Environmental concerns are brewing at Gold Rock Creek, the site of the Bahamas Film Studios in Grand Bahama, according to well placed sources.
Residents and owners of property in the eastern part of the High Rock constituency are reportedly worried that damage has been done to the creek by the developments undertaken by Bahamas Film Studios.
It was also claimed that the general public now has little or no access to one of the most beautiful beaches on the island and that the pier, once a popular attraction, is now inaccessible.
Bahamas Film Studios owns the large open water Collyer tank at Gold Rock Creek,
which is being used to film the ocean scenes in Pirates of the Caribbean II and III.
Peter Adderley, president of the public relations company Creative Designs, told The Tribune that he knows about and shares the concerns of residents.
Mr Adderley said he has both a personal and professional obligation to promote the island of Grand Bahama and intends to draw attention to the issue.
“In the coming days the Grand Bahama Port Authority, the MP for High Rock Kenneth Russell, the Ministry of Tourism, the BEST Commission, the Grand Bahama Chamber of Commerce and other relevant agencies will have many questions to answer.
“I intend to invite local and national media as soon as next week to view the area and see first hand what is being done to what was a gem of Grand Bahama, and to Grand Bahama generally,” he said.
Denial
However, according to Bahamas Film Studios principal Paul Quigley, the concerns expressed by locals – such as the appearance of rocks on the nearby beach – are not the result of his company’s activities.
“I have been working with the people to try and resolve some of the issues that have concerned them – conditions that were not created by us,” he said.
Mr Quigley said the residents have only recently decided to “band together” and blame the
company for certain phenomena in the area.
He explained that an environmental team from Nassau has assured him that the concerns of the local community are not the result of the work done by Bahamas Film Studios.
Mr Quigley said he is set to meet with Minister of Environment and Energy Dr Marcus Bethel on Monday, “to explain in detail exactly what our position is.”
“We have engineers in the water getting to the bottom of where the rocks are coming from that are littering the beach,” he said.
Mr Quigley said that his environmental team has explained to him that the rocks in question are rounded and smooth – suggesting that they have been thrown up from the sea.
“It has nothing to do with the tank.. If the rocks were ragged and cut there would be reason for concern, because then it could be deemed feasible that it was caused during excavation,” he said.
Mr Quigley said that according to his environmental team, the phenomenon seems to be a recurring one that has been going on for “thousands of years.”
He pointed out that the settlement of Freetown seems to have been built using such rocks.
By PACO NUNEZ, The Tribune
