CCMI: Voters don’t have enough info on cruise question
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ environment is an intrinsic part of its identity and critical to the lives, livelihoods, and lifestyles of Caymanians and residents, the Central Caribbean Marine Institute said in a press release about the potential development of cruise berthing facilities. The independent marine research centre warned that the development and operation of cruise piers could negatively impact beaches that are already eroding, and there isn’t enough science-based evidence about that impact for voters to make an informed decision in the referendum.
The scientists urged caution and warned that there is not enough evidence and data about such a project to justify supporting its development.
“The longer-term impact of the proposed cruise berthing infrastructure and the associated activities that
could impact Cayman’s coastline and marine environment require careful consideration,” the marine researchers said just two weeks before Cayman goes to the polls.
“It is possible that activities such as removal of depositional material, which is an important part of the overall sand budget and contributes to the formation of the beaches, Cayman’s most iconic tourism product, could have substantial detrimental effect.”
CCMI said development and a healthy environment are not mutually exclusive. Effective environmental management does not hinder growth; it is arguably the most important element to ensure continued growth for the future of Cayman. However, with so little information available on the plans for berthing infrastructure, ensuring that these plans include environmental considerations and voting without this information is challenging.
“At present, little to no information about what the cruise berthing project might look like is in the public domain. To date, no draft plans covering location, size, scope, and environmental impact have been released. It is CCMI’s belief that all government and private entities should have a full understanding regarding the impact of human activities on precious coral reef ecosystems and the potential cascading effect that damaging coral reefs will have on our oceans,” the scientists added.
CCMI is not the only non-profit to say that it is not possible to make an informed and evidence-based decision that adequately considers the trade-offs between environmental damage and development to ensure the best outcome for the country. As marine scientists with extensive knowledge of local waters, however, they can say that beach erosion and the loss of coral through bleaching and disease are key issues for Cayman at this time.
“These pressures that threaten key economic sectors and ways of life in our islands only increase the
need for evidence-based decision making, informed by expert scientific advice, to ensure that short-term developmental gain is not prioritised over the long-term well-being of a society that is underpinned by its environment in so many ways,” the marine scientists warned.
Read the full statement here.
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Category: 2025 General Elections, Elections, Marine Environment, Politics, Science & Nature
Relax everyone. They need my land. They ain’t having it.
See everyone in privy council in 2030
Carpe Diem
A port and berthing facility would under normal circumstances be considered just plain common sense. But not here. This normally would be an extremely basic feature of any first world country. Even Jamaica and Haiti has berthing facilities and a functional port.
Could you imagine if we had to vote for other things of first world countries like bridges? or community rail systems? or real busses? or taxies with meters?
Good thing we allowed fuel or refrigeration systems with Freon to come in to the country, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that’s on the next ballot.
Absolute radical foaming at the mouth lunacy!
Hard NO, we do not need more cruise ship passengers f***** this place up, in fact we need less. High end tourism please. The taxi cartel can adapt and the beach higglers can F*** off and get real jobs. Anything Cola Kenny wants is not what this country needs.
This is such a simple choice of NO!
This referendum is NON-BINDING, there is no plan at all, NO COSTS attached so we all know that if a YES vote comes back, the government will go full force to push thru whatever they wish to do at whatever costs because we know from past experience this is what governments in Cayman do. If by a small chance, we do FINALLY get a government that has integrity we might be OK, but let’s be honest, we have NOT done well in the past. VOTE NO just to be safe!
I will vote YES!
The environmental damage will be catastrophic.
The silt stirred up alone (not even counting all the other environmental devastation) that will encompass the reefs (1) from dredging now (noting a port will take years to construct) and (2) cruise ship propellers forever (every single time they dock and leave) will utterly wipe out of the reef likely along the entire Seven Mile Beach.
And you think we have a sand problem now (which is the result of global warming yes but also overfishing and killing out all the parrot fish and other fish that clean the reef and keep it healthy and produce most of the sand for Seven Mile) – just wait.
If you have ever visited other islands where they have these cruise ship ports all of the water for miles around is murky. We are not a large island. We do not have the luxury of ruining our pristine waters (let alone potentially destroying our millionaire/billionaire tourism market in exchange for low income tourists who do not spend money, the local tourist operators only get a penance for their tours while cruise ships keep all the profit and a handful of local jewelry stores etc keep all the local profit). It is a bad model. It is terrible for the locals caught in it (which is why it is mostly cheap foreign labour now) It is terrible for the environment. It is terrible for infrastructure as well. Government should be focused on attracting and keeping the millionaires and billionaires and luxury and environmental eco tourism – we have the largest continuous wetland/mangrove forest in the Caribbean – not something I ever see promoted. Sad. The entire living system of the North Sound is inextricably linked to the Central Mangroves and would collapse if the wetland were ever destroyed. Again something Government needs to focus expanding its efforts on protecting but that is another conversation.
The short term quick and easy fix (to allow Government to continue to somehow blow through a billion dollar budget every year on these tiny islands) is not the answer. We need new leadership with new ideas who are no making back room deals to line their pockets. Politics aside, the long term strategy to protect our natural resources is clear – if we continue down this path it will lead to our ruin.
Do you want cruise tourism or Seven Mile – that should be the question.
to 5.51 I want cruise tourism AND Seven Mile Beach.
I’m voting yes just to piss off the self righteous CPR people.
u dumb af
These are serious matters, and shouldn’t be a source of childish games. Grow up.
ah yes, that’s working so well for the republicans of lower intelligence in the US. You do you :d
The convicted criminals who are championing this port are all the information I need to vote no. The desperation, greed and self interest is almost tangible.
to Anon 9.43 Don’t forget the convicted criminal who is part of CPR leaders. You are choosing to ignore them?
Vote NO for Cayman, and YES for the personal profits of a few!
I agree, YES for the tenders! And screw the small Caymanian businesses depending on cruise business!
I watched it live on YouTube, but if you didn’t, it starts on page 6 ⤵️
https://parliament.ky/wp-content/uploads/2025/04/OHR-3rd-February-2025.pdf
Voters have more than enough information.
They know Kenneth Bryan is in favour.
So they know the right thing to do is vote no.
5.51 You’re talking about environmental damage from a plan that does not exist.Since there are no plans at present what are you really basing your opinion on?
@ 12.41 That sort of thinking is what has Cayman with less than efficient Admin. It is going to be repeated during this election cycle because some media and some individuals are promoting ‘Anyone other than PPM’. Then when ‘anyone’ turns out to be unsuited for the job, these same people refuse to take any blame.
Only in Cayman can building a dock be this complicated. Thank God we aren’t trying to build a bridge or some other form of basic first world structure.
Exactly, can you imagine if Cayman wanted to upgrade its international airport just after the gUvment spent over $55 million on it less than a decade ago?
Shocking …
I voting yes. Time to revive downtown and good for business and people.
Thank you
Really?
LMAO, dream on!
how is a cruise port going to revive downtown when the passengers still getting off to see kfc, diamond shops and ghetto ass stores? no representation of culture and no care in the world for hogsty bay… they need to actually revive town and make it a place worth going to during the day and at night. when thats accomplished and functional then we can have a discussion otherwise you are voting yes on something thats useless. being on the cruise ship offers more amenities worth it than our sad excuse for a downtown. sad.
Whether you are Caymanian or not, I feel very sorry for you and your profound ignorance of the debate going on. From a very concerned Caymanian.
We should all possess ample first person conditioning to know that the only responsible answer is “no” to all of these questions until there is a competent government that can formulate an actionable proposal, and rollout. Fast and loose should always = NO.
“If you Don’t Know – VOTE NO.”
We don’t know – the plans.
We don’t know – the costs.
We don’t know – the ownership.
“If you Don’t Know – VOTE N0.”
Given that the cruise project is being championed by Kenneth Bryan and Elio Solomon … that’s all I need to know. I don’t trust either of them.
I can’t quite understand what is the big deal about the yes and no vote for the port/cruise questions. they are only asking if we are in favor of having a port cruise or not. it’s a simple question, you don’t need to have a whole lot information for that, just vote how ever you want in favor or not in favor of the cruise port.
We have a cruise port already and that is not what they are asking. You are a victim of misinformation and that is the point. Am I in favour of a properly managed cruise port? Yes. Am I in favour of a cruise port that will potentially ruin Cayman and put the country in debt for decades? No.
PPM=promoting piers mistake.
Do not vote ppm
A vote for any ppm member is a vote for country destruction
Brackers better smarten up and vote Juju out
its pretty ridiculous this question is even being posed to the general public with no information about it. How can voters, even if they want the port, make an informed vote? This question should be removed from the election.
NO. It should not. Voters are being asked yes or no. If yes prevails (God forbid) we can go from there. If no prevails, then the people in charge will say “it wasn’t binding”, but we will know them by their fruit.
The MP woman beater from West Bay is already on record with what he thinks about a ‘No’ vote.
Yet still has not fixed the WB Public Dock, for his own constituents.
Tells you what he thinks of his own electorate
Vote No!!
Who are you to tell me how I should vote?
He’s giving you advice and encouragement. Up to you whether or not you accept it.
Chill man.
Your crooked politicians do it every day. And you seem fine with that. Chill.
Again
This is not an accident or a coincidence – it is by design, the pro berthing faction saw the public response in 2019 and they have shifted to this position because they have no interest in defending an actual proposal. When they have to actually present a proposal to Cayman they managed to get more people to sign a petition to force a vote than voted for the PPM in that election.
Everyone is aware that there are no details or proposals on the table – the questions we should be focused on are why are the pro berthing groups so terrified of presenting their proposals and why should anyone trust politicians with a blank cheque when at every instance public projects are never delivered on time, always go millions overbudget and almost never deliver the services that were claimed.
That is because they have to use their personal group of companies and contractors to get a piece of the cut. If these projects were handled by the Dart Group, we would have more faith in the sitting and incoming government.
Use the Dart Group for these projects. We already have a solid experience in what they can offer. We just have to look at all of Camana Bay !
Helllll no. GTFOHWTBS.
Should have been two “O”s, but yes. I agree completely with your assessment.
Me again. It occurs to me that you were acronyming (yes, that’s a word) ‘outa here’, rather than ‘out of here’, in which case, you didn’t need the second “O”.
I know. Too much time on my hands.
I vote yes for a cruise berthing facility in the North Sound
I vote no for a cruise berthing facility in George Town.
Yeah, this is EXACTLY why the pro berthing politicians have included the question on the ballot in the manner that they have. The question of whether the Cayman Islands should pursue cruise berthing facilities provides ZERO information on where, how much it will cost, how it will be funded, etc. They are intentionally being ambiguous so people will simply answer “Yes”, which could mean “Yes, I believe we should if we can afford it” or “Yes, I believe we should if there is no negative impact on the environment”. People, don’t be fooled! If they can’t show the people (who will eventually pay for it and will have to live the consequences of it forever) the details and cost, then vote “NO”!
Idiot – NEVER in North Sound (and GT)…..
Big cruise ships need a 40ft depth in a very wide channel. Most of the Sound is about 10ft deep. The dredging would destroy the entire reef, kill off Stingray Sandbar and render Rum Point and Bioluminescent Bay dead zones.
Not a very good idea.And that’s before you get to where the piers would actually be built.
If Heather can dredge it with Wayne’s blessing, so can I.
Good, keep speaking up!
PPM leaders told you all that anyone needs to know. Stop always trying to stir up trouble. Once PPM are in power and they start the wonderful cruise pier all will be booming again. Have faith and everything will be OK. Vote strait PPM.
F*ck the PPM straight across the board.
Stop babbling, shows your ignorance.
It’s not that we don’t have ENOUGH info, we don’t have ANY info! The pro-cruise berthing lobby haven’t put forward a plan as to how the berthing piers would be constructed, no information on how much the project would cost, no information on who would build it and how long it would take, no figures on the proposed increase in cruise ship passengers that would result from building cruise piers, no environmental impact study, and no plan for how the country would pay for it. Nothing. Their new campaign of plastering “Vote Yes” banners all over town is disingenuous at best, and at worse it’s an outright lie. The signs say “Save Cruise Tourism”. Save it from what exactly? The ships that come here currently will continue to come with or without piers, so what exactly needs saving? We as voters need to ask ourselves if we should really vote “Yes” for something that we have absolutely no information on, that is being proposed to us by people that appear to be lying to us that our cruise industry needs “saving”.
I have more than enough information.
Easy Vote – NO we don’t need cruise ship docks. NO we don’t need more cruise ship tourists. NO we don’t need to keep lining the pockets of the few while the environment suffers irreversible damage.
We have a responsibility to the future generations to make long term responsible choices and not instant gratification choices that result in long term suffering.
Just vote NO.
Yet some will still blindly vote YES YES YES!! The only Party pushing this nonsense of a cruise Port is the PPM. If Cayman somehow manages to vote them in, im going to laugh at anyone i hear crying in 2-3 years, anyone homeless in 2-3 years, anyone cant get a job in 2-3, anyone complaining about new status and PR grants, anyone complaining about Traffic etc etc. This Party has had the longest reign in modern day Cayman and a massive portion of the blame on the failings of this country rest solely at their feet.
PS!
I won’t laugh. Not me, but I will remind them of this time, where they had — for a brief moment — an opportunity to express their wishes. 25,000 electors, more or less, to decide the fate of a 100,000 nation. Choose wisely. Think of those dastardly folk who keep continually cropping up, but always do the nation no good.
It’s not just PPM…McKeeva’s UPM/CDP trolls are running as “Independents”, but they are his puppets, and mesh with his unchanged support apparatus in civil service and judiciary.
An upgrade to the cargo port is essential, but we don’t want no stinking mega cruise ships!
If we ban cruise tourism instead of catering to it, do we actually need any upgrades to facilitate cargo if they can use the existing facilities full-time?
Exactly
If we gave all the cry babies that claim to be losing money, a million each to shut up and go away it would be far cheaper.