The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists have pledged to intensify efforts to shut down the $12 million Blackbeard’s Cay project, after the injunction preventing this expired on Friday.

Sam Duncombe, president of reEarth, told Tribune Business that the group would again move to enforce the Judicial Review verdict by Justice Stephen Isaacs in July 2014.

Speaking after Justice Isaacs did not renew the injunction barring that enforcement at an ‘in-chambers’ hearing on Friday, Mrs Duncombe said: “We are going to pursue having the judgment upheld.

“We definitely want that to happen. We want the judgment fulfilled completely, the pens ripped out and the island returned to what it was before [the current developer] got there.”

Justice Isaacs had effectively blocked the enforcement of his own verdict by an April 8, 2016, Order that prevented any attempt by the Government and its agencies to enforce that Judicial Review decision.

The April 8 Order came as reEarth and its attorneys were attempting to enforce ‘a penal notice’ that would enable them to apply to commit all the Judicial Review defendants, including Prime Minister Perry Christie and V Alfred Gray, to Fox Hill prison for contempt of court.

The ‘penal notice’ move stemmed from the Government’s persistent refusal to close Blackbeard’s Cay down, in defiance of both Justice Isaacs’ Judicial Review verdict and subsequent August 2015 enforcement Order.

The initial ruling quashed Blackbeard’s Cay’s dolphin import licences and preliminary Site Approval Plan, on the grounds they had not been properly obtained in accordance with procedures laid down in Bahamian law.

It also found that the Government and developer had failed to hold proper public consultation, which is again required by law, and required them to return the development site - located on Balmoral Island opposite Sandals Royal Bahamian, off New Providence’s north coast - to its original condition.

While Friday’s events seemingly allow reEarth to move forward again on this angle, Mrs Duncombe said the group now had to “wait” over the fate of Blackbeard’s Cay’s eight dolphins.

The developer, Blue Illusions, is appealing a separate Supreme Court ruling which found that its Honduran partner, Instituto De Ciencias Marinas (IMS), was their true owner - paving the way for the Government to approve the animals’ return to Central America.

That action now has to play out before the Court of Appeal, but Mrs Duncombe argued that the case created a “fantastic” opportunity for the Bahamas to move away from captive marine mammal facilities.

She instead urged this nation to create ‘sanctuaries’ where dolphins could roam freely, and expressed hope that reEarth could negotiate such an arrangement with IMS.

“It would be a huge win for the Bahamas and a huge win for Honduras,” Mrs Duncombe told Tribune Business. “We’ve not had that discussion, but we’re hopeful.

“Justice Isaacs did not want them [the Blackbeard’s dolphins] removed from the jurisdiction, but they do need to be removed from those pens.

“Those animals are very lucky they’ve not had a direct hurricane hit. We’d like to stop playing with fire and put those animals in a protected area, and see if we can turn a really bad situation into a fantastic situation. That’s what we’re going to work towards.”

Blue Illusions, though, has laid evidence before the Supreme Court that shows its protected dolphin pens have been designed to withstand hurricanes. It has also said its facilities have passed every test, and received all necessary government approvals and permits.

Still, Mrs Duncombe said of the Blackbeard’s Cay case: “I hope it sends a very strong message to anyone looking to build another dolphin facility in the Bahamas that these are outdated, and the world is now moving away from them.

“The Bahamas needs to get on board with the world and move in the right direction. I don’t know what the Bahamas Government doesn’t get about this issue. We need to stop allowing these facilities because it is the right thing to do.”

The Bahamas is currently home to three ‘dolphin encounter’ facilities. Two are located in New Providence at Atlantis and Blue Lagoon, with the remaining one at UNEXSO in Freeport.

Mrs Duncombe, meanwhile, accused Blue Illusions and its principal, Samir Andrawos, of “clogging up the courts” with multiple legal actions in a bid to thwart the rulings obtained by both reEarth and IMS.

“He didn’t try to defend himself during the Judicial Review,” she told Tribune Business. “Why was he not involved and now, after all is said and done, he tries to ‘backdoor’ the judgment?

“Where was he in court? Why didn’t he open his mouth then and defend his development. He lost the first time and it’s unfortunate for him, but I don’t get it.”