We kindly ask the Friends of the Environment and the Bahamas National Trust to respond to these statements regarding the Baker's Bay controversy.

1. The Baker’s Bay Club plan – 180 slip marina plus amenities for 300 foot megayachts, 565 buildings, a manicured golf course and massive terraforming of the northern 2/5ths of Great Guana Cay, is too large a footprint for fragile Great Guana Cay and its marine environment. Would you agree with this statement?
   
   
2. The coral reef at Great Guana Cay is an international treasure. Few reefs so healthy still exist in the Caribbean, but this staghorn and elkhorn reef is also unique, for it is one of the best examples of the barrier reef between the Sea of Abaco and the Atlantic that attracts an amazing and unique diversity of fishes, corals, marine mammals and sea turtles. Does the BNT and Friends of Environment believe it is worth saving this unique resource?
   
   
3. Conservation groups believe inthe importance of local involvement, local decision-making and local action when it comes to environmental matters.  With Baker’s Bay Club, locals were denied involvement by the central government of the Bahamas.  Several Hopetown Council members resigned when their authority was bypassed.
   
   
4. Coral reefs require a nutrient-poor environment to live. High nutrient levels such as that found in runoff from heavily altered environments can harm the reef by encouraging the growth of algae.

5. There is a relationship between seagrass beds, mangroves and coral reefs.  While many fish and other sea creatures spend their adult life on a reef, other life stages are spent elsewhere - in the water column as plankton, in the seagrass beds and algae once they leave the plankton, then to mangroves for protection from predators, and then on to the reefs as adults. Not only that, but some fish may leave the reef to feed at seagrass beds. Would you agree with this statement?

6. Jean-Michel Cousteau warned Discovery Land Company about developing Gumelemi Cay, an islet off the tip of Guana Cay less than an acre, where 3 species of endangered sea turtle nest. Selling six plots on this Cay is a grave environmental mistake. Does Jean-Michel Cousteau have any validity to his statement?
   
   
7. The marina at Baker's Bay poses innumerable risks. Of special concern is the leaching of pollution, oil and nutrients into the coral reef through Guana Cay's porous limestone. The removal of the mangroves (much of which has already occured) to build this marina will affect the coral reef and seagrass beds.
   
   
8. Discovery Land Company advertises paspalam grass as a miracle to the golf course's environmental dangers. But is it not a fact that paspalum is not the miracle cure-all that the company says it is?
   
   
9. Dredging and excavating create silt which kills corals and marine communities. Silt curtains are not as effective as claimed by Discovery Land Company. A dredging operation for a cruiseship in the 1980's was partially responsible for coral deaths, particularly on the Sea of Abaco side of the island.
   
   
10. Baker's Bay Club openly advertises their orchid and bromeliad nursery as a symbol of their conservation efforts. However, plucking orchids and bromeliads from a crucial habitat before destroying that habitat has little to do with conservation. This is particularly true since all of the orchids and bromeliads at Great Guana Cay are common in the Northern Bahamas. Rather, it is the unique habitat itself and its relationship to the marine environment that needs to be conserved.
    
    
11. The deep well injection treatment methods of Baker's Bay Club are innappropriate for the size and scale of their development, and Baker's Bay Club did not follow the suggestions of their EIA on this matter (link to EIA).
    
    
12. Monitoring sea turtles does not equate to adequate protection of sea turtles. In fact, Dr. Karen Bjorndal, a world-renowned sea turtle conservationsist and scientist, said of the Baker's Bay Club, "Of the gigantic marina the development proposes, pollution from oil and gasoline and lights will be a problem. Boat strikes are a huge problem for sea turtles." A marina of this size would likely quadruple the amount of boat traffic around the island, but because the marina is adjacent to the passage to the coral reef, it would likely increase traffic to the most important ecological marine section by a matter of five hundred percent. To protect the sea turtle habitat at Baker's Bay, the development must have a much lighter footprint.
    
    
13. The traditional crabbing grounds of the Great Guana Cay islanders have been destroyed by Baker's Bay Club. A large part of Guana Cay incomes come from fishing; the traditional source of income on the historic island. Guana Cay's fishermen fish sustainably. Many of them are part of the effort to stop Baker's Bay Club and are well versed in conservation issues. The huge increase in sports fishing boats from Baker's Bay Club may swing the balance spiraling out of control.
    
    
14. In his latest book, 'Creation: An Appeal to Save Life on Earth", Edward O. Wilson calls the Caribbean the second most important hotspot on Earth to save in terms of biological diversity. In this appeal, Wilson describes the reefs as 'retreating worldwide.' He writes, "Those around Jamaica and some other Caribbean islands have largely disappeared."
    
    Corals in Jamaica have declined to about 5% their original cover - it is estimated that in many locations, recovery is impossible. Since so little is known about reefs, the exact causes are unknown. But the rise of megadevelopments and dense hotel construction in the 1970's, 1980's and 1990's is widely considered the primary suspect. In parts of Jamaica where development has remained minimal, coral reefs are healthiest.
    

Learn more about the Baker's Bay Controversy, including press, court documents, photographs, and more in over 400 pages of material at Rise Up Sweet Island

Articles and documents on the Bahamas National Trust