Opposition to the East End Seaport is growing, with the Cayman Islands Tourism Association not publicly coming out against the proposed project.
While it can be hard to gauge popular opinion in the Cayman Islands because it’s usually those against things that have the loudest voice, this project certainly seems to have more opposition than others.
If the government believes that going ahead with the project is against the wishes of a majority of voters, it will likely reject developer Joe Imparato’s proposal to create the seaport. To do otherwise would invite the wrath of the electorate and ultimately that is the way things should work in a democracy.
However, the people of the Cayman Islands should realise that the cargo port is going to have to be moved out of its current location at some point.
Whether Cayman grows slowly or quickly, it will continue to grow. Projects like the Shetty Hospital, Cayman Enterprise City and everything the Dart Group is doing will likely spur growth at a faster rate. As we saw after Hurricane Ivan, when goods were streaming into Grand Cayman at tremendous rates, the cargo port can only handle so much before it becomes inefficient. Population growth – which is vital for economic growth – will eventually overwhelm the current cargo port’s capabilities.
In addition, Cayman is trying to maintain cruise tourism anyway it can, which is one of the reasons we’re attempting to build a cruise berthing facility. But the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association has been clear on one issue: The cargo pier must move at some point. So the question becomes, if not in East End, where? The previous People’s Progressive Movement government wanted the cargo port in George Town on a man-made island on top of what is now known as Burger King reef. Others have suggested it going in the North Sound, South Sound or Spotts. But one thing is for sure: Wherever it goes, it’s going to impact the environment negatively.
Nobody seems to want change, but everyone wants a better economy. We’re not going to get one without the other, so we need to start thinking in terms of alternatives rather than just opposing everything suggested.
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Agreed the cargo port cannot stay in George Town, and the East End seems the best place to put it – certainly that side of the island desperately needs some economic impetus.
My reservations over the Imperato scheme are that there is not real confidence that, once Joe has hauled off his treasure chest from mining out the fill, the port itself will ever get built.
If that scheme is to go ahead it must be backed up with some sort of security that part of the mining profits will go towards port construction.
I like the OpEd, however I disagree that it will has significant negative impact on the environment any more than the current port is having in town. Will it change the landscape? sure! Will it kill off reefs, diving fishing to any noticeable degree, absolutely not. That is a lot of fear mongering and hysterics politicians like to do to halt a process. The economical gain by far exceeds any the supposed damage this is going to do to the environment. I also agree with the previous poster, guarantees need to be made for the completion of the dock, not just for fill.
On the environment: This notion that humans are somehow out of sync with nature is complete and utter nonsense. Ask any fisherman just how bad man made trenches, structures, bridges are bad for fishing. Ask any lobsterman where lobsters can be found on human made trenches (Sorry guys). And we all know, just how damaging sunken metal ships can be at the bottom of the ocean! Right!? That will surely kill off all the fish!! (cough)
Relax people. Don’t let the fear mongers fool you into impeding good initiatives such as these.
They’re serving their interests NOT YOURS!
As part of a much larger issue, The Environment is a tricky thing. Ecosystems adapt and change all the time. Sometimes it’s hard for conservationists to realize that species emerge and die off in natural cycles and nothing ever stays the same; nor should it. One cannot be so short sighted to only focus on one specific quality of one specific action. Will these man-made actions have negative effects on the environment? Yes. Are those effects mitigated by the gains and improvements in other areas? We hope. Perhaps there needs to be contributions or efforts made to help migrate some of the sea life to a new area, providing an artificial reef or other attractive qualities. Whatever floats their boat, so to speak.
This NEEDS to happen for Cayman to move forward. Nothing exists in a vacuum. The only constant in the universe is change. And C