The Tribune

By YOURI KEMP

Tribune Business Reporter

ykemp@tribunemedia.net

Tour boat charter operators yesterday said they have “no concerns” about oil exploration in Bahamian waters impacting the tourism industry provided regulators ensure the strictest safety protocols.

Nicholas Pinder, general manager of Born Free Fishing Charters, told Tribune Business: “It depends where they drill and how close it is to a touristic environment. I don’t think the problem will be the drilling, but the effects of if there is a pipe burst.

“If you had something like that around a touristic-based hub it would be problematic, so it is like a double-edged sword, I guess. It’s good for the country if people make any money out of it, but I don’t think it would necessarily negatively affect the tourism industry.

"But how do you guarantee that they won’t have a burst and kill all of the wildlife? Just the storage of the oil in Freeport, when Hurricane Dorian busted the tankers, it's the same thing. You never thought that would happen like that but it spilled oil all over the land," Mr Pinder continued.

“I would say go with it. It would be positive if they found oil, but again how much safety protocols are going to be put in place? The Bahamian track record is to just set things up and not manage it, but all of those safety regulations have to be followed.... You can’t have tourists because you have a beach full of tar."

The Bahamas Petroleum Company (BPC), which has obtained all the necessary permits and approvals to drill an exploratory well in Bahamian waters, has consistently pointed out that the site is located far from tourist destinations close to the maritime border with Cuba. It has also said the site is several hundred miles west of Andros, although environmental activists have said the true distance is closer to 80 miles.

Celeuies Small, owner/operator of Small’s Tours, said: “I don’t think it [oil drilling] is going to impact tourism at all. What I think is if we have that resource in our country, I think all Bahamians need to get together and mine it if we can do without the foreigners doing it. I just think we need to form a company and let somebody that knows how to deal with it, deal with it.

"Everybody is concerned about oil damaging our waters, but right now the country is in such bad shape we need some sort of incentive to put it back on track. I am for it, but I know there are some environmental things what can happen, especially as we are in a hurricane belt and we have to be cautious.”

Captain Mike Russell, owner/operator of Chubasco Charters, said: “I’m neutral about it. I can’t see it really affecting us that much per se. I mean, it’s always a possibility that there may be an accident, but we’ve got oil tankers going through here - a couple of hundred of them coming from South America and what have you - and they can do as much damage as the oil drilling could do if there was an accident. I have no concerns about it.”