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Banks responds, "Yes, there will be human
| "Guana Cay is home to one of the West Indies' richest and most beautiful reefs. It hosts networks of labyrinthine caverns draped in silversides, walls of coral, elegant sting rays and foraging hawksbill turtles." |
waste, run-off, fertilizer, more people taking fish or demanding fish in the restaurants, which increases fishing pressure. What’s to insure that the golf course maintenance people continue to use (green) practices in perpetuity? Once the place is built they can do as they choose. If the grass is a little brown, what keeps them from using more water or fertilizer. What is the need for a golf course on the cays? People go there to recreate around the water. It’s a bad precedence to start putting golf courses on little islands where there is no water nor nutrients in the soil. The porous limestone is a perfect conduit for nutrients and poor water quality to reach the reef. The fact that the developers hired Dr. Sullivan shows a commitment to preserving the environment. She is a very good, conscientious scientist who will guide them in the best direction that she can. Economics, however, usually wins out at the end of the day. I think the golf course on the cays is a terrible idea and sets a terrible precedence for future development."
After I thought that Ken and Judy's names appeared to be misused by Sullivan Sealey, I wanted to talk to the marine ecologist who was hired by the people of Guana Cay to examine Sullivan Sealeys's work on the EIA, and the impact that the golf course would have on the reef.
Dr. Michael Risk has worked all over the world as a marine ecologist. His first SCUBA dive was in Florida, 45 years ago. He is literally one of the first. His career extends beyond even the massive reef degradation that has harmed the world's reefs.
I asked him about this. "I find it very difficult to go back to places that I visited a long time ago because the rate of degredation worldwide is staggering." Dr. Risk has been asked by the governments of countries around the world to help assess their coral reefs. He has worked on coral reef projects in Florida, Jamaica, Barbados, Grenada, the Bahamas, Grand Cayman, Tobago, The Virgin Islands, Mexico, Costa Rica, Panama, Kenya, Tanzania, Eritrea, The Maldives, Malaysia, Indonesia and Australia. Whenever I chat with him, he seems to be in a different country.
He continues, "There is a lot of talk about the corals reefs, but very little action. There is a lot out there about global warming and stuff, but to blame global warming for the present state of reef destruction cannot be justified in real scientific terms. It's as simple as this...don’t cut the trees down and don’t shit in the ocean…The reality is that it has little effect, because money talks and the rest of us walk. There is too much pressure from development, and if we in the West find it too hard to resist development, then in a country where the average per capita income is 300 dollars a year, what hope do you have?"
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Great Guana Cay is a thin, six mile island in the Northern Bahamas.
The island's inhabitants, who settled here 200 years ago, are employed in fishing and cottage industry tourism.
The island's coral reef is of international importance as one of the most intact surviving elkhorn/staghorn coral communities in the world.
The inhabitants began fighting tooth and nail to save their island's coral reef and mangroves from destruction after hearing of plans for a golf megadevelopment on their tiny barrier reef island.
Hundreds of the world's most revered coral reef scientists and marine ecologists, as well as almost every single Bahamian environmental organization, have banded together to try to stop the Baker's Bay Golf & Ocean Club (Discovery Land Company) from realizing completion.
The proposed 585 unit, 180 slip marina, tennis courts, hotel, destination spa and championship golf course were pushed through the Bahamian central government with no local consent and without proper permits in a land grab (including of local public land designated for use by Bahamians) of unbelievable proportion. In one of the most amazing and unique environmental stories in history, the islanders have brought the developer, and the Bahamian government, to task. The small island is now waging a bitter legal battle with the government and the developers.
Rise Up Sweet Island compiles the viewpoints of the Bahamian and international marine conservation community and presents documents, evidence and history for all interested parties.
Notes from the Road is a travelogue which covers environmental and cultural issues around North America, the Caribbean and Europe.
National Geographic Magazine supports anti-Megadevelopment movements in Abaco and Bimini in new article on shark conservation.
ReEarth
SharkLab
Restrict Bimini Bay
Mangrove Action Project
Global Coral Reef Alliance
Caribbean Conservation Corps
Notes from the Sea
75% of Bahamians on Great Guana Cay signed a petition this winter against Baker's Bay Club. Three years later, resistance is strong.
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