Search Results for 'turtle farm'
Sunday closing made official at Turtle Farm
(CNS): Although the Cayman Turtle Farm has not stated the reasons, it will now close its doors to the public on Sundays unless there is a cruise ship in port. It is understood that the closure is as a result of the continuing losses sustained by the facility. Boatswain’s Beach said the park will be open as normal Monday through Saturday 8:00am – 4:30pm and on Fridays the Schooner’s Bar and Grill will remain open for Happy Fridays. Asking people to come visit, a statement from the farm listed its many facilities. Boatswain Beach receives millions of dollars in subsidies each year from government but continues to lose money.
Cruise industry complains about Turtle Farm
(CNS): On his recent visit to the United States, the new Leader of Government Business and Minister for Tourism, McKeeva Bush, was told by the Florida-Caribbean Cruise Association that cruise passengers are confused by the re-naming of Boatswain Beach. The cruise organisation said consumers think that they are paying to go to a beach when they book tours there and that the cost of the tour is too expensive to be able to significantly increase volumes of visitors to the attraction, which is currently receiving millions of dollars from government revenue to keep it afloat.
During his recent visit to Miami Bush and the CI delegation also heard that the FCCA was concerned about the dust, poor staging, lack of restroom facilities and lines at Spotts when cruise ships are forced to dock their during inclement weather and the cruise lines were considering bypassing Cayman on days when the George Town port was inoperable.
Bush told the FCCA however, that his government would enhance the destination and guest experience, which includes some much-needed improvements to the Royal Watler Cruise Terminal as well as Spotts facility. Despite the mixed feelings about the need to develop cruise berthing facilities in the community, he told the cruise industry body that he is committed to developing the facilities. Bush has not yet said where the facilities will be developed or whether he will pick up the plans started by the previous administration with Atlantic Star.
Bush said he plans to dedicate resources to cruise tourism development, starting with a full time person dedicated to the industry. In addition to developing the product and facilities in Cayman his team were conscious to work on the business relationship with FCCA, which had reportedly been neglected in recent years.
During his time in Washington at the Caribbean Tourism Organisation’s Annual Tourism Summit, Bush also met with US Congressman William Delahunt, who serves a House sub-committee responsible for Immigration matters, to discuss the establishment of US Immigration & Customs pre-clearance in Cayman. The men talked about having the US Immigration come to Cayman to conduct VISA interviews or perhaps even the use of videoconferencing technologies for the purposes of the interviews. The group also received a briefing on the US-UK Open Skies, the new aviation agreement between the US and EU, and how the Overseas Territories might consider approaching the UK to negotiate with the US on behalf of the OTs.
"Over the last two weeks we have been busy meeting with industry groups to determine what the Cayman Islands Government needs to do to move the needle on visitor arrivals,” Bush said. “I am confident that with some courage to tackle the real problems and a commitment to focus our efforts on developing the business of tourism, both inside and outside the Cayman Islands, we will reverse the trend of declining visitor arrivals within the next year and increase guest satisfaction levels.”
Ebanks may owe Turtle Farm
(CNS): (UPDATE): Former Director of the Turtle Farm Joey Ebanks has made contact with CNS and confirmed that he is still in the process of settling the issue of his salary advance. "I can’t talk about it yet, but in time I will be able to offer more details. I have been trying very hard to settle this for several weeks and I hope that both myself and the board will be able to issue a joint release when it is all settled." He acknowledged that the issue does need to be addressed and said he would be happy to talk about it when it is all resolved. He also told CNS that he would be more than willing to go head-to-head-to-head on a public platform with his North Side opponents, as challenged by Ezzard Miller.
Speculation over Ebanks taking a salary advance was raised last week and thrown in to further confusion when the Turtle Farm board chair released a statement on Friday saying the terms of his separation from Boatswain’s Beach (Cayman Turtle Farm Ltd.) were still being finalised with the advice of the company’s attorneys. CNS had submitted questions to both Joel Walton, the Turtle Farm Board chair, and to Ebanks regarding the speculation about the salary advance which remains outstanding. Ebanks did not respond until today when he confirmed the advance but not the details.
The board however, confirmed Ebanks’ resignation from his post as managing director of the company on 24 March 2009, the day before Nomination Day when he was declared a candidate for the People’s Progressive Movement in North Side, but did not offer details about the advance regarding how much, when it was taken and why.
The board went on to say that it has appointed an interim management team comprised of existing staff who will take on additional responsibilities for the facility. The team will be led by Acting Managing Director Joe Parsons, who is the chief scientific officer and has some 21 years experience at the facility. “Parsons will be assisted by Vijay Parabdeen, who will assume the role of acting chief operating officer with responsibility for financial matters and special projects,” the board said in a statement. The team also includes two acting assistant managing directors, Chris Jackson and Raymond Hydes.
Ebanks announced that he would be leaving the farm last week in the Legislative Assembly when Madame Speaker Edna Moyle said she would be retiring from politics. Ebanks will be contesting her long held North Side seat in the forthcoming General Election on behalf of the People’s Progressive Movement. Ebanks was officially nominated by Moyle and Janet Ebanks at the North Side Civic Centre on Wednesday, where he was supported by the entire PPM team (except for Moses Kirkconnell who was on Cayman Brac for his own nomination). At that time he said he was looking forward to an exciting campaign.
“This campaign is going to be about the issues and I hope here in North Side we will elevate the debate about how we move the country forward and provide hope,” he said.
Running against Ezzard Miller, a former minister and experienced politician, as well as Oswell Rankine, who previously ran for office in East End, Ebanks has himself taken to the hustings in the past when he tried his hand in Bodden Town in 2000 as independent.
Since then he has joined the PPM and is now returning to his own native district where he says he has always dreamed of being able to represent his people.
Turtle Farm increases government debt liabilty
(CNS): The currentTurtle Farm loans are to be refinanced and, as a result, the government will be increasing its debt liability as it moves to guarantee an existing overdraft facility of US$5.5 million and a new financing package which consolidates and increases the farms existing debt portfolio to US$14.8 million. Although this only equates to around $2 million of new money for the farm, the government’s net debt ratio is impacted by around $6.5 million increasing it from 73.4% to 74.4% and taking it another step closer to the 80% limit.
Passed in the Legislative Assembly on Monday afternoon, Government Motion No 14/08-09 was brought by the Financial Secretary Kenneth Jefferson, who explained that the motion cancels all existing debt guarantees for the Farm and introduces two new ones. “Currently, the Cayman Turtle Farm (1983) Ltd is in negotiations with another local financial institution to refinance its local debt portfolio,” Jefferson told members of the House. “While no deal has been finalized, the proposed refinancing is in the amount of US$14.8 million and its terms are such that it will allow the company to realize significant cash outflow reductions in the amount of cash spent on serving the local potion of its debt portfolio over the next several years.”
The government will also now guarantee an overdraft, which the Financial Secretary said was not new debt but an on going facility that the farm uses to deal with cash flow management, and the balance is constantly fluctuating. This, he explained, was not previously guaranteed by government as the bank in question was happy with a letter of comfort. However, he said that had changed and a government guarantee was now needed.
Jefferson said the impact on government’s contingent liabilities was 0.8%. “After factoring in these new debt guarantees the net debt ratio would be 74.4%, which is below the 80% ceiling specified in the Public Management and Finance Law,” he added.
The net debt ratio is the total amount of government’s own debt plus a risk-weighted proportion of statutory authorities and government companies’ debt that has been guaranteed by government, less the government’s cash balances or reserves.
Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts called for a divsion on the motion, which received 13 ayes, including one from the only representative of the opposition, Captain Eugene Ebanks.
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.
Clifford: Turtle Farm enquiry needed to be independent
(CNS): Responding to the findings of the Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) into potential wrong doing over the financing of the Turtle Farm redevelopment project, that there was no evidence of a crime, Tourism Minister Charles Clifford said that there should have been an independent enquiry. “I believe given what happened it should have been done by an independent team,” he said.
After more than a year-long investigation, the Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) announced that it had found no evidence of a criminal offence surrounding the financial arrangements for the redevelopment of the Turtle Farm on Tuesday 26 August. Superintendent Mike Needham said that after a thorough investigation by his team there was nothing to substantiate a crime. Clifford said that he understood the problem of insufficient evidence but that it should have been an external investigation.
“I’ve read the statement from the acting Commissioner of Police on this issue and as a former Police Officer I understand what happens when you are involved in an investigation and you get to a certain point and you have to make a determination one way or another as to whether or not you have sufficient evidence,” he said at the weekly press briefing.
“I believe the investigation, as well as the investigation with respect to the Affordable Housing Scheme, given what has happened with the Gold Command in the police service and the high profile nature of both of these investigations, they should have been taken over by an independent agency. Perhaps an independent team from Scotland Yard should have properly reviewed those two cases before they were submitted to the legal department for aruling.”
He said that from the position of public perception it should have been reviewed by an independent agency to satisfy the people that it had been properly reviewed and the conclusions were right — which ever direction those conclusion might have gone. “Regardless of the conclusion, the Caymanian public understand what has gone on at Boatswains Beach and they haven’t forgotten it,” he added.
The FCU investigation began as a result of findings in Dan Duguay, the Auditor General’s report that there were considerable irregularities in the financing of the Boatswain Beach redevelopment project and a potentially significant waste of public funds which could have had a criminal component.
In the wake of the FCUs findings, the Leader of the Opposition told CNS that he planned to bring law suits against the Leader of Government Business, Kurt Tibbetts and the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) for the comments and accusations they had made regarding his role in the financing of the project. Clifford said he would welcome such a move.
“This wouldn’t be another kangaroo hearing as we had recently with the Sir Tucker enquiry,” Clifford added. “This would be a proper court hearing in which Mr Bush himself would be subject to cross examination and then those issues that are highlighted in the various Auditor General’s reports could then be properly ventilated in the court. If that is the direction he wants to go in that is fine.”
He said there were numerous occasions when the Leader of the Opposition had made defamatory statements about the entire government and individuals so if he was to choose the legal route there would likely be a series of counter suits. “If he pursues this,” the Minister said “it would be to distract the government leading into the general election.”
Clifford also noted that Bush must be receiving poor legal advice as the law of defamation assumes that if you involve your self in public life you must be prepared to take a certain amount of criticism and the law accommodates that.
No crime over Turtle Farm
(CNS): After more than a year long investigation, the Financial Crimes Unit (FCU) of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) has said that there is no evidence of a criminal offence surrounding the financial arrangements for the redevelopment of the Turtle Farm. Superintendent Mike Needham told the press that after a thorough investigation by his team there was nothing to substantiate a crime.
Speaking at a special press briefing at RCIPS headquarters this morning (Tuesday 26 August) David George, the Acting Police Commissioner, explained that the investigation into the financing of the Boatswain Beach Tourist Attraction and the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm would not lead to any further action by the police.
“After a full and protracted investigation, which has included full cooperation and advice from our legal department and from independent counsel in the UK, the decision had been made that there is no evidence that would support the institution of criminal charges in this matter,” the Commissioner said, adding the investigation was now closed from a police perspective.
Needham explained that the enquiry began in June 2007 following the submission of a report from the Auditor General’s office which had been presented to the Legislative Assembly.
“The terms of reference given were to establish whether or not any criminal offences were identified and had been committed by any person or persons involved in this project,” said Needham. “The FCU examined a large number of documents, financial transactions and accounting records. Officers travelled to Canada to conduct enquiries and interview a person involved in the financial arrangement of this project.”
Local interviews with what Needham described as all the key players were also conducted locally. Reports were submitted to the Legal Department along the way and independent advice sought as the enquiry progressed, and Needham added that the FCU had conducted a full and professional enquiry.
Needham said that the independent Senior Queens Counsel from Legal Chambers in London agreed that there was no evidence to warrant a prosecution. Both he and George told the press that there would be no recommendations and it was no longer a matter for the police. Needham noted that for a crime to have been committed the police need to prove dishonesty, and during the investigation, which he insisted was not hindered in any way, he had concluded that no criminal act had taken place.
Speaking in the wake of the police announcement, Dan Duguay, the Auditor General, said he was pleased that the police had concluded their investigation and he respected that the FCU had found no evidence of a crime. He added, however, that he stood by his earlier comments that there had been a wanton disregard for public funds during the financing of the project which he agreed was not necessarily a criminal offence.
“I certainly sent the report to FCU because I believed there was the potential for a crime but wasting public funds is not a crime and I have never said it was. They have clearly found no evidence of a criminal act,” said Duguay. He drew attention to what had raised his suspicions and pointed to the area in his report that indicated some $600,000 had been paid to financial advisers. He said he had questioned these fees because he and his team of auditors were unable to establish any work of substance to justify the sum.
“The payment up front of excessive fees for introductions, advisory roles or facilitators in any government project would always be a red flag to a public auditor,” he said. “I have never been given any indication from anywhere that the content of the report was wrong.”
Duguay said that his office and the police look at these things from different perspectives, and explained that when he sees such incredible disregard for public money it is logical to suspect that there might be a criminal motivation, but that was clearly not proven in this case.
Farm claims success with return of nesting turtle
(CNS): In the face of mounting financial woes and international pressure from activist groups, the Cayman Islands Turtle Farm said the return of another farm turtle to nest in Cayman was an indication of the success of its conservation programme. A turtle nesting on Seven Mile Beach at the Grand View was discovered to be one tagged and released from the farm in 1987, officials said. This one turtle adds to a list of only 60 turtles from 31,000 released over the last 45 years that have actually come back to nest. Nevertheless, the addition was marked by the farm as important evidence that the tagging programme works.
From the 31,000 that have been released into the wild, 24,000 of those turtles were tagged and 4,500 given ‘living tags’ — a technique pioneered by Professor John Hendrickson and Lupe Hendrickson of the University of Arizona.
“This discovery in early January has been of significant importance because yet another ‘living tagged’ female demonstrates that turtles released by the Cayman Turtle Farm are continuing their life cycle by successfully nesting on Cayman’s beaches. It is always particularly heartening when one of our own turtles returns home to breed,” Walter Mustin, the farm’s chief research officer, said in a release.
In recent years the farm has selected around a dozen juvenile turtles at about one year old to be released. In the past the numbers were far greater but following the decimation of the farm by Hurricane Michelle in 2001 the numbers in the release programme were dramatically reduced and there were several years in which no turtles were released at all.
Once released, the turtles spend as much as ten years in the ocean before returning to the coast, foraging for food and slowly maturing. It is estimated that it takes a turtle between 20 and 30 years to reach sexual maturity in the wild, and once they do, they migrate to nesting areas to breed. Females come ashore to lay their eggs, frequently to the same spot where they were born, although this is not always the case.
“Our tagged turtles may well begin nesting in other locations apart from Grand Cayman,” said Geddes Hislop, the farm’s curator. It is not possible, therefore, for the farm to say how many of the female turtles in the remaining 30,939 animals that were released have survived.
The baby turtles in this latest nest were among the last to hatch this season after a fall in temperature delayed several of the nests from hatching. The farm said that about 30 eggs hatched but no live turtles were found and around 70 unhatched eggs were discovered by the Department of Environment’s research officer, Janice Blumenthal, and her colleague Paul Chin.
Hislop said the discovery was a great start to the year. “Seeing the results of our head starting programme takes many years of patient waiting so this recent find is a testament to the programme’s ultimate success.”
However, there is a continuing campaign against the Turtle Farm following the findings of the charity World Society for theProtection of Animals (WSPA) that documented a catalogue of problems relating to the condition of the turtles and the husbandry practices at the facility, and the discovery of just one new nesting female from the farm is unlikely to make 2013 a happy year for the struggling tourism attraction.
A report from a review commissioned by the farm is expected to be published shortly in connection with the damning findings of the charity, which farm officials have disputed. However, the WSPA is expected to increase its campaign this year toturn the farm into a real conservation facility.
The latest revelations in the farm’s own annual report have also done little to help improve the image of the Cayman Turtle Farm. The report showed that the farm is breaching the terms of its permit to discharge waste into the ocean as it has failed to reduce the effluent. Even more damaging is the massive losses still being sustained at the farm — a bill which is being picked up by the Caymanian tax payer.
Farm to release 150 turtles in face of controversies
(CNS): Against the backdrop of international controversy the Cayman Turtle Farm has said it will release 150 turtles into the wild this weekend in its 32nd Annual Pirates Week event. The largest release for many years comes at atime when the facility is coming under increasing pressure to move away from farming and towards conservation. The World Society for the Protection of Animals has launched a full scale campaign against the farm in its current form and is drumming up support across the globe but in particular in the UK parliament. The Cayman Turtle Farm returned its annual release to Pirate’s Week in 2009 after several years of modest numebrs and a ceasation of the release altogther in 2006.
Last year the farm released 40 hatchlings but this year it is more than tripling the number to 150. Since 1968 what the farm calls its ‘headstarting’ programme has placed over thirty-one thousand farmed green sea turtles into the wild.
Meanwhile, in London the WSPA is continuing with its campaign with the help of British MPs from both sides of the political divide. A dozen or so parliamentary questions have been submitted to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office Minister, Mark Simmonds about the Farm and there are two Early Day Motions which are picking up support in the House of Commons. The website campaign has also generated more than 83,300 signatures. While Richard Branson offered his backing last week to the Turtle Farm, Paul McCartney in the UK has thrown his weight behind the WSPA campaign which has been picked up in the British Press.
The research undertaken by the WSPA that documented myriad shortcomings at the farm from the water quality and overcrowded conditions in the tanks in which the turtles are kept to cases of disease, congenital defects and even cannibalism, was rejected by the Cayman Turtle Farm. It has announced its intention to undertake an independent audit next month to show that the findings of the WSPA are unfounded.
Criticised for releasing farmed turtles because of the dangers of disease being passed to the animals in the wild, the farm is nevertheless pressing on with this significant release next week. Officials said that turtles are quarantined and reviewed for any disease or defect before release.
“Our release programme is dear to our hearts and a central component of our conservation activities as we continue to preserve the Green Sea Turtle population,” Adam said. “This is a very important event for us, as we are releasing a larger number of turtles than we have in several years.”
This year’s significantly higher number is due to a highly successful nesting season, officials said, which saw a record number of eggs laid and an increased hatching rate.
“The Cayman Turtle Farm’s release programme is an important aspect of the organisation’s conservation mandate,” the Farm stated as it invited everyone to come along to the release on the shores of the North Sound across from the North Sound Golf Club on Sunday, 11 November at 4pm.
“Members of the public are invited to join the Cayman Turtle Farm in our conservation efforts,” said Managing Director Tim Adam. “This year visitors to the Cayman Turtle Farm and the Pirates Week Office leading up the event can enter a raffle for a chance to release one of 15 turtles into the sea.”
This year’s release will include yearlings and advanced hatchlings. Yearlings will be fitted with Passive Integrated Transponders (PIT tags) which are micro transponders encased in a glass case about the size of a large grain of rice,” the Farm explained. These electronic tags are injected under the skin and can only be detected with a scanner — similar to wand scanners used at the grocery store.
These and other types of tags allow researchers to identify individual animals and better understand migration and nesting patterns. The most recent observational data shows that 14 females tagged andreleased from the Cayman Turtle Farm in the 1980s, have returned to lay their own eggs on Cayman beaches.
Historically, the Cayman Islands boasted one of thelargest green sea turtle populations in the Caribbean and possibly the world but by 1900, the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) had deemed this population to be extinct in the Cayman Islands. Today, according to the Department of Environment, there are less than thirty adult female green sea turtles nesting in the Cayman Islands each year. The Farm said its release programme is to help replenish the local population of reproducing green sea turtles.
299 turtles killed after systems failure at Farm
(CNS): A break in a main pipe that carries sea water to the Cayman Turtle Farm last month resulted in the death of 299 of the Farm's young animals. The turtles were killed because of a backup systems failure in one of the large commercial farm tanks. The loss is the first incident of its kind in the Farm’s 40-plus years in existence, officials said, but it had led to an improvement in the crisis response and resiliency systems. As a result, during last week’s blackout when seaside pumps were out of operation for the entire morning, the farm got through the outage without any loss of turtles. Nevertheless, the facility's staff are all said to be extremely upset about the death of so many animals.
“We lost some 299 turtles, which were all between the ages of three and five years old," the Farm said in a statement about the incident. “This loss has been very upsetting to the management and crew members involved in responding to the incident. Although a significant number, this represents less than 5% of the total number of turtles at the Cayman Turtle Farm and the turtles lost were not part of the Cayman Turtle Farm’s breeder stock.”
The problems began for the farm around 11am on Monday, 16 July, when the main seawater pipe sprang a leak and began flooding the road it runs under. In order to repair the crack the decision was made to cease pumping sea water into the farm through the main pipe system.
“Several hundred thousand gallons of fresh sea water are required to be pumped into the farm on a continuous basis to maintain daily operations and ensure the safety and optimal living conditions of the sea turtles housed at the Cayman Turtle Farm, and this water flow ceased during the diagnosis and repair of the pipe break,” officials explained.
Repairs began but finding a major break required heavy equipment, external contractors, additional manpower, layers of fiberglass work followed by concrete work. It took many hours to complete and the pipe was not back in action until 10pm that night.
“While repairs were being made, alternative water pumping systems were obtained and put into place in efforts to maintain adequate water levels and some water circulation in the turtle tanks,” the Farm said but as a result of problems with the back-up system the turtles housed in one of the tanks had died.
“Immediately after repairs were completed and water pumping operations returned to normal, the management team at the Cayman Turtle Farm met to review the incident and put improved mitigating procedures and systems into place based on the lessons learned,” officials added.
The Farm is now implementing new procedures and emergency back-up water supply systems to avoid the loss of any turtle in future. The core water pumping and piping system is being monitored and some key valves that failed are being replaced.
“The responsible stewardship of the animals in our care is a responsibility that we take very seriously and our crew works hard and diligently every day to ensure that safe and optimal operating conditions are maintained. We remain saddened by this recent loss – the first of its kind in the Cayman Turtle Farm’s 40-plus years in existence but we are energized about improving our crisis response and resiliency systems moving forward,” the Farm stated.
Despite the sad loss, a spokesperson for the Farm added that the facility was seeing a good number of hatchlings survive this nesting season, which is good news as the Farm has been struggling with its breeding programme for several years.
“There is new life in the midst of the sadness,” the spokesperson said.