New state-of-the-art mooring systems were being installed in Elizabeth Harbour and the Moriah Harbour Cay National Park in 2023. (Bahamas National Trust)
By RASHAD ROLLE
Tribune News Editor
rrolle@tribunemedia.net
THE government is reviewing mooring policies in The Bahamas as it prepares to modernise regulations and strengthen oversight of mooring fields across the country, days after a controversial Exuma-wide mooring deal was scrapped.
In a statement yesterday, the Office of the Prime Minister said officials are assessing existing leases, technological developments, and enforcement mechanisms as part of efforts to update longstanding policies. A key objective, according to the government, is ensuring that Bahamians manage and operate mooring fields, keeping the economic benefits within the country.
The review follows the cancellation of a 21-year lease granted to Bahamas Moorings Company, which would have given it control over 49 mooring and anchorage sites across the Exuma Cays. The deal, signed by Prime Minister Philip Davis in his capacity as minister responsible for Crown Land, was halted after public outcry over the lack of transparency and consultation. The government’s decision to lease seabed areas to a single private company, granting it the authority to charge mandatory fees, had drawn sharp criticism from marina operators, environmentalists, and local businesses.
Despite the lease’s cancellation, the government has not addressed key concerns surrounding how Bahamas Moorings Company was able to move forward without necessary approvals. Exuma’s administrator ordered the company to cease and desist its mooring installations after it was revealed that critical environmental and port clearances had not been obtained.
The government has also remained silent on the involvement of OPM officials connected to the project.
The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) has called for stronger regulations before the government considers similar agreements in the future, warning that an improperly managed mooring system could create environmental risks and financial liabilities. The organisation said the country lacks a regulatory framework to impose accountability on mooring operators and that proceeding without sufficient oversight would be “unfathomable”.
The BNT also pointed to waste management and environmental concerns, saying any new system should include measures to protect critical habitats such as seagrass beds and coral reefs. The organisation highlighted its existing mooring programmes in Moriah Harbour Cay National Park and Elizabeth Harbour as examples of sustainable models that prioritise conservation. It warned that a privatised system without clear regulatory standards could undermine marine protection efforts and disrupt local economies that rely on visiting boaters.
As part of the government’s new review, officials will assess whether existing mooring fields have the necessary approvals, including seabed leases, environmental clearance certificates, and port permits. They will also examine whether mooring operators are compliant with tax and fee obligations.
The government is encouraging public participation in shaping its new policy approach, inviting stakeholders—including local government officials, island residents, community groups, commercial fishermen, recreational boaters, marine tourism operators, and environmental scientists—to register for consultations via email at opmcommunication@bahamas.gov.bs.
Comments
ExposedU2C 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Corrupt Davis was caught red handed in a fraudulent crony capitalism scheme involving thousands of acres of prime seabed property around the Exuma islands that is owned by all Bahamians as Crown Land. The monopolistic scheme was designed by none other than Tony Ferguson as a PPP intended to unjustly enrich himself and a select investor group in a monopoly business venture with only a token amount of tax being paid into the Public Treasury on the huge amount of mooring revenues collected by the favoured investors.
And by refusing to provide the public with any reasonable explanation for their wrong doings and illegal actions in this matter, both Davis and Ferguson have effectively admitted their guilt. Davis should resign as PM and Minister of Finance as doing so is really the only honourable thing he can do in the circumstances. As for the conniving Tony Ferguson, the financial and other regulators in our country should be holding him fully accountable for the role he played in stealthily devising such a devious and corrupt financial scheme intended to unjustly enrich himself and his crony investor group.
realfreethinker 3 weeks, 4 days ago
Brave is not a honorable man. Resigning is not in the cards for that clown
One 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Where does all the sewage and garbage from these boats go? We need to wake up. The trickle-down benefits and economic activity of tourism and benefits to Bahamians are undermined by the boats and cruise ships. Instead of investing long-term into the country (infrastructure, hotels, etc), the tourist and foreign companies load as much supplies as possible in other countries and keep most of the economic activities in their boats. Then sail away when things don't go their way.
One 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Think about it. A tourist without a boat generates economic benefits to Bahamians by: - renting a vehicle or taxi to get around - paying for a hotel room or similar (the company selling hotel rooms has to pay to build the hotels and infrastructure (roads, electricity, water, sewage) - eat at restaurants or buy groceries - Pay Bahamian businesses for entertainment (jetskis, boat tours, fishing, diving, etc.)
The cruise ship and boat owners: - load up on fuel, groceries, and supplies in other countries - entertain themselves for the most part on their boats and sail themselves around - pay next to nothing on permanent infrastructure that benefits Bahamians
Flyingfish 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Exactly, These Cruise Ship Companies are totally reliant on us and they are making record profits yet hardly any of it comes this way.
Anybody with economic sense knows when you have a monopoly you can drive up the price but our Government continuously gives concessions and continuously accepts all the cost for 0 profit.
The Majority of Private Cruise Islands fall within our borders, The majority of 3 Day and 5 Day Cruises leaving Miami stop/sail here, and the Majority of Cruises that leave for the Eastern Caribbean sail thru our waters.
Yet their is no fees or environmental levies for the pollution they put out in our water.
ExposedU2C 3 weeks, 3 days ago
The real question is, do you honestly think it's right that a crony investor group of wealthy capitalists led by corrupt PM Davis and equally corrupt Tony Ferguson should be given a moorings monopoly by way of illegal Crown Land leases of thousands of acres of seabed so that they can unjustly enrich themselves to the exclusion of the rest of the Bahamian people?
Much better for our government to contract out the work involved here to various unrelated investor groups in a transparent bidding process that ensures the Public Treasury gets its fair share of the annual mooring revenues through both taxes and seabed lease payments. And the seabed leases should not be automatically renewable but rather open to another public bidding at least every 10 years with each investor group being annually audited by an independent accounting firm so that the government is better able to verify the remittances that benefit the Public Treasury and thereby the Bahamian people.
For obvious reasons, the greedy marauder Tony Ferguson should not be involved in the bidding processes and that includes no involvement whatsoever in the drafting of requests for proposals from interested investor groups.
rosiepi 3 weeks, 3 days ago
Modernize oversight? As similar in other enlightened countries?
Would that entail regulations that would exclude any government official including the PM from participating, endorsing and/or profiting from any quid pro quo deals and relationships whether these pertains to the giving and receiving of patronage, nepotism, monetary exchange, and/or what’s known as the revolving door into businesses?
Sorry Bub this is the Bahamas, how can we object to that which even the lowest amongst us aspire to??
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