The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists yesterday said they were “very upset” that the $8 million Blackbeard’s Cay project remains open, as they work out how to enforce a Supreme Court ruling that quashed all its permits and approvals.

Sam Duncombe, principal of activist group reEarth, told Tribune Business that the Government seemed to be “ignoring” the 2014 Judicial Review ruling by Justice Stephen Isaacs that effectively ordered that the development be closed.

And Mrs Duncombe, who led reEarth’s move to bring the Judicial Review action, said she could not understand why the Government was instead allegedly now trying to provide Blackbeard’s Cay with the necessary permits and approvals via the proper processes.

“I don’t know how the Government can go back and correct the deficiencies,” Mrs Duncombe told Tribune Business. “Justice Isaacs has passed a judgment, and that has not been followed. The Government is just ignoring the judge’s ruling.”

The fact that Blackbeard’s Cay has continued operating for nine months post-Justice Isaacs’ ruling, despite its permits being quashed, and the Government’s efforts to correct those deficiencies, were revealed by Tribune Business yesterday.

The details are contained in court documents related to an ownership battle over the eight dolphins that were supplied to Blackbeard’s Cay.

The Honduran company that supplied them claims the animals belong to it, and it has wanted to recover them from the Bahamas ever since Justice Isaacs’ ruling, on the grounds that Blackbeard’s Cay’s operator breached their agreement.

However, Blue Illusions and its affiliate, and their principal, Samir Andrawos, have alleged that they own the dolphins and there is no need to remove them from the Bahamas.

Mr Andrawos, and his Carib Resorts company, have also suggested that they are not bound by Justice Isaacs’ ruling as they did not participate as a party in the Judicial Review case.

Implying that they will simply ignore the Supreme Court’s verdict, Mr Andrawos and his companies alleged in Florida court papers that the ruling was “a mere finding of fact”, and they “are not bound” by it.

They then suggest that Blackbeard’s Cay’s “licensing deficiencies are being corrected by the Bahamian government”.

In response, Mrs Duncombe yesterday suggested Mr Andrawos “continues to act as if he’s a nation unto himself”,

Meanwhile Fred Smith QC, the Callenders & Co attorney and partner who represented reEarth in the Judicial Review hearings, confirmed to Tribune Business that his clients had “not moved to enforce the judgment yet”.

However, he disputed the assertion by Mr Andrawos and his companies that they were not bound by Justice Isaacs’ ruling.

“I am shocked that the Government is engaged in secret licensing, not having taken into consideration stakeholders such as reEarth,” Mr Smith said in response to the court documents obtained by Tribune Business.

“Blue Illusions is bound by the legal and factual findings by Justice Isaacs because their attorney, George Mackey, attended every interlocutory hearing and those at the trial, and opportunities were given by the judge who invited them to participate.

“In my closing I commented on how unusual it was for them not to participate. Their attorney was also at the Court of Appeal hearing, and the judges of the Court of Appeal commented on why they had not intervened.

“And they did seek to enter into the proceedings because they an affidavit.”

Mrs Duncombe, while agreeing that there were “a lot of concerns” about Blackbeard’s Cay remaining open despite the Supreme Court’s ruling, said her main concern was for the dolphins’ welfare.

She explained her fears that if reEarth “kept pushing and forced them to close”, the dolphins might suffer if not moved in time or to an appropriate new location.

Mrs Duncombe said she was “fighting” for the dolphins to be moved to a sanctuary, as opposed to another captive entertainment facility.

“Our ultimate goal is to stop any more facilities opening here, and I hope this sends a very strong message to people wanting to open them,” she told Tribune Business. “We will fight this. We will go where we need to to stop this.”

Mrs Duncombe also criticised Institute de Ciencias Marinas (IMS), the Honduran company that supplied the dolphins for Blackbeard’s Cay, for failing to first check that the facilities were appropriate and that all the necessary permits and approvals were in place.

“The argument that they’re [IMS and Mr Andrawos] having in court has nothing to do with the welfare of the animals,” she added. “It’s to do with the profit they did or did not make.

“Honduras should have made sure of everything, not for legal reasons but for the welfare of the dolphins, before they were sent here..... Now they’re worried about their money. Tough titties.”