The Tribune

SOMETHING sickening is happening before our eyes, endangering marine resources and water quality and we are acting like it is no big deal.

It’s a very big deal.

Sailboats that once tied up at marinas are now discovering the pleasure of dropping anchor in Nassau harbour, spreading to Montagu Bay to the east and past Arawak Cay to the west. Anchoring is free. Some complain that the holding ground is not good. Of course it is not. It was never intended to be a place to tie up. You were supposed to traverse it, not live there on your way to Exuma or wherever.

It’s free for you, but we pay the price or will pay the price in the long run.

Dropping anchor would not be a problem if the boats were tied to a mooring buoy so they could not drag anchor and destroy what is left of any coral reefs or disturb the natural environment. Dropping anchor to the east and west of the main channel would not be a problem if the boats used their holding tanks and macerators and if we had proper pump-out facilities or vessels that provided a mobile pump-out service. Anchoring would not be a problem if we monitored specific fecal coliform bacteria after maceration.

I love sailing, don’t get me wrong, it’s just that I love the marine environment even more. The turtles we saved from near extinction and now are so friendly I worry that they are not afraid of people, the small reef fish from sergeant majors to clownfish, wrasse to gobys, the unsold conch that vendors from Montagu tie together and store overnight. They are the rightful residents of Montagu Bay, protected by law from fishing in the harbour -- but unprotected from untreated floating or sinking human waste or breathing gray water from showers, laundry and galley sinks.

Just the thought of dozens of vessels a day pumping raw sewage overboard makes me ill.

There are laws for everything, surely there must be a law against this, you say.

There is a law, of course, but it does not apply to vessels of the size filling Montagu Bay and the waters off Arawak Cay. The Bahamas Maritime Authority Marine Notice 59, an 11-page document that is an amendment to the International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution from Ships 1973, the MARPOLA Index IV, is very clear about commercial vessels and ships. But it says painfully little about recreational vessels or any vessel which carries fewer than 15 people for non-commercial purposes. The Act has been amended several times since being introduced more than 50 years ago, the same year The Bahamas gained independence. The Bahamas Maritime Authority has been very clear in what it will and will not allow Bahamian ships, including cruise ships registered in The Bahamas, to do in Bahamian waters, but unless I skipped a whole chapter, I do not see anything about what visiting yachts can or cannot do with their raw sewage or sludge discharge in Bahamian waters.

In the United States, a vessel caught flushing overboard or failing to have a holding tank with adequate capacity, a functioning macerator and working connections faces stiff penalties.

OK, I have railed on long enough about a subject that invokes anger so please let me share the sweeter side of what I am seeing when I drive by and see all those boats, mostly sailboats, at anchor. I think of all those fortunate people who are living the dream.

I love sailing, everything about it. Even when things go wrong, it’s better in the boat than on land. Even when the boat is too small or the wind and tide are against you or it’s too choppy to light the stove and put the old tin coffee pot on to perk, it’s better on the boat.

Almost nothing in the world can compare to the inner sense of peace and perfection on a broad reach with a steady, brisk wind, flying a well-set full main and genoa, gliding silently, surrounded by a horizon of soft blue waters under a bright blue sky.

Sailing brought me to The Bahamas 42 years ago. I met the man who would become my husband at a regatta in Abaco. When he wanted to leave a corporate job to work at his passion, designing, building and repairing sails, I was all for it. For years, we spent weekends sailing. For years, we spent a Sunday or a weekend a month racing with the Bahamas Yacht Squadron.

I am older now and racing is a sport for the young. But leisurely sailing is also a way of life that should be about protecting the waters and the life that depends upon their health. To those of you lucky enough to live aboard or spend a week sailing through the Exuma cays, please, please sail and visit responsibly, just like you would in your own waters.

Just remember this, I love boating, but I love the marine environment even more and that is what we have to leave for coming generations of Bahamians. I am far from alone in wanting to protect the most precious treasure we have other than our people. So please, hear this plea and heed these words. Enjoy our waters, but for God’s sake, don’t fish them out and don’t you dare destroy them.