Lawmakers vote for Gov’t to consider a freeze Sandbar licences

Legislators voted unanimously in favour of private member’s motion to consider putting a freeze on new Wildlife Interaction Zone licences and create a multi-agency task force to address issues affecting Caymanian operators plying their trade on the water.

West Bay West MP McKeeva Bush garnered the support of both government and Opposition MPs on Thursday night in Parliament to have the motion passed and have the challenges in the North Sound addressed.

Bush, speaking on the motion, lamented that the livelihood of Caymanian operators was not being protected. He said they were being squeezed out of what has been a traditional source of income for them.

“I’m a free market person, but… there are certain businesses that Caymanians can do that should be left for the preserve our local people,” Bush argued.

Bush’s motion, which was accepted by government, has asked that the PACT administration considers setting up a task force “inclusive of a member of the Department of Environment, the Cayman Islands Coast Guard and local persons of knowledge with our snorkelling and fishing industries to address the various issues affecting local water-sports operators.”

He also proposed that a moratorium be put in place on new licences until the task force has reported its findings back to government, within nine months.

Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart, in his contribution to the debate, said the issues in the North Sound have existed for some time and he would like to see it dealt with as well.

However, he said, “We need to make sure that whatever recommendations that they come up with that one, they can reasonably be implemented, that they can achieve the objectives and, what is probably most important of all is, that they are fair and equal to all.”

He said he does not want any claims of special treatment or special advantage.

“We all want them to succeed in this industry and here’s an opportunity to help us to help them to do that,” he added.

CITA supports move

Cayman Islands Tourism Association president Troy Leacock also said he supported the West Bay West MP’s call.

Leacock, speaking on Wednesday’s episode of the Cayman Compass talkshow ‘The Resh Hour’, said while a moratorium is not a solution, it is a necessary pause while government addresses concerns and comes up with solutions.

“We have a long-established tradition in the North Sound, particularly snorkel and boating trips, those services being provided by multi-generational Caymanians. You could say multi-generational West Bayers. I mean, traditionally a West Bay thing, right?” Leacock, owner of Crazy Crab boat operators, explained.

He lamented that, as more businesses have entered into the WIZ areas over time, the situation is becoming increasingly difficult for some of the “old timers that maybe aren’t switched on with digital technology and online booking”.

“Especially with COVID and the debt incurred with their boats and sustaining them… it’s almost impossible for them to make a living from this business, which is terrible. So we need to look at how do we balance supply and demand in these services? And, I believe, who can offer these services?” he said.

Leacock said part of the issue is also private boat owners who are running tours on the weekend, which presents myriad issues from keeping visitors safe to preserving the quality of Cayman’s tourism product.

“Just because you have a car doesn’t give you the right to say, ‘I’m a taxi on Friday and Saturday nights’. So if you have a boat that shouldn’t give you the right to say, ‘Oh on Saturday and Sunday, I’m going to offer charters’. You have to have some regulation, some licensing. I don’t know that all of the solutions are there yet, but I do know that we are in a situation where we need to consider a pause in order to consider the issues and to come up with solutions,” Leacock said.

Regulation needed

Another part of the concern, he said, is capacity management within the WIZ areas – and the Sandbar in particular

He said this issue goes back to the need for a comprehensive tourism plan and an overall development plan for the Cayman Islands.

“How many people can you fit onto a piece of land before the experience becomes dangerous and degrades. It’s the same thing… how many people are you going to put on a public beach before you say you can’t fit anymore, right?  It brings us back to this: what do we want? Do we want to say, ‘Well, it’s going to be a 1,000 people or 1,500 on the Sandbar’ or ‘It’s going to be 10,000 people on Public Beach’,” he said, before asking whether Cayman should consider offering something more premium than that.

Cayman, he said, has to start talking about issues of capacity management.

“You just simply cannot have an industry that is unsafe and dangerous to our environment that is so loosely regulated. We need to have more regulation. We need to have more stringent licensing and we need to reserve and protect the generational Caymanian involvement in this business,” he said.

He said there are a lot of new businesses popping up and concerns around training, liability insurance and licensing are becoming serious issues.

“All these new businesses popping up – some of them are very ad hoc. You can basically get a business licence, you don’t have to have any vessel insurance. You don’t have to have any public liability insurance. Can you imagine? You can carry people in your boat and you don’t have to have any [insurance], it is not a law. It is not a requirement,” Leacock said.

He suggested that insurance costs of $3,000-$4,000 might make boat owners think twice about taking their boats out at the weekend.

He said there have also been concerns about damage to the reef, as some boaters who are not familiar with area have dropped anchor in the wrong place.

“You can’t have this situation where it is kind of like a wild west environment. I have been out where I’ve seen boats… anchored on the reef and their chains are dragging and destroying the reefs and you destroy something that can’t be brought back in our lifetime, right?”

Editor’s Note: This article was updated to reflect that lawmakers agreed to a motion to have government consider a moratorium on WIZ licenses and establishing a taskforce. A formal decision on if this will in fact happen lies with the government.