The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I would greatly appreciate it if you would allow me space in the opinion/editorial section of your newspaper to state the following:

In an April 12 report in a local daily, Crystal Cruise line’s corporate manager, Kevin Jones, said that their predominantly wealthy, elderly passengers had “no interest in crawling the island” of Harbour Island. However, according to a recent letter to tour operators based in Spanish Wells, those passengers are now interested in crawling around Spanish Wells, specifically St George’s Cay.

In the invite to accept bids, Crystal Cruise lines explains its intentions to ferry its passengers from Egg Island, where it will dock, to St George’s Cay. Like Harbour Island, Spanish Wells lacks the infrastructure to accommodate such a ship, and the island would be devastated by its pollution and other environmental destruction.

According to a New York Times 2003 report, Monterey, California, banned the Crystal Harmony for dumping nearly 37,000 gallons of wastewater in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Despite a signed agreement to never dump waste in United States’ waters, the cruise line did it anyway. The ship’s owner was Crystal Cruises, which did not report the dumping until four months later. Why did this take so long? The ship’s spokesperson reportedly said: “There was no requirement to report it.”

How flippant. Do we expect anything more if Crystal Cruises are allowed to visit Bahamian shores? Why take that chance.

For our communities, our precious ecosystem, and marine life, Crystal Cruises is a threat to our livelihood. Why then is Crystal Cruise lines so intent on “crawling the island?”

In my opinion the Genting Group, which owns and operates Crystal Cruise lines, does not care about Bahamians, our islands, our livelihoods, our marine life, or our future. They care about one thing—their profits.

Profits over people.

Like the dredging of our coral reef in Bimini so that a cruise ship could anchor near the island, Genting Group deserted the project mid-way, but the damage was already done. We can expect the same careless raping of our seabed if we allow cruise ships to desecrate our waters.

Spanish Wells cannot bounce back from the environmental ramifications of the cruise industry’s negligence, nor can we afford the erosion of our coral reefs when climate change and rising sea levels threatened our tiny islands.

For our families and future generations, we are refusing the entry of Crystal Cruise lines, in our opinion a serial rapist of marine habitat.

LAUREN ALBURY

Resident,

Spanish Wells,

May 19, 2021.