Tag: Department of Environment
Sargassum removal trial planned in North Sound
(CNS): There is no easy way of addressing the major influx of sargassum into the North Sound, Premier Wayne Panton said Thursday. Nevertheless, resources have been mobilised for a trial to pump out the invasive seaweed and reduce the impact it is having on the marine life and businesses operating in and around the area.
CCMI to explore 12-Mile Bank and Pickle Bank
(CNS): The Little Cayman-based Central Caribbean Marine Institute has received a grant and a donation totalling more than CI$1 million, which will be used to explore two well-known seamounts (submerged islands) near the Cayman Islands. Collaborating with the Department of Environment, the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation and the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, CCMI researchers will […]
DoE officer rescues green turtle from poachers
(CNS): Attempts by poachers on Grand Cayman to take a nesting green turtle were prevented at the weekend when Department of Environment Conservation Officer Chadd Bush found the animal trussed up on Saturday night. The turtle was flipped on her back with her flippers tied with rope.
Nesting loggerhead lost to poachers on Brac
(CNS): Poachers on Cayman Brac caught one of the very few loggerhead turtles that nest on that island as she crawled up the beach to lay her eggs Wednesday night, the Department of Environment has said. DoE enforcement officers and the police followed up on the report early Thursday morning but with no success. Loggerhead […]
Sargassum presents challenge for environment and tourism
(CNS): An unprecedented amount of Sargassum that invaded the North Sound on Saturday is presenting a significant challenge for the Cayman Islands as the country tries to rebuild its tourism business two and a half years after the COVID-19 pandemic closed its borders. However, it is also a major environmental threat. Staff from the Department […]
Bird sanctuary gets reprieve from development threat
(CNS): A planning application for seven apartments adjacent to the Governor Michael Gore Bird Sanctuary has been refused, but not because of the threat it posed to the wildlife in the area, named for the aviphilic governor who died a few weeks ago. The Central Planning Authority turned down the application by Fabian Whorms (not […]
Plan proposed to protect nesting seabirds
(CNS): The National Conservation Council has issued a draft Seabird Conservation Plan for public consultation to protect six of Cayman’s vanishing colonial nesting seabirds. Department of Environment (DoE) Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie has warned that some of the Cayman Islands’ most recognisable birds could be lost due to habitat loss, coastal development and invasive species unless […]
Road plan poses further threat to pristine habitat
(CNS): The National Conservation Council has confirmed that the extension of a farm road in North Side will need an environmental impact assessment as the proposed route would take it through some of Cayman’s most pristine remaining forest land. Flying in the face of the PACT Government’s policy of limiting development in untouched habitat, the […]
People suggest 45 locations for conservation
(CNS): The recent solicitation by the National Conservation Council for nominations from the public for places that could become protected areas has closed after dozens of people nominated more than 45 potential sites. Speaking at the NCC’s general meeting Wednesday, John Bothwell from the Department of the Environment, which oversaw the consultation on behalf of […]
Feral cat issue settled, control project restarts
(CNS): Feral cat control has resumed in Little Cayman after an agreement between the Cayman Islands Government and two local animal welfare non-profit organisations, Feline Friends and the Cayman Islands Humane Society, which had challenged the programme in the courts. The NPOs managed to stop the control project for several years, placing threatened native and […]
Jackson argues DoE had no authority to direct CPA
(CNS): Local attorney Sammy Jackson, a planning law expert who regularly successfully advocates on behalf of developers before the Central Planning Authority, represented the CPA in court on Wednesday. Jackson argued that the Department of Environment had no authority to tell the board to refuse planning permission for a structure and seawall on Boggy Sand […]
