All watercraft operating in the Sandbar area of the North Sound were ordered out Wednesday by the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service Marine Unit.
The Sandbar remained closed yesterday and an assessment of the area is to be made early this morning to determine if it is safe for visitors and residents to return.
The Sandbar was closed to boaters yesterday morning. Photo: File |
The RCIPS instructions came after two cruise ship passengers were stung by jellyfish Wednesday morning and another tourist was injured by a stingray.
Police said the barb of the ray broke off in the tourist’s arm. He was transported to shore for medical treatment shortly afterward. The two cruise ship passengers who were stung by the jellyfish were also hospitalised after being taken to shore.
The North Sound has generally seen several days of rough seas and bad weather and it was thought that the conditions may have played a role in the incidents.
‘It does happen, certain times of year different (jellyfish) do come in here,’ said Department of Environment marine supervisor Mark Orr.
Some tour boat operators were upset about the police department’s decision to close the Sand Bar and said they thought RCIPS had overreacted.
‘Boats were operating in other parts of the North Sound,’ said Captain Bryan Ebanks of Captain Bryan’s Sail and Snorkel. ‘Do they think the jellyfish are all going to say ‘hey, this is the Sand Bar, we can’t go beyond here.’
Mr. Ebanks described the jellyfish that stung the tourists as miniscule thimble jellyfish. He said sometimes conditions do warrant a ban on travel in the North Sound, but he said Wednesday wasn’t one of them.
Under the Port Authority Law (1999), RCIPS is allowed to issue orders like this if an area is declared to be hazardous.
Marine Unit officers will patrol the Sand Bar to make sure boaters follow their instructions.
Last year popular television show host and wildlife expert Steve Irwin was killed when a stingray barb pierced his chest. The incident sparked some concern locally about the animals, but at the time tourism leaders said they expected the incident to have minimal impact.
‘…being used to both divers and snorkellers, the stingrays at Stingray City and Sandbar will closely interact with all visitors in a positive manner,’ Cayman Islands Tourism Association President Steven Broadbelt said in a statement at that time. (Caymanian Compass, 5 September, 2006)
Mr. Broadbelt also noted that not all stingrays are the same, and there are about 200 species of stingrays.
‘Australia is home to some of the deadliest creatures on the planet, many of their less harmful cousins of similar common names live in the Caribbean and other parts of the world, such as our Southern Stingrays,’ he said.
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