Two of Bermuda's forts may soon have full-time caretakers due to recent acts of vandalism.

Graffiti artists, who left their marks at Gates Fort and Alexandra Battery in St. George's, know their spray-painted creations were painted over as quickly as possible.

But they could soon be stopped from doing any such thing if a recommendation by forts curator Lance Furbert is endorsed by the Parks Department.

The recommendation, to employ full-time caretakers at the two forts, is just part of a draft management plan which Mr. Furbert is working on to be presented to the Parks Department in the next few months.

"Graffiti is an ongoing problem at Gates Fort,'' he said. "Last year there was a great spate of it at Alexandra Battery and although it hasn't been that bad this year, it's disgusting and needs to be stopped.'' Mr. Furbert said the graffiti was cleaned up quickly.

"We do that as soon afterwards as we can just because the people have obviously done it because they want to have an impact,'' he said. "But if you get to it soon enough, then there's just no point in doing it.'' But Mr. Furbert added that having caretakers at the forts full time would act as another, much needed deterrent.

"That is something we are hoping will happen in the near future,'' he said.

"And we know it works well because we've got a similar person at Fort Scaur in Sandys, who takes care of the place and also answers any questions visitors might have about its history.'' Mr. Furbert said Gates Fort was an area that needed particular attention simply because it was so popular.

"Unfortunately, with any number of visitors there are always going to be some bad ones,'' he said. "But I think one way of stopping such acts of vandalism is just to make people aware of how important these sights are. That's why I'm hoping to have a couple of signs put up in the future too, detailing the history of each individual fort.''