Former resident writes song of lament for Cayman
(CNS): Canadian Reggae musicianand poet, Daniel Doucet, who grew up in the Cayman Islands, has written a song lamenting the loss of natural resources here. Doucet said he wrote “Where are the mangroves?” in reaction to what he sees happening in his childhood home. Disappointedwith the rise in crime and what he says is the out of control development, Doucet is hoping his song may get people to stop and think about the precious resources which are being lost forever. He says that people have to realize how important mangroves are to the local eco-system and the protection they offer to the islands’ coastline.“
Overbuilding, dredging and digging canals, killing mangroves, oil refineries, I can’t believe any of this,” Doucet said, hoping that something can be done to turn things around.
Category: Local News
In the town where Danny resides he is widely known and respected as ‘ReggaeMan’… many do not even know him as Daniel..Only know him as ‘ReggaeMan’…
"Cayman is so great, I nearly decided to live there, but I live here in Canada instead."
I find this really ironic as Doucet’s father, Jean Doucet, was the first to bring truly massive development and land clearing to the Cayman Islands in the 1970s with Interbank House Group / Stirling Bank and Governors Sound development projects.
His dad sure started a trend!… glad he remembers how it was before they came here.
Not quite right here. Governor’s Harbour as it was first called was the brainchild of Roland King and it commenced in 1967/8 before Mr Doucet’s arrival. Doucet then purchased it and added Lime Tree Bay. He never had enough money to properly develop it and used short term bank deposits which ultimately brought about the demise of his two banks.There are large apparently, needs to created with islands in the North Sound.
Thanks for clearing that up…was just a youth when all this happenned..still don’t know and understand the full story…if you have other insights, would like to know…do you have a facebook?? always concerned about the issues in the cayman islands thru my life…still have lots of friends there..somehow things seems to be tough down there now..very sad!!
Glad to see that he remembers his time in Cayman and how beautiful it was back then.
Our culture clearly did make and impression!
I am totally against dredging in the Sound without a referendum type vote by the majority of those who should have the final say (not a dictator’s decision) on this type of massive undertaking. However, I must say that while I deduce that Mr. Doucet’s intentions are noble, if he had been here during and immediately after Ivan, he’d know “Where are the Mangroves?”. (Ivan destroyed more mangroves in 12 hours than we did in all our human efforts previously-I am not suggesting that we did not play our part. I am simply highlighting that sometimes nature shows us that we are not “in control”).
Nonsense. The mangroves in Cayman have experienced 100’s of Ivan’s and much worse and they always survive and flourish. They just need a little bit of time. When we destroy red mangroves, we also destroy their habitat by filling it in, which means red mangroves will NEVER grow there again.
And trust me, had we not left such a tiny strip of land of the ocean-side of South Sound when we built that road, those mangroves would never have sustained the damage they did. The mangroves closest to the sea would have died and the mangroves behind them would have survived and eventually replaced those that died.
So again, all fingers point back to us.
Great song! It should be played on the radio stations. It is high time we started speaking out.
Cayman has many problems. Poor people what will they do. They can’t even get employment in the country of their birth. Foreigners are in charge and use the Chamber to tell the government what to do. They are refusing Caymanians work! its is now another SOUTH AFRICA!
Sad Day in Cayman,
Caymanians are now FIGHTING FOR EQUALITY.
APARTHEID is HERE! National and racial Racism at large!
One day soon you will have to take a stand for you and your children, its coming.
You clearly have no clue!
I believe that Mr. Bush should listen to this as he is driven to work every day.
***** I empathize with the song writer. Our precious resources are being used by government to XXXXX support their supporters, sell out the Cayman Islands to the well-off few, and eventually, take-over the private sector’s role in providing services and making money! In addition with the high cost of living, the increased fees, duties, permits, and licences upon both "small and big people" islandwide, a further increased size of government and salary among top civil servants! This means a shrinking to the small business’ private sector, more unemployment, more crime, and more people depending on government hand-outs. And where is democracy? What a mess we find ourselves in – but there is still hope! *****