Concern Over Coot Pond ‘Commercialisation’

[Updated] The Bermuda Environmental Sustainability Taskforce [BEST] and Greenrock said they are “concerned about the creeping commercialisation of areas outside of the five beaches plan of the Bermuda Tourism Authority.”

“Under the existing plan only five beaches are designated for development and concessions – Horseshoe Bay, John Smith’s Bay, Shelley Bay, Clearwater Beach and Tobacco Bay,” a statement from the groups said.

“Despite this, we are seeing the commercialisation of Coot Pond, an environmentally sensitive site to the east of [and separate from] Tobacco Bay.

“We welcome jobs for Bermudians and enhancements to Bermuda’s tourism product. However, we cannot endorse activities which do so at the expense of Bermuda’s environment and risk undermining Bermuda’s tourism product in the long-term.

“Coot Pond is an ecologically sensitive area; the landward edges of the bay is composed entirely of nature reserve, coastal reserve and parkland. The bay provides an important mangrove and seagrass habitat, providing key roosting areas for herons and a protected area for juvenile fish and lobsters.

“The seagrass also serves as a feeding ground for juvenile green sea turtles that frequent the bay. It is also a key breeding ground for fry and other baitfish – this is marked by it being one of the few bays closed to net fishing for baitfish.

“While the bay has historically been used as a safe harbour for fishing boats, these boats are on established moorings and are not coming in and out of the bay on an hourly basis. The presence of these existing boats has a qualitatively and quantitatively different ecological impact than the bay being used as the base of operations for a water sports company, including the siting of a floating dock for jet skis.

“We have concerns about the impact of the regular operation of jet skis going in and out of Coot Pond on the local ecology of the area. There is the risk of the seagrass in the bay being damaged by sediments and turbidity from these operations, while turtles and herons will likely be displaced.

“There is also the risk of the bay, an important nursery ground, being disrupted leading to long-term impacts to our fisheries, especially to the already critically low levels of large predatory fish on our reefs.

“We welcome tourists to our beaches and their enjoyment of our waters. And we welcome the continued [but environmentally sensitive] development of the already named five beaches for tourism purposes.

“However, we are opposed to the creeping development of natural places outside of the five beaches. What is the point of encouraging tourists to visit Bermuda for our nature if in the process we are destroying that very nature?

“We are also concerned about the process that has given permission for this operation despite the safeguarding zonings, the prohibition against fishing nets, and the commitments from the Parks Department and the Bermuda Tourism Authority to limit commercial development to the five mentioned beach/parks.

“We remind the public and our leaders that this venture will be using a public resource. The public ought to be informed and have an opportunity for input before a limited public resource such as this is given over to commercial exploitation.

“We note also that on February 3rd, 2017, in the House of Assembly, the then Minister of the Environment Cole Simons discussed the work to date on developing a marine spatial plan for Bermuda.

“We believe that this commercial encroachment in Coot Pond highlights precisely why we need a marine spatial plan and stronger regulations to protect our sensitive marine areas.”

Update 10.18am: BTA Director Of Public & Stakeholder Relations Glenn Jones said, “While the Bermuda Tourism Authority’s Beach Economy Vision has bipartisan political support and broad public support [including positive feedback from BEST], it would be premature to say all the beach relevant departments of the government have fully adopted our proposal. We are working with partners where we can find them and trying to overcome obstacles where they exist. We created a national vision for our beaches because our visitors want an enhanced beach experience and because Bermudian entrepreneurs are relying on us to facilitate the creation of jobs and opportunity on Bermuda’s shoreline.

“The Bermuda Tourism Authority has no authority over who is granted beach concessions approvals and the relevant authorities have not sought our viewpoint as it relates to this particular concession, but generally speaking we support entrepreneurs who want to provide experiences for visitors – particularly adventure-seeking options that appeal to younger audiences now attracted to Bermuda. And while our vision is focused on enhancements at five public beaches, it’s sensible to have non-permanent, non-intrusive concessions at other locations where there is user demand to support small business operations. In most cases, we believe non-permanent concessions and visitor excursions can be created while at the same time balancing the environmental sensibilities which are critical to the sustainability of our tourism product.”

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