Secret Soul Fly Fishing Adventures bonefish guide Clint Kemp at the South Seas development site adjacent to the Bahamas National Trust Bonefish Pond national park.

Published On:Saturday, March 06, 2010

By MEGAN REYNOLDS

Tribune Staff Reporter

mreynolds@tribunemedia.net

DEVELOPERS responsible for ripping out acres of mangroves and digging canals on the south side of New Providence have been accused of environmental terrorism by Nassau fishermen.

Bonefish guides Clint Kemp and Aaron Bain of Secret Soul Fly Fishing Adventures have reported a dramatic transformation of the southern shoreline where thriving mangroves have been removed and canals dredged to build the marina communities of Venice Bay and South Seas.

Around 30 acres of mangroves were removed to make way for Venice Bay, at Millars Creek, ridding the coast of part of its natural buffer against storms and thriving feeding and nursing ground for marine life, Mr Kemp said.

A road extended across the bay links to a jetty extending around half a mile across the shallow flats as a canal is dredged across the flats.

"All this was mangroves; it used to be teeming with fish," Mr Kemp explained at the site yesterday.

"But they cut straight though the flats and all the mangroves are gone. It's like these people have just said 'The hell with Nassau, let's just destroy it'.

"I agree that with development there is this balance that has to happen, but this! This is environmental terrorism, that's the only phrase for it. This is crazy."

At the eastern end of Millars Creek the flats converge and form the entrance to the Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Bonefish Pond national park, where many more healthy mangroves have been ripped out and an existing canal is being widened to lead into the marina dredged at South Seas.

Developer Tennyson Wells confirmed he had to stop the project in 2005 for permits to be checked, but resumed construction with full government approval in June last year. He expects South Seas to reach completion in 18 months.

BNT Executive Director Eric Carey said the Trust will monitor the development which has already produced silting in the park despite having silt screens in place.

Mr Bain said the dredging has affected the movement of the tides, and the silt produced has coated the feeding grounds where lobster and mutton snapper were thriving just a year ago, but have now disappeared.

"There were turtles and crabs, lobster everywhere," he said.

"You could find 20, 40, 60 holes of young lobster here, but now the holes have closed up and they're gone. There's nothing."

Damage to mangrove ecosystems in the south will only increase when high-powered boats are docked in the marinas, Mr Kemp said, while the adjacent national park will do little to mitigate the effects sure be seen on coral reefs throughout the New Providence area and beyond.

"Right here is probably the most sensitive spot in all of Nassau," he told The Tribune.

"They are digging up the Bonefish Pond national park. It's going to change everything in here."

He wants the lack of public dialogue over development projects and lack of sufficient environmental law to be addressed with urgency to ensure important ecosystems are protected when developments go ahead.

Without such legislation, the economic need for development cannot be balanced with the need to protect the vulnerable natural environment.

"It's not radical to speak out about this," Mr Kemp said.

"It's just sticking up for what's right. We are out here every day watching it happen and it's absolutely heart-breaking to see it actually happen right before our eyes, and it's happening so fast.

"We have complained for years how the beaches are being taken away from us, but all of this is getting taken away too.

"This is against international treaties that we have signed -- and there is no mitigation."