Department of Environment officials have requested a meeting with the Ministry of Tourism next week to discuss damage to a coral reef by a cruise ship anchor.
Earlier, officials met with representatives of the Bodden Shipping Agency, the employer of the pilot boat captain tasked with guiding the Carnival Magic cruise ship to the designated anchorage zone in George Town harbor last month. The ship ended up in front of Don Foster’s Dive site, dropping its anchor and damaging nearly 12,000 square feet of coral reef. The reason remains unclear.
“It was a productive meeting,” DoE deputy director Timothy Austin said of the Sept. 19 meeting with the company.
Bodden Shipping Agency declined to comment on the meeting. Rosa Harris, director of the Department of Tourism, directed the Cayman Compass to the Department of Environment for further comment.
Mr. Austin said the meeting with the Tourism Ministry is “to discuss possible options about ways to move forward and hold someone accountable for this.”
So far, no party has been held accountable for the damage. Under the Marine Conservation Law, all species of coral are protected, and it is an offense for boaters to damage coral with an anchor.
With no party coming forward to take responsibility for the damage or to pay for restoration work, dive volunteers have been cleaning up the wreckage. They made several dives this week to clear rubble and damaged coral as part of a coordinated “Carnival Magic Reef Recovery” project.
Some volunteers posting on the project’s Facebook page asked if Carnival would consider donating to the restoration work.
Jennifer de la Cruz, a representative of Carnival Cruise Lines, told the Compass, “I do not have information at this time with respect to a potential financial contribution to support the reef restoration effort ….”
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It is so pathetic listening to lame excuses and anchor dragging on this. Someone is definitely responsible. But for the love of money and corruption why cant we find the correct perpetrator to point a finger at.
It is a total shame if no one pays, and goes to show what takes place on this island.
They know who to blame. Problem is that they lack the spine to publicly state who for fear of financial repercussions.
What happened to GPS? Dont they do this everyday?
You cant even fish in some designated areas but someone can tear up 12000 sq ft of reef and thats ok???
Somebody help us cuz we on we own. Kudos to the divers taking the initiative.