By LEANDRA ROLLE
Tribune Staff Reporter
lrolle@tribunemedia.net
A SPECIAL task force has been established to fully investigate the damage of seabed and marine life allegedly caused by cruise ships while sheltering in waters near Berry Islands, officials confirmed yesterday.
Speaking during the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine Resources’ press conference yesterday, acting director of Marine Resources, Gregory Bethel said the group was approved by Cabinet members and is now awaiting directives from environment officials, who are heading the taskforce.
“I can say that Cabinet has approved the formation of a task force which my department, the Department of Marine Resources, is a part of. Second and apart from that, we (were a) party to the initial investigation of the damage that was alleged to have been done in the area,” he said.
“Our findings, preliminary findings found that yes, there is significant damage and so we await for the Ministry of Environment who is the lead agency in this matter to bring all the parties involved together.”
In a joint statement released last month, Agriculture Minister Michael Pintard and Environment Minister Romauld Ferreira said officials had received reports about possible damage to the country’s marine environment due to ships sheltering in the area.
This, the ministers added, prompted them to launch an investigation into the matter.
According to officials, an initial dive - while limited in scope- showed significant damage to the fishing grounds allegedly caused by ship anchors.
They added that a team was being mobilised to provide a comprehensive assessment to determine the extent of the damage and quantify the value of the damage and the potential remediation costs.
“It is well established that while in Bahamian waters, sheltering ships must at all times anchor safely to protect life and the environment,” the statement continued.
“This requires, by international safe practice: sufficient depth of water to provide a generous margin for vessel safety; sufficient distance between each vessel’s anchorage to assure that the ships cannot interfere with each other; sufficient length of anchor chain along the sea bottom to assure a proper angle of holding force to keep the ship safely in place —this has some localised effect on the seabed, but is not permitted to impact essential marine resources; and sufficient distance from any designated essential marine resource.”
Local environmental watchdogs have since spoken out against the issue, saying they want the government’s investigation into the damage reportedly caused by cruise ships to be “quick” and “public”.
Comments
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
This is a TOTAL WASTE OF MONEY!!!!!
They broke no laws or regs by anchoring. Government can end the damage today by requiring the ships to install mooring buoys! They should have been required when the lines bought their islands! This is just dumb. You can't repair the damage, you can't fine the ships. Time will repair the damage. The best option right now is to stop the damage by installing mooring buoys!
Why hasn't that been done? Stupid, exprnsive committees CAN DO NOTHING. Just stop the damage and let's move on... Sheesh. Task force. That's just dumb and a total waste of money.
Install the damned buoys! We have companies in Freeport that can do this in days!!
tribanon 3 years, 6 months ago
You obviously have no idea of what it costs to install mooring buoys for these behemoth floating virus incubators no to mention the shiit and other contaminants they dump from their waste systems and bilges into our once ptrritorial waters. Ask yourself: "Who authorized hundreds of these environmentally destructive monstrous ships being anchored in our seas?" Answer: "Minnis and D'Aguilar who are no doubt each getting 'special perks' of one kind or another from the cruise line companies like Carnival."
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
Installing mooring buoys is as cheap as dirt. How much do you think it costs to screw an auger in to the seabed. Huh? You obviously have no idea what a mooring buoy is... Hush...
tribanon 3 years, 6 months ago
Simply not true....and anyone can do a search using Google to verify that constructing properly engineered seabed moorings for massive heavy ships is not an inexpensive undertaking. The high cost is in fact the main reason why neither the cruiseline industry nor our government will undertake the construction of such moorings.
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
As for the waste, since there's only a skeleton crew on board waste is minimal. But. Bahamian barge operators can be sent to collect their waste while at anchor. So there you go, a little silver lining for ya....
You obviously have no knowledge whatsoever of maritime ops. So please, just hush...
Thank you...
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
As for who authorized it. These islands were sold to the lines long before this administration. So the question is who didn't make mooring buoys mandatory when they bought the islands?
Hope you're learning something..
tribanon 3 years, 6 months ago
Pindling, Ingraham and Christie are long gone. Deflecting blame to them for the environmental damage being done today by cruise lines only serves your die hard support for the current corrupt FNM administration. But I suspect you know very little if anything about the inner workings of the current government. You're of course free to continue educating me. LOL
SP 3 years, 6 months ago
The government gathering a team to be mobilized to provide a comprehensive assessment to determine the extent of the damage is the right first move to be taken.
Coral takes 1000's of years to develop. How they would go about quantifying the value of the damage and the potential remediation costs is the big magic question!
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
What remediation? Nothing can be done to repair the damage. Only time will repair the damage. The only option is to stop the damage and there are two ways to do that. Expel the ships or make them install mooring buoys immediately.
This is just infuriating! Such a simple, obvious course of action, incredibly cheap course of action, one that can literally be completed in hours. Yet nothing but stupid political moves. Establish a task force... Dumb. Just install the damned buoys...
proudloudandfnm 3 years, 6 months ago
I get it! This is how they do payoffs! Install some friends on the "task force" and pay them huge sums of money to do absolutely nothing.
Got it....
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 6 months ago
that's exactly what IS happening. There should be a law that noone giving advice to the govt as a part of one of these tasks force is allowed to benefit in any way.
Its like they get the most lacklustre people involved then 2 months later you hear about a contract being awarded or the subsequent debacle reveals the contract
ThisIsOurs 3 years, 6 months ago
Task Force is now synonymous with hamster wheel
tribanon 3 years, 6 months ago
Whenever you hear cabinet ministers talk about establishing a special task force or committee to investigate a matter, that's code for the PM having personally instructed that the matter be swept under the rug forevermore.
concerned799 3 years, 6 months ago
If they have been found to have damaged the sea floor will they be asked to leave the Bahamas?
How much did they pay to the government when we found out thru US actions they were dumping at sea in Bahamian waters a couple of years ago?
rosiepi 3 years, 6 months ago
Every day these behemoths are allowed to park without oversight in our pristine waters threatens the environment and the economy of The Bahamas. The Ministry of the Environment has all the investigative tools and powers needed to make an informed conclusion and act in this matter, in fact all departments of this government have such powers allowing for swift action when called upon. So why is the 'acting' Director spouting gobbledygook about a 'task force' and 'a group'? If the crime is known, is blatantly ongoing why hasn't the Ministry stepped in and performed their sovereign duty to protect the environment? And these are the same guys who will police the offshore drilling of the Bahamas Petroleum Co? Not a good optics fellas!
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