This week’s shocking impact of tornadic activity has left Grand Bahama reeling. The occurrence of tornadoes in the Bahamas is so rare that many mistakenly believed they “just didn’t happen”.
But this week that myth was clearly and stunningly busted.
With three dead and more injured, along with potentially millions of dollars of damage, the impact of this sudden severe weather has been made tangibly evident.
Of course, Grand Bahama is no stranger to severe storms, with Hurricanes Floyd (1999), Frances (2004), Jeanne (2004) and Wilma (2005) having struck the island, leaving damaged infrastructure and weary people in its wake. Hundreds of acres of dead, topless pine trees stand starkly against the sky as our ever-present reminder of the winds and sea flooding.
But, aside from a single drowning death during Hurricane Frances when a man reportedly swam into flood waters, Grand Bahama has not recently experienced deaths caused directly by severe weather. Monday’s deaths paint a very different picture of what such events mean and how they affect us all.
Freeport Container Port must be commended for its swift and decisive action in responding to the situation, caring for their people and supporting the grieving families and staff. The mood at that facility has been described as “understandably somber”, but the facility has already began the long and difficult road forward in re-starting its business and maintaining its service to its clients.
There has been quite the flurry of opposition, outrage and questions surrounding the new tuna fishing venture by the Mellor brothers in Grand Bahama. This venture intends to deploy a large fishing vessel utilising a net mechanism to catch tuna for commercial sale internationally.
The concerns centre around two primary factors:
1. The large scale harvesting of tuna using a mile-long net
2. The indiscriminate nature of wide-range net fishing
Bahamians and concerned people inside and outside the Bahamas have noted that any large fishing operation will be detrimental to the existing fish stocks in our region, because it is anticipated that this operation will capture tuna faster than the stocks can naturally replenish themselves.
There are many historical cases where such fishing can completely eliminate fish stocks and can drive specific fish species to the brink of extinction.
Back in the mid-90s, there was an effort to establish long-line fishing in the Bahamas. Opposition arose then because of very similar fears as exist now: that the large scale and indiscriminate nature of this type of fishing is harmful to the entire marine ecology.
In a response placed on BahamaIslandsInfo.com this week, Paul Mellor, one of the men involved in the venture, stated that tuna stocks “…are at 96% and being managed by an international body called ICCAT (International Commission for the Conservation of Atlantic Tunas).” He further asserted that, “…the Atlantic Tuna stocks are in great shape and will continue to be in great shape for years to come because there are international bodies carefully keeping track of there stocks and regulating them when and if necessary”.
Despite Mr Mellor’s declaration, available evidence suggests just the opposite is true, based on ICCAT’s own studies. In fact, due to more than 40 years of overfishing, it has been driven to just 3% of its 1960 or pre-longlining abundance — a decline of 97% — as shown in ICCAT’s figures available on this web page. The devastation brought by longline fishing is very well comparable to that inflicted by net-based commercial fishing.
Many of us were touched in some way by the dreadful earthquake that struck Haiti last Tuesday. In a country that has existed under such terrible conditions that its own citizens are compelled to flee on a daily basis even before the earthquake, to be further challenged in such a way is unimaginable to those of us so privileged to live in so much better circumstances.
Many Bahamians–individuals and organisations–have rushed to the aid of Haiti residents, giving money, supplies and physical support in response to the needs there. One school in Nassau has given nearly $8,000–no small feat for a school–our government has pledged extended support, other governments and regions have committed hundreds of millions of dollars, and NGOs (non-governmental organisations) such as Rotary, the Red Cross and churches have really stepped up to provide the means for individuals to assist.
This type of response is heartening; it shows that our humanity is well intact.
It’s not just the end of the year, it’s the end of a decade.
The last 10 years in our lives have brought so many changes it would be impossible to recount them. Some have affected us all, some have changed our individual island, and some are very personal.
It’s hard to believe that it has been 10 years since we were concerned about Y2K. Just nine years ago, Apple released the very first iPod. And it’s difficult for many of us to imagine life without Facebook (opened to the public five years ago) or Twitter (started just three years ago).
Many influential and unforgettable people left us in the last 10 years, from Sir Lynden Pindling in August of 2000, to Michael Jackson in 2009.
We’ve also seen tougher economic times affect many of us. The global economy, the Bahamas’ national economy, and our own personal finances have been strained in ways most of us have never before experienced. For many of us, we are happy to put 2009 behind us and hope for a more positive trend in 2010.
The Bahamas drew international attention for positive and not-so-positive reasons; from the Olympic medals earned in 2000, 2004 and 2008, to the deaths of Anna Nicole Smith and John Travolta’s son Jett (and the related scandals and embarrassments). read more…
Déjà vu. “The best of times…the worst of times”. Mixed messages.
We’ve used a few of these phrases before. Nearly three years ago we wrote about the state of the Grand Bahama economy and how, on the one hand, things looked pretty good, and, on the other hand, not so much.
Back then, Ginn was gearing up for their big push on the civil work needed to build their infrastructure and spoke about their concerns over a possible labour shortage. Workers at the Grand Bahama Shipyard threatened to strike. Event organisers talked about bringing a boost to the island’s economy with their planned events. The current Minister of State for Finance Zhivargo Laing spoke then of the grim outlook for Grand Bahama, primarily because of instability in the relationship between the Grand Bahama Port Authority (GBPA) and the Bahamas Government.
The ownership of the GBPA remains unsettled, although the current management team have been noticeably active in new downtown projects. They have also engaged U.S.-based consultants to advise on ways to improve the investor climate on the island.
This week a story broke which indicated interest from a UK billionaire as well as a well-connected American investment group, lead by a Freeport resident, both of whom seem to have garnered the interest of Sir Jack Hayward.
But these may also fly in opposition to the interests of Hutchison-Whampoa, the group that already has expansive investment in Grand Bahama.
Whether or not such is the case, it is clear the Bahamas Government wants a resolution to the GBPA ownership issue, and they want it fast. How much they can influence a swift resolution remains to be seen. read more…
The last 10 years in our lives have brought so many changes it would be impossible to recount them. Some have affected us all, some have changed our individual island, and some are very personal.
We’ve also seen tougher economic times affect many of us. The global economy, the Bahamas’ national economy, and our own personal finances have been strained in ways most of us have never before experienced. For many of us, we are happy to put 2009 behind us and hope for a more positive trend in 2010.