Allen’s company quibbles over reef damage

MV Tatoosh

(CNS): Marine experts have begun salvage work to repair the extensive damage to corals off Seven Mile Beach by the anchor chain of billionaire Paul Allen’s yacht, MV Tatoosh, last month. While Allen’s company, Vulcan Inc., is disputing their level of culpability and the course of action for the repair, the Department of Environment has received a comprehensive assessment of the injury site by an independent coral restoration expert and is pressing on regardless, stressing the imperative of quick action to save as much coral as possible.

“We now are in the position to begin emergency caching of dislodged corals, whose survival is at immediate risk the longer they remain unattached,” DoE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie said. “This temporary stabilisation and removal of coral to a safe location (caching) is typically carried out following completion of an injury assessment to minimise further impact to the living tissue of corals that are candidates for reattachment.”

The DoE received the final report by William Precht of Dial Cordy and Associates on Tuesday and began emergency salvage work Wednesday.

“Given that Vulcan Inc., the owner of the MV Tatoosh, disputes the DoE’s initial assessment of the scale of the damage, and furthermore questions whether the MV Tatoosh is the source of the damage, the DoE contracted with Dial Cordy to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the injured site,” Ebanks-Petrie explained. “We took this action in order to have independent documentation and verification of the extent and degree of damage and also of the timing of the injuries to the coral. Mr Precht’s findings support the DoE’s initial assessment as to the damaged area and the cause of the damage.”

Reef damaged by the MV Tatoosh

Starting the salvage work now means that the remaining living coral tissue could be saved and the time it takes for recovery of the site may be reduced and further damage from future storms minimised, she said.

The DoE and Vulcan have been in discussions since the coral damage on 14 January. Ebanks-Petrie said her department received an initial plan for the remediation from Allen’s company at 10pm on Wednesday, 3 February, and the DoE responded on 5 February, with further drafts exchanged since. However, the DoE is still waiting for Vulcan to respond to proposed changes to the plan relating to the scope and source of damage, the estimated length of the restoration period and Vulcan’s funding of an independent agent to oversee and monitor the restoration work.

“Because Vulcan continues to disagree with the scale and source of damage, as well as the length of time required for the restoration effort, details of the remediation plan have not been finalised,” she said.

Representatives of Polaris Applied Sciences Inc., a coral reef restoration firm contracted by Vulcan to assess the damaged coral after the incident, were in Cayman on Sunday, 14 February, and observed and assisted the DoE with the emergency salvage work on Tuesday evening. Ebanks-Petrie said this would ensure that the emergency salvage works initiated by the Cayman Islands Government would be compatible with the methodology Polaris intends to employ when the dispute is resolved and they take over restoration work.

But in a statement released Thursday evening, Vulcan blamed the DoE for the delay, claiming that Paul Allen and his representatives at Vulcan had taken swift steps  to develop a remediation plan, even though it had been difficult to determine what, if any, actual damage was caused by the Tatoosh.

With no mention of Vulcan’s quibbling over culpability and the scope of the plan, the firm stated, “We continue to impress on the department the urgency of approving the full remediation plan so that work may continue. The department has yet to do so, despite the clear agreement between the experts on almost all technical aspects, and thereby delaying repair of the coral. We are ready and willing to continue the work of the last two days and are hopeful the remediation plan can now be promptly approved and implemented in the same spirit of collaboration and cooperation as was demonstrated over the past two days.

“There is nothing more important than the pressing need to save and restore the damaged coral, and Paul Allen and Vulcan continue to stand ready to do our part,” the billionaire’s company added.

With work already underway, the Port Authority of the Cayman Islands has placed a temporary anchor restriction for all vessels within 200 yards of the reef damage site located in the West Bay Replenishment Zone. See details here.