermuda's past and possibilities for scientific study which might yield unfathomed benefits.

It is for this reason that environmentalists have been very concerned about major development projects in the area between Castle Harbour and Harrington Sound where most of the Island's caves are located.

Eighty species of cave-dwelling organisms have been found in the caves, which are unique to Bermuda - including shrimp up to five inches long.

Twenty-five of these species are considered critically endangered, which mean there is a 50 percent chance they will become extinct in the next decade.

Dr. Iliffe said Bermuda has laws in place to protect the caves, but has not been enforcing the laws to extent those concerned with cave health would like to see.

"There are a combination of reasons why," he told The Royal Gazette. "One is the money and power of the developers. The attitude is 'we don't want to accept the developer because they are spending a lot of money here'.

"Sadly however, most of the construction going on in cave-rich areas is completely foreign-owned and controlled by non-Bermudians.

"And much of the building being done will house only non-Bermudians.

"Bermuda is losing its biological and geological heritage and the only thing to come out of it is that the filthy rich are getting even more filthy rich.

"It's not even Bermudians that are benefiting."

Dr. Iliffe and other environmentalists hope that by increasing pressure on Government and raising public awareness about the rich ecosystems within the caves and the rich history cave study can unlock, Bermuda's caves will be preserved and treasured for future generations.

And a multidisciplinary study of the caves has been launched which will see Bermuda's caves mapped using Geographic Information Systems (GIS), cave water quality monitored, cave threats assessed and intensive biological studies of Bermuda's unique and rare aquatic species.

"Perhaps with your help we can save the caves," Dr. Iliffe closed his lecture.