Archive for October 8th, 2008
Turtle farm gets permit
(CNS): After operating in controvention of the Water Authority Law for several years the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm at Boatswain Beach in West Bay has finally been issued with a two-year discharge permit owing to what the Authority described as the farm’s commitment to meeting environmental impact requirements.
John Epp the complains commissioner undertook an own motion report into the Turtle Farm’s operations in January of this year because the farm was discharging water without a permit and not complying with the Water Authority law. The report found a series of problems at the multi-million-dollar facility including the unlicensed discharges of animal effluent into the sea. However, according to the Water Authority as a result of a year-long collaboration with the farm a permit was granted effective from 1 October 2008, for the wastewater from its turtle breeding pond and commercial turtle tanks.
The Authority noted that the permit is applicable to the current Turtle Farm only and any additional features and tenants, such as Dolphin Discovery, will require an application for a variation of the permit. It stated the permit had been issued under the law and was granted on the grounds that the Turtle Farm has demonstrated a commitment to reduce the impact of the Farm’s activities on the marine environment.
The authority said in a public release that several processes at the farm have been modified, that the required sampling and monitoring equipment has been purchased and installed and the services of experts in coral reef biology and aquaculture waste management have been retained.
However the farm is not there yet and the permit has been granted based on targets.
“Thanks to the Turtle Farm management’s commitment we now have a good understanding of the Turtle Farm operation and this allowed us to make informed decisions on the permitting requirements,” said Dr.
The releases stated that the Turtle Farm has reportedly already removed all wastes generated during the processing of turtle meat from their marine discharge and recently began testing bio-filters in their saltwater lagoon. Baffles have been installed in turtle tanks to reduce the outflow of excessive nutrients during feeding of the turtles. Additional measures to capture fine particles using various filters are planned. Implementation of the Waste Reduction Plan will include evaluation of the various measures and processes to optimize pollutant load reduction.
“The waste reduction requirement in the discharge permit is a necessary step because over the years the discharge of pollutants including organics, solids and nutrients, generated by the turtles at the farm have promoted an overgrowth of corals by algae in the nearby marine environment,” said Hendrik-Jan van Genderen, Water Resources Engineer for the Water Authority. “Reducing the pollutants will have the reverse effect in that the algae will die off and the environment will recover.”
Continuous monitoring by the Turtle Farm and the Water Authority over the course of the permit will provide the data necessary to determine effectiveness of the measures taken. Based on analysis of themonitoring results, the permit will be renewed after two years with revisions necessary to ensure continued improvement in the quality of the effluent discharge.
“We are committed to breeding endangered turtles, which we then release into the sea,” said Mr.
“It goes without saying that we are fully dedicated to doing everything we can to prevent damage to our marine environment so that the turtles can once again thrive. We have set ourselves a very aggressive internal target to reduce our environmental impact to zero percent even though the permit requires only 50percent The Cayman Turtle Farm is the world’s most unique turtle breeding facility and has the potential to become a leading scientific research site.”
For many years the nutrients in the water discharged from the farm have been undermining the local marine environment and whil Epp found in his report which was released in June of this year that the farm had failed to cooperate sufficiently with the Water Authority van Genderen said there had been a high level of cooperation between the Turtle Farm, Department of the Environment and the Water Authority over the past year.
“For their part the Department of the Environment was instrumental in reviewing data and identifying environmental impacts and threats. Although this has been a long process, mainly due to insufficient data inthe beginning, we are confident that we are now moving in the right direction,” he added.
The Authority also noted that the planned Dolphin facility, adjacent to Boatswain’s Beach and a tenant of the Turtle Farm property will be subject to the same regulations as the Turtle Farm’s discharge permit, which will require a variation. The Water Authority has taken an “end of pipe” approach, it said and all effluent waste is monitored and regulated at a single point of entry and exit to the property, which encompasses the Turtle Farm and all its tenants.
Activist to name paedophiles
(CNS): Owing to what she sees as a failure by legislators to act, former talk show host and local activist Sandra Catron (left) says she intends to create a private sex offenders’ register on a website that will be open to all, and if necessary she will host and upload it in the United States to avoid running foul of the local Information Communication and Technology Authority (ICTA) or privacy laws.
Following the public outcry over the recent conviction of a child sex offender and what has been perceived as a lenient sentence, Catron said it was time for the community to do something.
An unnamed man in his 20s was sentenced last week to two years imprisonment after pleading guilty to a single act of indecent assault on a boy age five, and as a result there was a groundswell of response from the community. In letters to the media and calls to radio talk shows, the public at large have made it clear that they want more done to address the child predators in our community and Catron says she is willing to do it.
“We have all talked about this subject for so many years but nothing has ever been done. If there isn’t the political will out there then there is nothing to say we can’t get off our butts and do something ourselves. We need a sex offenders register so lets do it. I asked myself last week after news of this conviction, why am I waiting on politicians when I can do things myself,” said Catron.
Reaching out for volunteers and supporters she says that within the week she hopes to have a domain name and begin uploading the names of convicted offenders over 18 currently resident in Cayman. With no resources but plenty of commitment Catron says that the fundraising can come later. In the first instance it’s just a matter of giving up her time, and given the failure of government to act she sees the website as the only way to protect the community from sex offenders and a way of knowing where they are in our community.
“In the United States and across Europe paedophiles and sex offenders are usually registered so that communities can be on guard and protect their children,” Catron added. She said the idea of not even naming the perpetrators after conviction in a court of law in order to protect the victims is a misnomer and she said it merely protects the predator, which was made worse by the fact that these types of offenders were highly likely to commit the crime again, so not knowing who they were was far worse then in the case of other criminals.
“Sex offenders have exceptionally high rates of recidivism. In fact 90 percent of convicted sex offenders in the United States go on to re-offend,” Catron said
Describing her concept for the website, she said aside from listing the full details of convicted offenders and their photographs, Catron said it would include educational material, links to related websites and information to help victims and their families. She said the community needed to be more open about dealing with this issue head on and for the law to stop protecting child sex offenders and start protecting children. Catron said she was hoping to meet with the police to discuss her register but she said she was determined to go ahead and since making her decisions public only last Friday she said she received overwhelming support.
Questions of judgment
A critical qualification for high office is good judgment. The current issues regarding the police and the judiciary have already revealed certain structural flaws in Cayman’s government and governance.
The recent information in the media now raises serious concerns about the judgment (in the non legal sense) of some police officers, judges and other senior public officials.
A minor incident of poor judgment by one high ranking official may be excusable; but flawed judgments by multiple officials do matter and, if unchecked, may lead to a loss of confidence in those officials, their offices, the branches of government they represent and the Cayman Islands as a whole.
All officeholders have a duty not only to act lawfully but also to exercise good judgment in the best long term public interest of the Cayman Islands. If they fail or are unwilling to exercise such judgment, they should leave office sooner rather than later. Cayman’s government and future will be the better for it.