Bermuda's waters are receiving a helping hand from a partnership between a corporate conglomerate and two conservation groups.

Keep Bermuda Beautiful (KBB) executive director Lennox Boodram locked up an alliance with US-based Center for Marine Conservation (CMC) and cruise ship giant Royal Caribbean International.

The initial support for KBB will come in the form of $25,000 and a CMC staff member flying out to assist the setting up of a pilot programme.

CMC Vice President for Communications and Marketing, Stephanie Drea, said: "KBB is well positioned to work on the marine environment.'' Mr. Boodram attended a conference in Washington D.C. where the two made "face-to-face'' contact, said Mrs. Drea.

While the two had previously communicated, Mrs. Drea said the personal interaction allowed them to understand the goals of both organisations.

"We began to have more diligence on collaborative efforts and take the clean-up beyond the one-day event.

"And we formed a programme called Model Communities with Royal Caribbean,'' said Mrs. Drea.

A CMC spokesperson said: "The Model Communities Programme is designed to increase public awareness and education efforts on how to control and prevent marine pollution by engaging local grassroots organisations.

"In Bermuda, KBB and CMC are initially working with marine service stations to implement the best possible environmental practices.

"The programme will disseminate information about environmentally sound boating practices and to help tailor solutions to specific problems of marine pollution problems facing the island.'' Mrs. Drea said: "It's not punitive. It helps boaters understand their roles.

Enforcement is important but we can't live by enforcement alone.'' She said the law could only do so much for marine resources and the onus fell with the recreational boater.

Royal Caribbean International (RCI) and Celebrity Cruises Vice President of Corporate Communications, Lynn Martenstein, said: "Our company has a very strong commitment to the environment and to the communities to which our ships sail.'' "Bermuda is a wonderful port of call for us and it is very exciting to work with CMC and KBB to empower people to change things for the better,'' Mrs.

Martenstien added.

Mrs. Drea said she was impressed with Government's willingness to "readily acknowledge how this programme would complement other efforts.'' The programme begins this week with a conference for service station managers and owners that includes oil spill and hazardous waste demonstrations by Marine & Ports.