By C. E. HUGGINS, Business Editor
huggins@nasguard.com
Recently, the minister with responsibility for labour among other duties, Shane Gibson took a delegation of Immigration and Labour officials with him on a tour of the Baker's Bay Golf and Ocean Club on Guana Cay. He was also accompanied by the Attorney General, Allyson Maynard-Gibson.
Minister Gibson used the opportunity to express what was termed as "disappointment" that fewer Bahamians were at work at the resort than at his last visit.
He was referring to the fact that developers Discovery Land Company (DLC) had decided to stop work and reduce the size of its work force as a show of good faith, pending the outcome of the case brought against DLC and the Government of The Bahamas by the residents of Guana Cay who incorporated themselves into the Save Guana Cay Reef Association (SGCRA).
The 500-acre project is believed by scientists who have looked at the plans as too large a footprint for the island. That its 18-hole golf course will eventually - the pesticides, fertilisers and herbicides - leach out and undermine the integrity of the sea turtle nesting grounds on a beach adjacent to the proposed golf course.
The other problem that has been highlighted is the marina which will be built to accommodate mega yachts of up to 250 feet. According to information obtained by the Guardian computer models of the depth of the marina 9.0 feet and 11.5 feet would not allow the marina to flush as it should, every 96 hours.
In order to meet the flushing requirement, it is proposed that a shallow channel of up to three feet in depth would run from the marina passing through part of the wetlands area out to the sea.
The problem with the marina is that it is unable to meet the flushing requirements without the channel. It is estimated that in time - the wave movement silting up of the channel - that one of the premier bonefish flats in The Bahamas will be eventually destroyed by the building of the channel.
In a press release about the visit, Minister Shane Gibson is reported to have said the following: "When you look at the type of investment and the type of money that was spent just on the clean up of the island alone I think that that this project is going to be good for Abaco and good for The Bahamas. I am only disappointed that this time that there are not as many persons employed as there were when I was here last and, of course, that is primarily because of the outstanding court case right now and it is really unfortunate that the persons who challenged it did so, because I don't think they realised the sort of negative impact this would have on the many Bahamians who were employed here and who had to be laid off."
DCL claims to care about the environment and the impact its project has on the environment and the people, yet if it had done its home work it would know that its project would have employed more Bahamians and contributed more to the economy without the marina and the golf course.
Abaco, as DCL principals and staff would have learned by now, is home to a long tradition of boat building. If as DCL has said on its website that it incorporates its projects into the community and environment then instead of building one more marina for oversized floating apartments, it could have encouraged Abaco boat builders to build a small fleet of picnic boats and runabouts as well as sailing skiffs which would be made available to its club members, to own or lease. (Baker's Bay Regatta anyone? Entry confined only to Abaco-built boats.)
If Baker's Bay's residents are coming to enjoy an authentic Bahamian way of life then a small fleet of sturdy Abaco boats would do more for the residents than been aboard a floating tub that creates much more stress on the environment than any Abaco boat could.
Minister Gibson instead of expressing disappointment and blaming Bahamians for expressing their constitutional right to challenge a bad government decision would instead have been hailing the fact that his government had helped to revive and sustain the boating industry in Abaco and the many jobs it would bring.
Finally, at Winding Bay at the Ritz Carlton managed Abaco Club, there is the only links golf course in the region. On that course along holes 16-18, a player has the majestic and mighty Atlantic on the east headland with landfall in Portugal. On windy days any player would be challenged to keep the ball on the narrow fairways.
Baker's Bay residents will think it an adventure to travel the handful of miles to challenge that course, zipping along in a sturdy Abaco-made launch. One that did not need huge noisy diesel engines that churn up the harbour. Small is still beautiful and in keeping with the spirit of the Eden that DCL would like to build on Guana Cay.
Discovery Land Company partner Ed Divita said that "We're extremely optimistic and prepared to start in earnest to continue our commitment to developing the finest project, in our opinion, in the world here at Baker's Bay at Guana Cay," he said.
If DCL is as committed to developing the "finest project" in Guana Cay, it will need to address the fact that already in its exemplary landscaping and preservation of Bahamian flora it has an opportunity to create an Eden. The Baker's Bay residents will still pay from $2 million to $12 million to be at Baker's Bay if there were no golf course and no marina.
And both of these amenities will eventually destroy the very qualities that make Guana Cay attractive to DCL in the first place, and what has kept Abaconians living there many generations in a sustainable manner.
This is how linkages are created, by insisting that tourism projects such as Baker's Bay use what is already existing. Give their guests something other than the same old mega yacht marina and another golf course. Use the boats that we build the golf courses that are already here, the activities - bonefishing, sport fishing, bird watching, sailing. The fish will be just as happy to be landed in an Abaco-built boat as a mega yacht.
