DoE and coastguard contain sinking boat
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Coast Guard and the Department of Environment have teamed up to mitigate the potential spread of fuel and oil from a sinking vessel in the Governor’s Creek area. The 76-foot Cayman Mermaid was abandoned by its owners, Mermaid Cruises, several years ago. The DoE has deployed a 400ft boom to protect the marine environment, and the coastguard is urging boaters to stay away.
Individuals should not attempt to board the vessel. “Doing so may compromise the integrity of the containment boom and could lead to the release of fuel and oil into the surrounding area,” the CICG said.
DoE conservation officers who had responded to reports of the sinking boat found that it did not appear to pose any serious or immediate threats to the water or marine life. It will nevertheless continue to be monitored to ensure that anything that emerges which could potentially impact the environment is dealt with.
The boat is on the seabed in the canal, which the DoE said is home primarily to algae and sponges, so there is no major threat to marine life. The fuel loss is said to be minimal, far below the level that could be recovered, and the boom is a precautionary response.
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Category: Marine Environment, Science & Nature
So is it expected for the boat to sink and become a new dive site? I would rather someone take the time to have it removed rather than gamble to see if it does/doesn’t cause any harm to the environment. Just get with it and move it please before it really becomes an unmanageable situation
don’t worry the civil service are on it!…..zzzzzzzzzz
CIG is large and in charge so stop worrying about it. It will never get fixed the expat way but it is already fixed the CIG way. Seriously just stop.
Yeah, it is already fixed the CIG way – right. That’s why its still there, and even the story that the owners will remove turns out to be the port director has asked the owners lawyers – not the owners – to fix it. I’ll reserve “stopping” for when I see the boat out of the water.
Large and in something. Not charge though, competent more like.
Lot of really fun boat parties on that Cayman Mermaid boat years ago mostly hosted by Epic Day Entertainment. Sad to see that photo of it sinking. Almost but not as sad as seeing Royal Palms shockingly now a fenced up wrecked ghost bar.
Sad but nowhere near as sad as Royal Palms
Put it up for auction and see how fast the “owner” comes out of the dark!!
Apparently he’s dead, so he’d be really coming out of the dark.😁😁
No one in their right mind would buy that piece of scrap metal…
If it’s made from aluminum it’s probably worth 10 times what they paid for it.
There are a few others in that area that are abandoned. Same old same old, lots of laws but no enforcement. I would say that we should introduce mandatory registration and insurance for boats but we all know that would not be enforced either.
bring back the jolly roger and the valhalla!
how can cayman not have a functioning pirate ship???
And the Trolley Roger too! 😎😂🎉🏖️
both have sank as well!
Bring back the Carrie Lee and the Kon Tiki!
another sad reflection on cig and the civil service.
Sad reflection on private enterprise, actually.
FYI, algae and sponges do count as part of the marine environment.
Yes they do.
Algae is just less fragile and endangered than coral and sponges.
99% sure owner was Ernie Smatt. But he passed away. So may have something to do with it…
Well someone profited greatly from the land he used to own down Whitehall Bay after he passed away, so perhaps some of that cash can clean this mess up?
Moguls like Ernie Smatt have substantial estates, executors, and local representatives. His Penthouse at WaterColours was listed for $8.5mln in early 2022.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wcy-BuJebXc
He had sold Beach Bay Colony for $41mln 10 years earlier. Owned Resort Sports, and the White House and a few hotels in Ochos Rios.
His Estate can afford to foot the environmental bill for the damage from this unclaimed asset.
MERMAID CRUISES LIMITED T/A CAYMAN MERMAID
Music and Dance Licence – Regular
Motor Vessel/Bar
MDR
1-Oct-15
30-Sep-16
TB3734
Block 9A, Parcel 78, Capt. Eugene Building, West Bay Grand Cayman
Where’s Bernie’s boat these days?
anchored off Morgans Harbour and will meet same fate as Cayman Mermaid
Or just maybe, the owner should pay to have it salvaged properly.
Not sure the owner, or the shareholder of the owner, are around anymore. Thing has been sitting there abandoned for years. Question is why DOE didnt have it towed to a dock and disposed of properly when there was still someone around to e held accountable for the cost.
So all property he left behind has no owner? Grow up.
You realise the boat is owned by a corporate entity? And you cant simply transfer the debts of that entity to other assets or entities that may have been owned by the shareholders? Try looking up the definition of limited liability, or is that a little too grown up for you?
You realize that you’re full of shit right? More than likely the responsibility party who wants to hide from their obligations.
Perfect. I’ll take the $8.5mln penthouse at WaterColours if nobody’s already called dibs on that.
yay…another kittiwake!
Seriously, can someone with real knowledge and expertise on this subject answer my query. Is a boom like that effective in containing liquid contaminants? Looks like a particulate boom to me.
Really curious!
It’s an oil spill boom and yes it is effective at stopping oil from dispersing.
Clarification: You are right; it is effective at stopping SURFACE oil from dispersing, assuming that the boom entire surrounds the vessel, and that there are concentric rings of ABSORBENT booms, not Curtain or Fence booms.
Why? The vessel is partially submerged. Fuels can easily travel/drift outside a single ring of boom, particularly in our warm waters. It is also dependent upon wave activity. Coastal cleanups often shoot for a 75% containment.
Short answer? We may be in a heap of grief, without skimmers, dispersants or possibly not fuel containment companies. Texas A&M put on oil mitigation training in Grand Cayman nearly 20 years ago. I hope the equipment is still functional.
Not if the boom doesn’t go around all the way…….LOL.
But only if it goes all the way around the sunken vessel, and that one clearly doesn’t.
who owns it?
So they’re just going to leave it there?
Which of Cayman’s marine industry millionaires owned and abandoned this vessel? Who were the signatories on file at DCI and with Port Authority for the parent company? Maybe they should be held to pay salvage costs under supervision of DOE? I’d bet they already have an account at Harbour House for salvage costs. Too many of our millionaires are given public bailouts and free passes. Cuff ’em and let them do a perp walk.
Well said.(insert thumbs up .gif that I am unable to make).
👍
Calls have been made year on year to have government agencies to move this vessel to an appropriate location.
The blame lies with the weak hands that did nothing about this colossal embarrassment.
There’s no threat to the environment, but there’s a boom. The boom is just a precaution, but you shouldn’t try and board because it will compromise the boom and cause fuel to spread. And the bottom is just algae and sponges anyway, which apparently no longer form part of the natural environment. Or maybe, just maybe, DoE doesn’t want to have to spend the significant amount of money that would be necessary to make this wreck safe and protect the environment. It’s just going to ignore it and hope it goes away or no one notices.
Who were the owners of Mermaid Cruises?
Surely the CIG should be going after them for all the costs involved.
That would depend very much on who they actually are. New here?
3:45, Then they should be named and shamed.
They should be held accountable.
they would be the people Kenny paid for the piece of land downtown that he wants to build a cafe on seeing as it and the Mermaid were owned by one and the same
Would have been way cheaper to at least pump out the fuel and the oil when it was abandoned, even if they werent prepared to ether make the owner pay for its removal out of the water or do it themselves. Now sticking a boom around it in the hope that leaking fuel and oil will be contained is massively optimistic, and not a long term solution. Refloating her and removal will cost a fortune, hence DOE trying to play down the dangers and hope they can just leave her to rot in place.
Right. Same as we should be doing with abandoned vehicles that are crushed by DEH on all three islands. Completely agree.
It’s far from the first large boat we’ve allowed to just fall apart and spread hydrocarbons all around.
“A single gallon of gasoline can contaminate 750,000 gallons of water”. https://www.the71percent.org/water-contamination-how-far-do-pollutants-reach/