Bush secures WIZ freeze for boats at Stingray City
(CNS): McKeeva Bush MP (WBW) has successfully steered through a proposed new moratorium on Wildlife Interaction Zone licences at the Sandbar and Stingray City while the government creates a task force to review all watersports operations in the North Sound. In his first private member’s motion since returning to the back benches, Bush said Caymanian livelihoods were under threat from an over-supply of operators and debts accumulated during COVID.
The motion carried unanimously as legislators agreed that locals were under pressure and at risk of being pushed out of one of the last traditional ways Caymanians can still make a living. Bush argued that while he supported the concept of a free market, there were certain commercial areas that “should be left for the preserve of our local people”.
Bush said Stingray City was overcrowded and dangerous, describing it as “a wild west free for all”. He pressed the need for creating an exclusive right for Caymanian licensed tour operators to hold WIZ licences because wealthy overseas investors were exploiting local people and government should protect them.
Because of the complexities that must be addressed, a task force would be needed to examine the various issues, which should include operators and owners as well as government departments such as the Department of Environment and the coastguard. Bush said that tourists “want the best boats”, and that had to be considered because it was no longer acceptable to have just anyone bringing any kind of boat for trips and operations in the North Sound..
Opposition Leader Roy McTaggart offered his support and agreed that a review would be welcome, as he was aware that many local operators were struggling to eke out a living and were still facing challenges in the wake of COVID. He said it was important that the task force comes up with fair and equitable solutions.
Tourism Minister Kenneth Bryan accepted the motion on behalf of the government, saying it was in line with CIG policies in relation to supporting local tourism businesses.
See the debate on CIGTV below:
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Why is feeding wild stingrays allowed in the first place? It’s unnatural and has completely altered their behaviors.
Nice Bush!
The big red and white catamarans have no business being out there. They were only supposed to be doing “tours” of the North Sound, not stopping anywhere.
Because they paid for a WIZ license? Unlike some of the operators out there.
No, because when they started doing North Sound tours the agreement was that they would NOT do sand bar stops.
he agreement was…? Because the other operators own the North Sound and can set conditions? Its open to anyone who follows the law. And the law is if you take paid guests to the IWZ you have to have a license. And they have a license. You have a beef with them providing too much competition, take it up with DCI. But I guess you have mac to create a little oligopoly for you instead. But here’s the thing – there’s a tradeoff between the political benefit of looking after a voter base, and the cash alternative of looking after the highest bidder. And the sponsor isn’t running for office next time around. You may find that the big commercial operators and those contracted to the cruise ships end up being the only people authorized to access the WIZ, because dollars talk. Just back from Antigua, where access to their Stingray City is limited to a local cartel, who charge $100 a head for a tour, and $50 for you even use your own boat. All supported by the government.
They are the worst offenders, always dropping anchor in the middle of the sandbar.
Y’all are a joke.
In reality it is the larger, aged and over loaded boats that belong to the local operators that diminish the Stingray City/Sandbar experience.
Have you been out there to see these large boats jousting for position, endangering those in the water?
Belching out globs of diesel/carbon spunk into the water up current of those trying to enjoy?
Stereos turned up beyond a clear listening level battling for supremacy of who can be most ignorant?
Miss handling the stingrays?
If there is to be WIZ licences monitored it should start with the Cayman Coastguard ensuring these boats are limited to their capacity and have the necessary safety equipment with qualified and sober operators on board.
Being Caymanian does not make one qualified to operate a boat. Training and experience does.
Agree. I believe it should be administered through the DOE.
Seen DOE people there turning a blind eye to egregious issues
DoE has no remit to enforce those sorts of issues. Like the OP said, it needs to be the coastguard out there.
It doesn’t really matter as no one enforces the licences anyway…please let DOE tell us when, if ever, a person was charged for bringing customers out there without a licence…NEVER. It’s a joke along with the so-called DOE Enforcement “Team”. One well-known, aged and obese CO once said, “I don’t go near there…why bother?”
Everyone working out there should be a Caymanian.
McKeeva wants only Caymanian-owned boats, and specifically West Bay owned boats with $6/hr Nicaraguan, Cuban, and Filipino crews. Caymanians haven’t worked for $6/hr since the 1980s.
Did you say “working”?
well then it might be empty a lot. I don’t have a problem with that.
The WIZ licenses ought to be colour coded and RFID readable stickers for certain days and times of day. Peak times should cost more than off-peak when often there’s very few boats there. 1 visit a week should cost less than 20. Congestion and overcrowding stems from all loading up with hundreds of cruise shippers all on the same tight schedule. To fix this, the CIG needs to form a gaming commission and regulate cruise ship gambling with a license fee for use in port. That way, the licensed ships can stay longer, keep their casinos running, and depart at midnight if they want to, and their passengers can stagger their stingray tours and enjoy our restaurants and other attractions. All of these experience quality bottlenecks boil down to liner gambling revenue, which currently requires them to be 12 miles offshore before dinner service. That’s the bottleneck, not the Wiz licenses at all, though perhaps how they are issued.
Too little too late! The original plan was to issue a limited number of Licences. I bet most of the current operators never applied for one
Too true. Like all water craft owners registering and licensing themselves with the money-grabbing Port Authority…yeah, we’ll get right on that! Here’s the address where you can steal my boat…
Too true. Like all water craft owners registering and licensing themselves with the money-grabbing Port Authority…yeah, we’ll get right on that! Here’s the address where you can steal my boat/brand new outboards…
Can we have a task force to fix the damn dump? Remove illegal billboards? Ban leaf blowers?
You know, the important stuff.
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
And while you’re at it, stop the tour operators lifting the rays out the water for a selfie with the tourists. Ignorant arses.
There’s no reason why concerned DOE and Coast Guard couldn’t order a compulsory knowledge review of all WIZ licensed crew. It could be a multiple choice quiz on passenger safety/first aid, general liability, our marine laws, Zones and authorised behaviour within those, approach speed limits, litter, black/grey water, anchoring and fendering properly, marine handling prohibition, fines, penalties for non compliance, reporting obligations and procedures. Nobody fails the test. Any wrong answers, and the test-taker has to redo and understand what they got wrong and sign their acceptance, like a Scuba Diving knowledge review. We shouldn’t let anyone failing crew basics out to sea with passengers, or interacting in our zones.
Saw a guide catch the same ray repeatedly and have tourists handle it for over half an hour
A “task force”. LOL, never heard so much shit in all my life.
well, why is it I see locals pulling stingrays out of water and letting people pick starfish out too! They need to go through a conservation class before getting a license.
A class, you mean where you have to read or be lectured and comprehend? Heck these idiots don’t even comprehend how to properly conserve their own long term livelihood.
There truly should be a pass/fail stewardship class to earn a WIZ crew license, in english.