Publication: Weekend Nation
Paper Section And Page: 4
Paper Date: Fri, Jan 19, 2001
Byline: by Terry Ally
THE Attorney-General's office has been asked for advice on how to proceed on the apparent damage to reefs off Folkestone Marine Park by foreign pleasure vessels in recent days.
Director of the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU), Dr. Leonard Nurse,
yesterday said that the matter had been referred to the Attorney-General
Chambers and he was awaiting their advice.
One of the vessels, the Blue Leopard, sailed to Port St. Charles Marina
before Government officials arrived on the scene but the other yacht, the
Virginian, remained anchored off Heron Bay.
Nurse said that the captain had been advised not to attempt to move the
anchor.
Officials from the CZMU, the Fisheries Division and the Coast Guard, conducted more dives yesterday, interviewed the captain and photographed the damage.
The Weekend Nation understands that part of that investigation involved how
to move the anchor without further damage to the reef. The anchor apparently
has a floatation device which could lift it without dragging, but officials
were examining whether that method was a feasible option to cutting the
anchor from the boat to avoid further damage.
The Virginian is associated with Heron Bay.
It is understood that the Virginian and the Blue Leopard were anchored just
outside the boundary of the Folkestone Marine Reserve and not inside as
stated in yesterday's edition of the Daily Nation.
However, coral reefs are protected by local law whether or not they are in
the marine reserve.
Nurse said that investigations had not yet involved the Blue Leopard but
were concentrated on the Virginian.
"We are not currently looking at the Blue Leopard but I have not said that we are not going to ... We are assembling whatever information we can about whatever damage exists so that if it involves one vessel or two vessels or more vessels, we will deal with the matter in the best way we can under the law," Nurse said.
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