development - changing the status quo

I hear many people say that one sure way to get kicked out of power here is not to have enough development in the waning years of your rule. Each party here in Antigua campaigns on how much development they will attract and how well the country will do under their administration. How long will this trend continue? Is it the right way foreword in these increasingly competitive times?

SINK

Last night there was a meeting in Hodges Bay where residents, environmentalists, government officials and others met with the developers of Elle Antigua. Elle is the latest development to come to Antigua promising great things for the country and its investors. The general feel of the meeting was that as long as development is "sustainable" then it’s a good thing for Antigua and Barbuda". Sustainable development.... This two word phrase has been a buzz for years now and seems to finally be in vogue at the moment here in Antigua in a way that is mostly used by people to brush over small ecologically concerned voices. "This property is going to be done with every effort to adhere to Antigua and Barbuda's history of sustainable development". That kind of statement may make some people happy and feel warm inside, but to the informed it almost makes you want to go and throw up. Antigua and Barbuda’s First National Report to the Convention on biological Diversity sent in by the Office of the Prime Minister" would have been so proud. In one of the CDs that were given out by Elle last night was a bunch of baloney on sustainable development with info given by the government. Why bother try to fool the people here. Beads and trinkets took advantage of African people hundreds or years ago and lured them into slavery. Here now these guys are trying to pull the wool over people’s eyes once again. To me it is an insult to give people here on Antigua total BULL SHIT facts and figures in an attempt to fool them into accepting below par development. This development like many here in Antigua will end up getting DCA permission to pour its chlorine treated sewerage into the sea and push out rocks onto the sea grass like Jeff Hadeed spoken about in the other blog entry. As long as the development is paying its dues and getting DCA permission from Mr. Denzil Solomon it will go ahead without a single problem. This is wrong.
Last night while environmentalists and residents raised concerns, Jeff Hadeed interrupted and said something like: "please allow me to introduce Mr. Denzil Solomon from the Development Control Authority (DCA) who will tell you how the laws and regulations really work..."
This was surely a sinking moment for Antigua environmental issues. Jeff Hadeed was stopped for ignoring development regulations, and digging up shoreline without DCA permission. He knew he had to have DCA permission as he has done many such developments here before, and simply tried to do it quickly under radar. After a small public outcry, the DCA had to give him a stop order for breaking the law. Within a few months Mr. Solomon decided to let Jeff have free reign to do as he liked up at Cecilia’s Restaurant. No setbacks, dumping of rocks on the shore, and beefing up a groyne. The list of disastrous environmental actions leaves all watching wondering why the DCA and all the other government organizations allow this kinda crap to continue. Just look at this pic taken by some tourists last week: Now here at a meeting, Jeff is introducing his good pal, Mr. Solomon. You have to laugh sometimes at how easily you can "get things done" here. Being associated with the person in charge of the DCA helped Jeff Hadeed, and i guess will help Elle too. Thanks for the introduction Jeff. Later in the meeting the developer of Elle asked Mr. Solomon to back her point up about the place having permission for commercial development. Wow, this meeting told some tales about the state of development in our country. Two 150 foot groynes are planned for Elle. I wonder if Jeff and or Solomon have been hired as consultants on this side of things.

SWIM

Despite the level of environmental negligence that Solomon and many civil servants in this Country seem to dish out on a regular basis, there are lights shining through the water's cloudy surface. There are a few young people within the Fishery, Planning, and Environment divisions who are quietly waiting for their turn to burst free from the surface of this corrupt oppression. Lip service is not good enough!!! They know that it is time for Antigua and Barbuda to understand that in order for us to survive in the long run, we must strive towards sustainable development. The difference is that many of these young people actually understand the meaning of sustainable development as described by Brundtland Commission back in 1987. Simply put by wiki Sustainable development is a socio-ecological process characterized by the fulfillment of human needs while maintaining the quality of the natural environment indefinitely. The key word here is INDEFINITELY. How can the construction of two huge groynes and an artificial beach not trouble the natural environment ever? Last night's meeting showed people not being afraid to speak out and offer intelligent arguments against Elle's development style and many of their plans. It's people who dare to question the status quo who will make the difference in Antigua and Barbuda. Please step up to the crease and don’t be a follower of the old corrupt ways of killing our environment.

DCA gives Jeff Hadeed the ok to Break Laws

What an ecological mess!!!! All for a little expensive restaurant.....

That SINKing feeling.



Many people involved in the unofficial environmental movement were alarmed recently when Jeff Hadeed (Big Banana Pizza place, South Point Development, The Beach, Antigua Rainforest Canopy Tour, the propose eco disaster East Village and the list goes on...) and his girlfriend Cecilia purchased a home at the end of a beach in Coolidge and immediately started digging up the adjacent sea floor. Eli Fuller's blog first spoke of the destruction and showed images taken by some tourists. According to employees of his South Point development, Jeff is no stranger to zoning regulations, environmental restrictions and other eco related constraints. This sentiment was also echoed by a senior officer within the Fisheries Ministry who has had clashes with Mr. Hadeed before on other developments. Jeff Hadeed knew that what he was about to do was wrong because many had told him so. In fact, according to Dr. Fuller, Jeff told him about his plans before he purchased the property from Fuller's brother in law. The Doc, told him that it was a crazy idea and that a proper environmental study had to be done. Let me describe the exact coastline and its ecological history. As seen in 2005 on google earth here:



Dutchman Bay is located on the northern side of Antigua and was part of the US Army base back in the 1940s. Back in those days no study was done on groynes . It seems that despite most of the world now knowing how groynes work and how damaging they can be, Antigua and Barbuda missed the boat on the issue. There have been a huge number of groynes built in Antigua over the past few years with Jumby Bay leading the country in the construction of the most damaging and most basic groyne systems. What the USA did way back in war time Antigua was push a bunch of rocks into the water. Who knows why they did it. The bay as seen in the image above, was protected by reef on either side and sand drift (which is the usual reason for groyne construction) wasn't a problem. Another reason why groynes are built is to provide protection for boats and or artificial beaches. Neither was the case back then, so we will never know why it was done. Regardless, it was done and Nick Fuller Sr. (now dead) who had just purchased land on the other side of the beach figured he better do the same. According to family members, he did it because sand immediately starting moving down to the US side of the beach. What happened over the next 30 years was that huge amounts of sand from the length of the beach piled up on the lee sides of each of these groynes. By the early 80s, coconut trees from the middle of the beach were falling into the sea and during high tides almost no beach could be seen. Massive errosion had taken place. Back in the 90s when the US navy base was dredging down the coast, they needed somewhere to put their dredge material. Since the beach was almost gone at that point, engineers suggested building a breakwater out in the middle of the bay. Although terrible silting occurred as well as the covering of a rich seabed, the beach started coming back. It kept getting bigger because the currents which had been sending sand into the lee of the beaches for years and years now had changed. Then in a very interesting twist Mother Nature tried to put back the beach to how it had been created. Hurricane Louis beat down the breakwater and both groynes and for the first time since the early 40s water was able to flow almost naturally in the bay. The beach despite other obstacles like sea level rises and off shore reef (kettle bottom shoal) damage was looking pretty good, and so it was until Mr. Hadeed came along with an excavator. As explained by his common law wife, Cecilia, "we plan to build a dock for boats to come in so that they can enjoy the restaurant." This by the way was told to guests in her restaurant last month. Hmm, did Christopher Columbus need a dock to come ashore back in 1492 when he came to the Caribbean? Did the Siboney need a dock when they pulled up on these shores 4000 years ago? Why do the Jumby Bay crowd and others who frequent the Hadeed's new expensive restaurant need one? Anyway, without any government permission or study whatsoever, the excavator pulled up onto the rocks adjacent to his property. YES I did say adjacent. NOT ON HIS PROPERTY!!!! And from on the people's property within inches from the water, the excavator started digging the flats on the lee of the area which was once a jetty. Something should be said about flats here I guess. While reef all over the Caribbean is facing death, flats systems are increasingly seen as the most important ecosystem beneath the water around the coastal habitat. More commonly spoken about as Seagrass beds, these important ecosystems are under attack like most other ecosystems worldwide. The crazy thing is that of all eco systems, the flats are easiest to protect. All we have to do is stop people digging them up. Mr. Stanford is guilty of digging up the largest area of seabed around Antigua in his Maiden Island Development. He was stopped time and time again. In this case, when the damage that was being done to the reef and seagrass was brought to the authorities, stop orders were given to Jeff Hadeed. Work was stopped, but not until much damage was done to the seagrass and reef and ultimately to the beach. Imagine digging a huge hole right next to a beach. What do you think happens to that hole? Now imagine what happens to that hole when it sits on the lee side of a groyne. Chief Environmental Officer for Antigua and Barbuda, Mrs. Dian Black Lane was quoted as saying that she was shocked at the damage that was done and that it would surely have an impact on the beach and ecosystem. That was plain to see, and many people snorkeled on the damage afterwards. One endangered species, a large stag horn coral, lay upturned at the end of the damaged area. There weren’t many more of them to start with, but now the area has none at all. To make matters worse, just as predicted by Cecilia to her restaurant guests, work has started up once again today!!!!!!
This time they have Development and Control Authority approval for their project. How is it that the Chief Environmental Officer can rightfully say that Mr. Hadeed's project is surely damaging the ecology and the properties nearby, and the DCA go ahead and give him permission. I am sure that Mrs. Black Layne wouldn't have changed her mind on how damaging it was. After calling the Environment Division we found out that she is off on maternity leave. Good luck to her child......what will be left for the children at this rate is scary. Who knows why Jeff Hadeed was given permission to go ahead and start dropping boulders on the people's shoreline. This stinks of corruption, greed and mismanagement. I think that a proper inquiry needs to be done to see how the system that aims to protect the fragile ecosystem that belongs to the people of Antigua and Barbuda as well as their children born and unborn can fail so miserably. That sentence was far too long... Lets expose the problems with our environmental laws and the key players and organizations who can give the Jeff Hadeeds permission to destroy ecology.

Time for a SWIM...

The North East Marine Management Area (NEMMA) protects all areas within the North Sound including Dutchman Bay. According to the Fisheries department here in Antigua, this is a protected area BY LAW!!!!! It is their opinion that the DCA has no right to approve any kind of work within NEMMA without proper consultation with them. In fact, after looking at the law, i don't think they could have even permitted Jeff Hadeed to break the law. Even before this new law the 1983 Fisheries Act has guidelines preventing this sort of action. Jeff Hadeed is breaking fisheries law let alone others. I mean to start digging without any permission at all was the first law he knowingly broke, but the list of environmental crimes continues. It sounds like Fisheries here in Antigua is the only department who will stand tall and do like the UPP government said they would do: to PUT WHAT IS WRONG, RIGHT!!!!

Now Mr. Hadeed who campaigned for the ALP is breaking laws that the UPP government said they would uphold. Why is this being allowed. Its quite simple I think. Unfortunately the DCA does not quite understand the concept of "protected areas" as outlined in the Fisheries Laws of Antigua and Barbuda seen here. Go down to page 14 or section 22 of the law.

It outlines the purpose of a protected area which the coastline in question lays. The only way a person can mess with the protected area is as follows...:

"The Minister, or any person authorized by him (her) in writing, may give written permission to do any of the things prohibited under this section where the doing of such things may be required for the proper management of the reserveor for any of the purposes referred to in sub-section (1)."

Guess what? Section 1 has plenty of good news for the people of Antigua who care about the environment. Here it is:

"(a) to afford special protection to the flora andfauna of such areas and to protect and preserve thenatural breeding grounds and habitats of aquatic life,with particular regard to flora and fauna in danger ofextinction;

(b) to allow for the natural regeneration of aquaticlife in areas where such life has been depleted;

(c) to promote scientific study and research inrespect of such areas; or

(d) to preserve and enhance the natural beauty ofsuch areas."

I don't see anything in the law that would give Jeff Hadeed permission to develop the coastline of a protected area. That little swim was pretty refreshing. The problem here is now getting that across to the guys who have control. This is a start i guess. The fisheries of Antigua and Barbuda may not be perfect, but if they manage to make a difference here then the people of Antigua and Barbuda can feel better about the people who govern them. Developers like Jeff Hadeed need to be shown that what was wrong before during the ALP years is no longer right. They should also be made to make the wrong things like this development, right. Let see some action!

Grief on the Reef

THIS REALLY SINKS....
Well, the verdict is in. According to the respected authority on these things, the IUCN http://www.iucn.org/ has charged that corals may be facing the death sentence. What’s worse is that the IUCN based this grave conclusion on the state of our very own Caribbean corals. Unusually warm temperatures in 2005, coupled with powerful storms have apparently caused a lot of grief for the reef. The warming temperatures caused a massive “coral bleaching” event. In effect, the little animals that inhabit the hard coral structure couldn’t take the heat and made a quick exit. They left behind eerie white coral skeletons, which risk death if conditions do not improve and the animals return. Even today, reefs around Antigua are definitely not doing well, and some bleaching has been reported – bleached corals appear faded or white as seen below.

The IUCN says “it’s highly likely extreme warming will happen again. When it does, the impacts will be even more severe. If we don’t do something about climate change, the reefs won’t be with us for much longer. Among the worst hit regions of the Caribbean was the area stretching from Florida through to the French West Indies and the Cayman Islands, where in August 2005 severe bleaching affected between 50% and 95% of coral colonies and killed more than half, particularly in the Lesser Antilles."

SWIMMING TIPS
While it is true that a lot of the grief facing the reefs is caused by climate change and diseases, there is a lot that regular folk can do to prevent the situation getting worse. Right now is a good time to make the effort as 2008 has been declared the International Year of the Reef http://www.iyor.org/ – an effort to motivate people to take action.

The truth is, as island people we have it easy when it comes to taking actions that will benefit the reefs. No matter where you live in Antigua or Barbuda, it is pretty much all coastal, and any environmental impacts that we have, positive or negative, affect our coastlines, our waters, our mangroves, seagrass beds, parrot fish, turtles, sea anemones….you get the picture…it all affects the reefs!! So we don’t really have to go out of our way to make a positive difference. Here are just 2 simple ways that we can help out:

GARDEN LIKE A NATIVE
Clearing and development across the island seems relentless and inevitable. Suddenly trees and habitat are lost as well as important ground cover that filters run off water before it reaches the sea. Natural vegetation is replaced by manicured exotic gardens with chronic pesticide and chemical addictions. Now I know we all want to be posh and all, but natural gardens that focus on local and “wild” plant species are extremely trendy these days and score huge environmental points. Plants like Scaevola, Sea grape, Casuarina, Coconut and Date palms require less water, are more resistant to pests (no need for toxic chemicals!), withstand bad weather, and can make your gardens look like a real celebrities – Richard Branson has opted for this green look on his own private Caribbean island!

RECYCLE LIKE IT”S GOING OUT OF STYLE
One of the biggest sources of pollution in the oceans are plastics, which can take over 400 years to decompose! Plastics contain harmful chemicals, and can choke and strangle marine life. And then, who wants to swim in a sea full of garbage? Recycling puts the pesky plastics to use again, and saves on the cost and pollution of making MORE plastics. Plastics can be recycled at the Antigua and Barbuda Waste Recycling Facility located in Barnes Hill. All you have to do is collect your plastic containers and drop them off – it’s free. Plastic containers with the #1 and #2 triangular symbols (check out the number on the underside of your containers) can be recycled there. These include most of your clear and cloudy white containers. They are so friendly at the recycling plant, you will feel rewarded every time.

Of course, there is so much more to be done. After all it’s only February and it’s the International YEAR of the Reef! Get busy.

another sinking tale: yacht on fire

The photo above came from our Daily Observer Paper. As is going to be the norm on this blog, we will show the negative side as well as the positive side of things happening in Antigua which usually have some environmental impact. Here is our second post on SINK or SWIM:

All through Sunday night the weather was terrible with lightning and thunder rolling through non stop. Tucked away in my bed I enjoyed the action until about 5 am when it seemed to get worse. By 7 am I received a call that a big yacht was afire at Catamaran Club in Falmouth Harbour. For those of you who don’t know Antigua is a major hub for mega yachts in the Caribbean and there are 3 large modern marinas in Falmouth alone. Cat Club is the smallest of the three owned by Hugh Bailey who also owns Falmouth Harbour Marina. Carlo Falcone owns the third, Antigua Yacht Club Marina. Both men are visionaries and have made heaps of money with their marinas.
As lightning lashed its crooked tongue all over the harbours around Antigua, not many would have imagined the disaster that unfolded.

SINK

They say at about 5 am, there was a direct strike which hit the all-alloy Frers yacht Keturah which had just arrived the day before. Apparently the crew was alerted that there was smoke coming from the engine room by crew from another yacht. Another yacht was hit around the same time too but only had a flag catch fire. Reports suggest that the skipper and his wife were injured while opening the engine room hatch. Several other crews tried to contain the fire without success and the boat was towed off the dock to prevent damage to other yachts and to try to get it closer to an area where the local fire truck could help. I was told that this dock doesn't have proper fire fighting capability. Before they could get to the yard's boat well the boat ran aground. The fire had dismasted her at this point too and was out of control. The fire truck couldn't get its equipment to the boat without help from tenders and another small power boat. For some reason, they couldn’t totally stop the fire. Possibly they ran out of water. I dunno. I actually had heard that the boat was a total loss and it was all over by mid morning. Little did I know that when I got to Falmouth at about 3 pm the thing would still be on fire unattended. Huge 5 foot flames flicked out from the wreck and billowing smoke covered the Cat club downwind. The stench of burning composites and plastics could be smelled all the way to Rendezvous Bay. The oil and fuel now lay underwater and no effort was being made by any of the marina owners or by the authorities. I saw no representatives there at all. I find it strange that even though there have been other yacht fires in the English Harbour area filled with millions and millions of dollars worth of yachts, there isn't a single fire fighting vessel. How much could it cost to have a little fire fighting boat ready to help in a crisis? This one is used by a fire dept. in Virginia and as u can see the boat doesn't have to be a super duper expensive jobbie.

I assume the big cost would be in having proper fire fighting pumps and gear. A boat would not have to be massive would it? You would think that between them, the three marinas could come up with enough money to buy one. They could donate it to ABSAR or run it themselves. Maybe ABSAR could go around with a hat begging the yachts themselves for donations to buy a the equipment. Of course it shouldn’t be up to them and the government should have a boat with trained men on hand, but this is less likely to happen. All in all there is a hell of a lot of negligence here. The yacht shouldn’t have been lost, and even if it was lost, it shouldn’t have taken so long to put out the fire and end the environmental damage. I heard that it was burning again yesterday afternoon some 30 hours after it started. Apart from all the fuel and oil in the water imagine the toxic fumes. I am sure that all people involved in yachting in Antigua are ashamed and upset about what happened.

SWIM

When I pulled up to have a look at about 3 pm on the day of the fire, the boat seemed to flare up again with flames and smoke. Not a single person or rep was there at the yacht.
All of a sudden a tender arrived with three yacht crew and a pump. It looks as though they may have been there in the earlier Daily Observer photo above. With a little jet of water they got very close to the flames and tried almost in vain to out the inferno. Shortly afterwards another tender came with crude fire fighting equipment followed by another tender that came to the dry dock area to collect a pump from a coast guard truck. The three tenders fought the flames and smoke right alongside without fear for their own safety. Someone asked me why they were putting themselves at such risk when it was obvious that the yacht was a total loss. The only reason I could think of was that they were trying to lessen the environmental damage that was being caused. Photo below from Eli Fuller as posted on Storm Carib.
A huge plume of toxic black smoke covered the Cat Club and the coastline down wind and these guys wanted it stopped. I was quite shocked to see some yachts sitting at Cat Club in all that smoke. Why not go anchor off until it was done? Weird huh... Anyway, it was refreshing to see these young men out there in rubber inflatables alongside a burning boat working selflessly to out the fire. At least some people seemed to care about the mess………..
I left them there still fighting and it looked to me that they were making a difference. I guess each person’s effort however small can do just that. Let’s hope that the people with unlimited resources and influence can put as much effort into making sure this sort of thing doesn’t happen again.

The concept of Sink or Swim

First and foremost the purpose of this blog is to create awareness and different points of view of all areas surrounding Antigua and Barbuda's environment. There is an EAG (environmental awareness group) on island and they do a pretty good job locally, but this blog will aim to help by highlighting areas of positive environmental action which we will call the SWIM part as well as showing areas of negative environmental impact which we label SINK.

Here is the first example:

SINK

The lovely bit of coastline from Blue Waters hotel all the way down to Dickenson Bay is generally called Weatherhills Estate and was purchased in separate lumps by the Hadeed Group on one side and the ABI group on the other. The coastline there was forever undeveloped with virgin forest and undisturbed beaches providing habitat and sanctuary for may different species of flora and fauna. Recently ABI's development wing embarked on a massive residential development project for all the land within Weatherhills that they control. McAlister Abbott runs ABI but doesn't exactly have much to do with the actual running of the development side of things where there is another director in control. This person obviously didn't care at all about the balance which we mention in the title of Sink or Swim because as soon as he could get the heavy machinery down to the coast he started clear cutting forest. They cut almost every single tree down without any environmental concern whatsoever. Boy was this a sinking moment! Pelicans, osprey, and king fishers that normally roost on the trees overhanging the coastline there watched as the habitat which has been around for hundreds of thousands of years was hurriedly wiped off the map. Apart from habitat destruction which is the most obvious, a major sedimentation event was on the verge of happening with incalculable reef damage still an almost certainty when a big rain comes down. Why cut it all down? As you can see in this image:

...... there wasn't much left. Several local environmentalists took photos and started making calls and sending emails. Apparently there is one special section which local boat tour operators stop at frequently to take photos of pelicans in the afternoons which was in the firing line of the excavators. At last McAlister Abbott was contacted about the situation to show him the environmental concerns.

SWIM

McAlister Abbott is a man who loves going boating on his yacht enjoying what makes Antigua and Barbuda special. With this background and experience, he was able to see both sides of the situation very quickly. He commanded all the people in charge in the project to meet him there the next morning. According to a private email he sent to one of those concerned he said he was extremely disappointed by what had happened. He immediately put a stop to the coastal destruction saying that he and his company would always and have always be concerned with Antigua and Barbuda's environment. We here at Sink or Swim (SOS) will watch out with kingfisher like eyes to see what the ABI group does next. We can only hope that they make the little area so important for these key bird species a sanctuary. Wouldn't that be special? I know i would put all my money in an eco friendly development bank!
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