The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamas National Trust (BNT) yesterday said it would make a formal request to the Government to provide a full Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA), and supply more details, over a proposed $50 million aragonite harvesting and manufacturing project off eastern Grand Bahama.

Speaking with Tribune Business, Eric Carey, its executive director, said: “We heard rumours about this proposal, but we are learning about its formal existence in the newspaper today. This hasn’t come before us. We haven’t been invited to comment on the proposal”.

Referring to published reports, Mr Carey added: “I believe it is admitted that there is no EIA. They reference an EIA scoping document, which could mean anything basically, but it is not a full EIA document.

“We will be writing to the Government today for details of this proposed operation, and to request the EIA scoping document and get information on when the full EIA is expected to be completed.”

Resorts and bone-fishing guides have expressed concern over Nassau Island Development Company’s (NID) proposal to lease Great Bersus Cay for the harvesting of aragonite for export and manufacturing purposes.

The project is located south-east of Deep Water Cay, the multi-million dollar eco-resort in eastern Grand Bahama, and just outside a proposed Marine Protected Area (MPA). The company was scheduled to hold a meeting yesterday with the east Grand Bahama community to allay environmental concerns.

“The area is pretty close to our proposed East Grand Bahama National Park. We have been working with communities, stakeholders and businesses in the the area to have a draft proposal which we will submit to the Government shortly. That proposal identifies key sensitive areas, including tidal flats. Bersus Cay is a tidal flat,” said Mr Carey.

He added that the BNT was unaware of the scope of the project being proposed at Bersus Cay. “We didn’t even know aragonite. We thought it was just sand for construction based on information we had at the time,:” Mr Carey said.

“The community made it very clear that they were opposed to it because it presented a threat to the sensitive habitats. We haven’t seen an EIA and we will be writing to the government to day to formally request the EIA,” he added.

Grand Bahama’s parks manager for the Bahamas National Trust (BNT), Lakeshia Anderson, told Tribune Business that when the BNT held a meeting to discuss its proposal, residents said the proposed park boundaries should be extended to include Bersus Cay.

“They said that it was a very lucrative fishing area There is concern over the likely impact of the project to their livelihood. We know the effects of dredging. We weren’t given any information on the extent of the project, and we got a late notice about the meeting they planned but we will definitely be there,” said Anderson.