The Tribune

By LEANDRA ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

lrolle@tribunemedia.net

TOURISM, Investments and Aviation Minister Chester Cooper said yesterday that his ministry has engaged tourism stakeholders to ensure that proper protocols are in place for water tour operators after a fatal shark attack claimed the life of an American tourist earlier this month.

Caroline DiPlacido, 58, of Lake Erie, Pennsylvania, died on September 6 after being attacked by a bull shark while snorkelling with family near Green Cay.

The American resident and her family were visiting The Bahamas on their cruise trip and went on a local excursion when the tragedy happened.

Her death has sparked calls for the government to implement safeguards for tourism water operators to better protect snorkelers, including operators being equipped with tourniquets, blood clotting powders and standard kits for emergencies.

While acknowledging that shark attacks are not uncommon in Bahamian waters, Mr Cooper said it is always a concern when such instances occur.

He also noted there is a need for more training so operators can ensure the safety of their clients and also know how to effectively respond in the aftermath of a shark attack.

“Shark attacks (are) not new for The Bahamas (and) it’s not new around the world. It’s not very frequent, but still, it’s an issue that we are consistently concerned about,” Mr Cooper said before going to a Cabinet meeting.

“We have engaged stakeholders in the tour industries to ensure that proper protocols are in place. There are certain basic commonsense things that can be done in relation to managing this process.

“We’ve been doing this for decades. I think there has to be more training or ongoing dialogue with operators to ensure, for example, we’re not feeding at the time that people are swimming, things like that and I think some of the shark attacks that we’ve seen, for example, there was one in Staniel Cay a few months ago, it was in an area where they feed sharks and there were signs that it was a no swim zone.

“So sometimes, I think we can do more to have even more prominent signage, for example. But the reality is that The Bahamas has fared reasonably well.”

Recently, the owner of tour boat company Seas the Day – the company that was used by DiPlacidos — said it had to temporarily shut down operations in the wake of the tragic incident.

The owner also said he felt that his crew handled the incident “to the best of their ability”.

While repeating his condolences to the victim’s family, Mr Cooper said his ministry did everything it could “to make a very bad situation better” for the American family.

We at the Ministry of Tourism, firstly sought to ensure that the family understood that we were there for them and we did all we could to make a very bad situation better and that’s been our primary focus,” the acting prime minister added.

“So, we’re working along with our colleagues in terms of the Ministry of Transport to ensure that we continue the dialogue, the training and education of tour operators who might be able to help in situations like this when things go wrong.”