According to fishermen and workers at the dock, the harbour has been in shambles for over five years.
With broken docks, abandoned ships, and an unending litter problem, those who use the Nassau Harbour and the nearby docking facilities are fed up and are voicing strong concerns to the authorities.
“It’s been like this for years now, and I don’t mean since Hurricane Jeanne or Floyd, I mean five or six years prior to them,” said a fishing boat owner. She said the area has been in need of extensive repairs for a very long time but has been ignored by those who have responsibility for it. She emphasised that the water is always strewn with litter and that abandoned boats have been in the harbour for several years.
“This is ridiculous and what irritates me the most is that there is nowhere for people like us to park our ships,” added Roosevelt Hunt. Hunt, who is a fisherman from Eleuthera, said he has been making trips to Nassau on a regular basis for over five years now, and according to him, the harbour is worse every time he returns. “This dock is worse than those on the Family Islands. It’s a disgrace.”
He believes the littering has a lot to do with conch and fish poisoning in our waters. Dramatising his point, Hunt retrieved a motor vehicle battery from the water.
“The worse thing you can do is throw a battery into the water with acid in it,” he said.
He went on to draw other items out of the water, including water hoses, and pointed out items such as clothing, tyres and eating utensils that had been thrown into the sea.
“I depend on this water for a living. I need it to survive! If the ocean goes my life is gone,” Hunt said. “I’d like to see this cleaned up and even if the government and the private owners of the dock don’t want to, if they give me the job, I would personally dive into the water and remove every bit of dirt in this harbour.”
The docking facilities at the harbour are said to be owned by the proprietors of Brown’s Boat Basin on East Bay Street. According to fishermen and workers at the harbour, the pier amenities are extremely dangerous and pose a hazard for boaters who use harbour.
By: VIRAJ PERPALL, The Nassau Guardian
