Archive for February 5th, 2010

Turtle meat price soars

(CNS): The new managing director of the Turtle Farm has made his first major decision, which will see the cost of turtle meat triple in price. In a written statement issued on Friday evening, Timothy Adam, who has been in post less than two weeks, said the business now needs to raise the selling price on turtle meat to reflect the true cost of production and maintenance of the Cayman Turtle Farm facilities. From Monday, 8 February, turtle steak will cost CI$27.00 per pound, three times its current price. Recognizing the cultural significance of the meat, the new MD and the board said they were committed to doing what it takes to protect the future of the farm.

According to the statement, the price of the turtle stew will rise from CI$5.40 per pound to CI$16.00 per pound, turtle menavelin will rise from CI$4.00 per pound to CI$12.00 per pound, and the bone from CI$2.00 per pound to CI$6.00.

Calicia Burke, Marketing Manager at the farm, said that farmed turtle meat is one of the rarest forms of food as it is found only in the Cayman Islands and only from the Cayman Turtle Farm. "Our farm avoids the need for any green sea turtles to be taken from the wild by the general public. Our aim is to continue facilitating conservation and preservation of the species through our strategies of commercialization, leading-edge research and technological development of green sea turtle farming,” she said.

Adam pointed out that the sale of turtle meat to restaurants and the general public has always been a very important function of the Farm, but the price was far below the cost to produce it, and the facility was constantly losing money on that portion of the business.   

“One of my first priorities after taking this job was to begin a process of closely examining every aspect of our operations to determine if they were being run efficiently and were commercially viable,” said Adam.   “Looking closely at the farm operations it was immediately clear that the price being charged for turtle meat would not allow the proper operation of the farm.  The supply of turtle meat in Cayman is in jeopardy and could dry up in the very near future without significant re-investment in the turtles, their feeding and care or even the farm facilities.”

Since Hurricane Michelle in 2001, when much of the Farm’s breeding herd disappeared and much of the breeding facility was rendered unusable, the farm has struggled to improve its breeding programme and reverse the issue of declining turtle stock. Adam emphasized that setting a reasonable pricing structure was the first step in being able to properly re-invest in the farm and reverse this unsustainable trend.

The farm has recently reported problems with turtle eggs not hatching, which is impacting the farm’s ability to produce meat,, and is currently engaged in a research project to examine the diet of the turtles at the farm and how that compares to that of wild turtles and the nutritional value.

To ensure the long term sustainability of the Cayman Turtle Farm and the availability of turtle products the MD said there was a need to increase the meat’s selling price and that the meat still compared in price to lobster, which is a similarly scarce meat.

There had been no increase in the price of turtle meat since the mid 1990’s, despite increasing costs and the increased scarcity of supply.

“There is no doubt that our local turtle population would become endangered without the research and conservations efforts of the Turtle Farm," added Adam. “We have a responsibility to ensure that future generations of Caymanians can enjoy the traditions of our islands, and the turtles are an important part of that.”

Adam said this was just the first step in a series of wide ranging changes to be implemented over the coming months at Boatswain’s Beach with the aim of making the entire facility a commercially viable entity.  “The decision in regards to the pricing of the turtle meat was an obvious first place to start” he added.

Ken Hydes, Chairman of the Board, backed his new MD and said more difficult decisions lay ahead. “I can assure the public that these decisions are being made with the long term best interest of the shareholders, the Caymanian people.  This is the reason the board felt it was essential to bring in someone with Tim’s experience and capabilities.  We are extremely confident that he is the right man to turn things around at Boatswains Beach and he has the full support of the board and senior management team,” the chair said.

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Brac cruise stops “not viable”

(CNS): Although Premier McKeeva Bush continues to promise to develop cruise tourism on Cayman Brac, the previous tourism minister, Charles Clifford, told CNS that the PPM looked at all angles of the cruise ship business for the Brac and concluded that the only economically feasible way to develop it at this time wouldbe to offer day trips packages to passengers docking on Grand Cayman, which would include a flight on CAL’s Cayman Express Service and tours of the island. The cost of building berthing facilities, which would run to about $100 million, was not viable, he said.

At the Cayman Business Outlook conference last month, Bush vowed to bring cruise ships to the Brac, repeating a promise he made at the Economic Forum held on the island in August 2009, when he told residents that he intended to approve plans for Salt Water Pond to be dredged and turned into a marina and also for the development of West End Cemetery Pier (Scotts Dock) to accommodate cruise tourism, and would waste no time helping the developers to get it done. “I promise you that when those things come before my desk, as it will come before the Cabinet, it will have my go ahead. Not in the way distant future but as soon as you can do so, we will support it,” he said.

However, Clifford told CNS that during the PPM administration they had many discussions with the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association (FCCA), but the feedback was that there were serious issues with bringing cruise tourism to Cayman Brac. Firstly, because of the narrow shape of the island and the way the island lies, at a north-northeast south-southwest angle, and with the winds predominantly from the north east, the weather conditions on both the north and the south sides were challenging more often than not.

“This means that tendering cruise ship passengers is not viable. We then asked if it was feasible to build berthing facilities and we talked to them about that,” Clifford said. However, he said that because of the weather conditions, it would have to be a substantial investment – a deck berthing structure would not work – and they estimated the cost involved to be in the region of $100 million, which the cruise lines were not prepared to invest.

In addition, when they considered the size of the population, which is about 1,800, against the average size of the cruise ships, this would not work. “Most cruise ships have 2,000 plus passengers. This would be like 80,000 passengers arriving on Grand Cayman. The population could not cope.”

The next step, Clifford said, was to consider the smaller cruise ships with 250 to 350 passengers. “There are not a lot operating and typically they have two to three week trips,” he said. “If a ship puts a destination on its itinerary, it is important that they deliver what they sell. If they can’t deliver on a consistent basis, they are not going to do it.”

Having established that tendering was not feasible, the PPM then looked at whether berthing facilities for the smaller cruise ships could work. However, because of the infrequency of the visits, they also ruled this out. “We also considered how beneficial it was to Cayman Brac and how many business people would invest in an occasional visit with only a couple of hundred passengers passing through a month,” he said.

“The whole issue required considerable thought,” Clifford noted, and said their conclusions were that having cruise ships stop at Cayman Brac was not feasible.

However, the former tourism minister said they did look at day trips to the Brac, in which passengers docking at Grand Cayman would be sold deluxe day-trip packages, which would include flight on the Cayman Express. The Cayman Airways Twin Otters have the capacity to fly more frequently – which might mean hiring more crew – and the planes could bring as many as 40 passengers in a day, Clifford said, adding that the PPM believed that this idea (which was originally proposed by the previous UDP government) offered the best opportunities for Cayman Brac businesses.

“Up to the time we left office, we were looking at how to make that work and that was the direction we were heading,” he said, noting that when the company who was leasing the Twin Otters to CAL decided not to renew, they suddenly had to look for alternatives, which had ended with them purchasing the two planes now in use. This had set plans back but, he said, that was the way the PPM believed that the Brac people would benefit the most from cruise tourism, and the FCCA had like the idea.

However, he said it needed to be developed while the Investment Bureau was helping the people prepare in terms of building the businesses for the services required, like transportation and shops, so that everyone could benefit.

Offering a note of caution, Clifford said that the premier might announce that a particular cruise line is willing to invest but that the Brac people should be wary of such a proposal, since it would likely mean that the cruise line would also have all the concessions for the businesses that profit from the cruise ship – as had happened in places like Grand Turk – and the local population would have no control.

“A handful of Brackers might get jobs but there would be very little economic value for the locals,” he said.

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HSA defends staffing record

(CNS): Following recent remarks made by Ezzard Miller that the hospital’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr Greg Hoeksema (left), has had his contract renewed despite the fact that there is a Caymanian willing and able to do the job, the HSA Board and the Ministry of Health released a joint statement on Thursday stating that the hospital was committed to employing Caymanians. Although the official statement did not answer the allegations made by Miller on Wednesday or even mention Dr Hoeksema, there seemed no other explanation for the cryptic statement which said 32 Caymanians had been hired to both clinical and non-clinical positions in the last year.

Miller had said publicly that he believed there is a suitably qualified Caymanian doctor who could take the hospital’s top job but the Health Services Authority (HSA)  renewed Dr Hoeksema’s contract without advertising the post.

In the joint statement the HSA said it was committed to creating opportunities for Caymanians, which was being done through succession planning, staff development and active recruitment of qualified Caymanians for both clinical and non-clinical positions.

“It has always been the HSA’s policy to accommodate and hire suitably qualified and experienced Caymanians,” the board and ministry said. “Within the last year alone, the HSA has appointed 32 Caymanians to both clinical and non-clinical positions. These included an obstetrician/ gynaecologist, an emergency medical technician, a forensics analyst, a paramedic, a phlebotomist, an account assistant, a human resources officer, an executive secretary, several nurses and IT technicians.”

It went on to say that many Caymanians working in the HSA began their careers through work experience programmes, which the HSA continues to encourage. “The hospital also pays special attention to attracting and retaining Caymanians with clinical qualifications,” the statement read.

It said the hospital employs approximately 741 employees from 29 different countries and over the past 3 years had employed an average of 388 Caymanians, which represents approximately 52% of all employees in both clinical and non-clinical positions. “37% of the clinical positions and 69% on the non clinical positions are occupiedby Caymanians.  Additionally, over 50% of the HSA’s management team is Caymanian,” the board stated. However, there was no comment about the circumstances surrounding the re-hiring of Dr Hoeksema or whether in fact Miller was correct in his allegations that a Caymanian was available.

The statement did acknowledge that while the HSA is always committed to giving Caymanians first choice when hiring, it is also mindful of the diverse and specialized skills that are required to meet the needs of the population. “Therefore in some instances there will be a need to either recruit non-Caymanians or renew contracts of non-Caymanians in certain key positions in order that the level of service and patient care is not compromised,” it said.

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