Tag: Stingray City
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 […]
Boat operators get break on WIZ fees for 2022
(CNS): The government is giving watersports operators a break on expired Wildlife Interaction Zone (WIZ) permit fees this year for all those who apply to renew their licence before 31 July 2022. The aim is to support the economic recovery of operators impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, and around 270 boats will be given the […]
MoT boosts budget to feed stingrays
(CNS): Licensed Wildlife Interactive Zone (WIZ) watersports tour operators can continue to run regular trips to the Sandbar over the next few months as the tourism ministry has confirmed that it will continue to fund the initiative to feed the stingrays there until June. It has also increased the budget so the boat owners can […]
Captains to feed decreasing stingrays
(CNS): The tourism ministry and local watersports operators have come together to launch a non-profit Stingray Feeding and Interaction Programme (SFIP) to help stem the declining population at Cayman’s most important tourism attraction. A survey last month by the Guy Harvey Foundation confirmed fears that the number of rays gathering at the Sandbar was falling […]
Starfish and Rum Points still off limits
(CNS): Changes to the Prevention, Control and Suppression of COVID-19 regulations relating to travel and boating came into effect on Friday, making travel between the Cayman Islands easier and partially opening up Stingray City. But the popular weekend spots, Rum Point and Starfish Point, remain off limits to all boats. Air travel is now allowed […]
DoE still watching out for stingrays
(CNS): The Department of Environment has continued to watch out for the stingrays over the last two months since tourist trips to the Sandbar stopped. Staff from the DoE check on the rays, offering them a little human interaction and supplementing their diet. Until the marine restrictions are lifted and people can go back to […]
DoE watching out for the stingrays
(CNS): Following concerns in the community about Stingray City, the Department of Environment has said that its marine conservation officers are making sure the star attractions there are doing OK and getting the food they need. With no tourists going to the Sand Bar to feed them, the DoE said that the rays will revert […]
Minister freezes licences for Stingray City
(CNS): Environment Minister Dwayne Seymour has announced a freeze on licences given to commercial operators selling trips to the Sandbar and Stingray City because of the overcrowding. Tourism Minister Moses Kirkconnell has flagged this issue several times recently but it was Seymour who told the Legislative Assembly on Thursday that constraints on the Department of […]
Stingray injured by boat at sandbar
(CNS): Just a week after one local watersports owner warned of the dangers presented by overcrowding at Stingray City, the Department of Environment confirmed that a ray was recently hit and injured by a boat there. The department also posted on its social media pages what is believed to be a very recent picture of […]
Coastguard to manage Stingray City
(CNS): The Cayman Islands Coast Guard has been given the remit to patrol and manage Stingray City to try and address the overcrowding as well as growing reports about the anti-social and sometimes criminal behaviour of boaters and operators at Cayman’s number one tourist attraction.
127 rays counted, with more on the way
(CNS): A team from the Guy Harvey Ocean Foundation conducted the biannual Southern stingray census at four sites in Grand Cayman last month. While 127 stingrays were counted and analyed during the weekend, the researchers also found that half of the mature female stingrays were pregnant. Details of each ray, such as its size (or “disc […]
