An aquatic breeding ground once teeming with marine life that provided food and much-needed cash in a diminished economy, is now barren due to dredging at nearby Kamalame Cay, according to several local fishermen interviewed by The Nassau Guardian.
The creek, which is located between a 3-mile stretch of mainland and Long Bay – on which the Kamalame Cay resort sits just outside environmentally protected mangroves – had no visible signs of life when The Guardian touched down on Andros last week.
It’s a scenario that was vastly different before the huge excavation machine that The Guardian photographed sitting on the cay began widening the channel to accommodate large yachts late last year, according to the fishermen, resort employees and guests of the resort.
But Kamalame Cay owner Brian Hew told The Guardian that while he has been attempting to widen the channel to the creek, with a view to dredge a planned yacht basin in order to expand the dock into a marina over the next few months, he has not damaged the local environment and has worked to improve conditions in the creek, which was essentially a ‘mud hole’ when he arrived in Andros in the early 1990s.
Some residents, who appeared to be acutely aware of the possible environmental impact, were incensed and voiced their frustration.
‘The conchs, the lobsters and all of the other (marine life) that used to be here in this creek are now gone,’ said Ken Marshall, a local fisherman and boat captain, who has been navigating the tranquil, once-azure waters since he was a child. ‘This dredging is destroying this creek. Some of the local guys depend on fishing as their main source of life.
‘You don’t see the bonefish that used to be around here, which guests spend millions of dollars each year to come to The Bahamas to fish for. They’re not here like they used to be. This creek used to be used as the main breeding ground for marine life. And they’re trying to turn it into a marina to help Kamalame Cay, which I don’t agree with.’
Bruce Kemp, an area fisherman and an auto-body repairman said he has been voicing his concerns about the dredging but they have fallen on deaf ears.
‘Right now as we speak, you can go for maybe two or three miles into the ocean and the whiteness just covers the whole area,’ he said. ‘That’s why I ask the question: Are we really serious about conservation or do we have double standards here whereby the natives are told one thing but we can see something like this happening here? Is that what we’re about?’
Prescott Smith, a bonefish lodge operator, who said he has repeatedly raised environmental concerns about development in Andros, said the damage done to the creek is almost irreparable.
‘This particular dredging is having a devastating effect on the whole ecosystem. I remember as a child, you would have 100 – maybe 200 – people lining off catching snappers on certain days. This particular area is the main breeding ground. The whole bottom is where you find all of the baby lobsters, the conchs, etc. And the entire thing has been excavated. It seems that you hear all this environmental talk but when it comes to the special interests we are so easy to throw that on the side,’ he said.
‘All you hear is this talk about the ecosystem. But it never includes the local people. I’ve brought these issues to them for many, many years. But what I see them pay attention to is their cronies and the special interests, to the detriment of the environment and the local people.’
