The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Fresh oil pollution was yesterday described as both “tragic” and “treacherous” for Grand Bahama’s tourism industry and wider economy with environmental activists estimating that up to 25 miles of beach could be contaminated.

Magnus Alnebeck, the Pelican Bay resort’s general manager, told Tribune Business that the situation is “very, very concerning” for the hotel and tourism sector given that The Bahamas’ waters, beaches and overall environment are a prime attraction that draws visitors here.

“I haven’t had any complaints from guests staying in the hotel, but I have seen all the chatter on social media,” he said. “Of course it’s very, very concerning. It really is. One of the greatest things we have is our beaches. Let’s hope we can get it quickly cleaned up and make sure it doesn’t happen again. It’s never nice if people go to the hotels and get covered in oil, but I just hope we get it under control.”

Tribune Business contacts yesterday suggested that the latest pollution is not connected to the recent spill at the Buckeye Bahamas terminal, which involved just five to ten barrels, and appears to have originated from a different - but as yet unknown - source. Several suggested that the sticky balls, or clumps, of congealed tar-like oil probably came from a tanker or vessel cleaning its tanks at sea and were blown to Grand Bahama by recent strong southerly winds.

Multiple tourists were yesterday said to have stepped in the oil contamination. Joe Darville, Save the Bays chairman, told this newspaper that the Government must carry out a “thorough investigation” to determine the culprit as he warned that Grand Bahama and, by extension, the wider Bahamas’ reputation as a tourism destination could suffer once word of the pollution hit the Internet and is spread via word-of-mouth in visitors’ home countries.

“It’s a bigger situation,” he said. “It stretches from what we call the Coral Beach all the way to Gold Rock Beach. It’s 25 miles of beach area that has been impacted. It has to be a large amount of material that’s been dumped in our waters. All these beaches today and yesterday have been inundated with these clumps of tar. It’s the full length of the southern side of Grand Bahama, but has nothing to do with the oil spill at Buckeye.

“We have all these tourists coming here and, because of the heat wave, they want to go out on to the beach and cool off in the water. Hundreds of them have their feet covered in tar because they were not aware of it. This is absolutely treacherous. This tar is lodged in seaweed and buried in the sand. What I’m saying to the authorities is they must thoroughly investigate this.

“It’s going to be tragic. What message are these visitors going to go back with? It’s definitely going to affect our economy, but our reputation is going to be the one. What are they going to be taking back home? They will say: ‘Don’t go there because the beaches are covered in tar and oil.”

The Government and Grand Bahama Port Authority’s (GBPA) agencies and subsidiaries were yesterday said to have formed “a joint task force” to investigate the spillage and clean it up. The Department of Environmental Planning and Protection (DEPP) and Port Department are leading the Government’s effort, and have been joined by Lucaya Service Company (LUSCO) and the GBPA’s environmental department.

With clean-up and remediation efforts underway, LUSCO said: “We are all working together to determine the initiating cause of this incident and it remains a high priority of the task force.” The company said earlier this week it was aware of the discovery of trace amounts of oil particles along the shoreline and embankments near Fortune, Churchill and Spanish Main beaches.

“The matter is under investigation and being contained and remediated with the utmost level of urgency,” it added then.