Tag: Department of Environment
DoE calls for help tracking key predators
(CNS): A local research project tracking important local marine predators that are endangered needs the help of the public who catch or see tagged fish. The Department of Environment (DoE) is working with Marine Conservation International (MCI) to track threatened species in local waters. The project will provide information for the local management efforts for threatened […]
Dart seeks to dig up 7MB rock
(CNS): Dart Realty (Cayman) has plans to submit a coastal works application to “conduct site investigations and remove samples of beachrock” just below the high-water mark on Seven Mile Beach, the developer confirmed in a statement Wednesday. The island’s biggest landowner is proposing to take rock from a trial site north of Tiki Beach, where […]
Environment still not on CPA agenda
(CNS): The Central Planning Authority is still not giving environmental considerations equal weight when making decisions about development, despite recommendations made by the Office of the Auditor General and the impending implementation of the final part of the conservation law. The director of the Department of Environment, Gina Ebanks-Petrie, told the Public Accounts Committee last week […]
DoE and Vulcan agree deal over coral damage
(CNS): After several weeks of wrangling, the Department of Environment has been able to secure an agreement with Vulcan Inc. on behalf of billionaire Paul Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft and owner of a luxury yacht that damaged a large area of coral reef off the coast of Seven Mile Beach on 14 January. Coral restoration […]
DoE and Allen remain at odds over anchor damage
(CNS): The billionaire co-founder of Microsoft, one of the world’s richest men, is still arguing with the Department of Environment over the extent of the damage that marine experts here believe was caused by the anchor chain from his luxury 300ft yacht when it was in the Cayman Islands in January. Following the early stage […]
DoE calls for photos of Cayman’s ocean predators
(CNS): As part of an ongoing research project monitoring the shark, grouper and snapper populations around the Cayman Islands, the Department of Environment is calling on divers, snorkellers and fishermen to upload any pictures they snap of these ocean predators to Facebook and Twitter, using the hashtag #SpotThatCayFish, to help scientists in their work. The citizen […]
Allen’s company quibbles over reef damage
(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 […]
Grouper spawning reaches into classrooms
(CNS): Local and international environmental experts have begun the fourth annual Grouper Educational Programme (GEP). Organised by the Department of the Environment (DoE) and the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF), GEP is a marine sciences curriculum for Caymanian intermediate elementary, middle and high school students to teach them about the environmental significance of the species […]
Billionaire boater destroys reef
(CNS): An anchor chain on the 300-foot mega-yacht, the MV Tatoosh, owned by billionaire Paul Allen, has destroyed almost 14,000 sq.ft of reef in the West Bay replenishment zone, the Department of Environment confirmed following a survey of the area. DoE officials said more than 80% of the coral in the area has been damaged by […]
Cayman to shape policies to reduce carbon footprint
(CNS): Following the historic climate change conference in Paris, the Cayman Islands will be reviewing its own carbon footprint in 2016 in an effort to adapt to the requirements of all nations to help reduce global warming. As a low lying nation on the front line of the consequences of a warming world, the minister […]
Green iguanas up 60% in just one year
(CNS): Researchers at the Department of Environment’s terrestrial unit have said that the number of invasive green iguanas increased from around 127,000 counted in August 2014 to more than 200,000 a year later, an increase of 59.8% and equal to a doubling of the population over 18 months. Revealing the results of the latest research […]
