Cruise pier study finds suspected ‘dead reef’ very much alive
She explained that indications of a ‘dead reef’ located in Road Harbour at the location where a turning basin was expected to be done proved to be false. “After diving the area… we realised that the area was not dead but very pretty much alive,” Dr Titley-O’Neal said. In an exclusive interview with Dr Titley-O'Neal, she revealed that she found this to be one of the most surprising aspects of the study that was conducted.
The location was also identified as a transitional area for commercial fishes such as the Parrot Fish, in addition to the Queen Conch and Spiny Lobster. She related that the presence of a bristle worm was an indication that the eco-system is one that is starting to catch itself and to thrive and possesses living coral among other life forms.
It was related that the dredging was necessary because new ships scheduled to arrive at the pier will require a draft of 30 feet. Currently, she said, the water that is close to the dock is not deep enough to accommodate this.
According to Dr Titley-O’Neal, the EIA covered three major components which included the lengthening and widening of the existing cruise pier; the dredging and land reclamation of Road Harbour; and construction of a visitor’s centre. These are in addition to the direct and indirect socio-economic impacts related to the proposed development among other areas.
Regarding the social impact aspect of the study, a survey conducted revealed that most people agreed that there was a lack of green and open spaces for residents to go ahead with flying kites, having picnics, etc.
Dr Titley-O’Neal said concerns were also raised over the lack of sidewalks, the shortage of public restrooms and overcrowding of popular sites as major problems which were realised as being resultant from the influx of passengers expected with the cruise pier expansion. “Bringing in this many passengers to the Territory, the government would have to do something to build the infrastructure to accommodate these passengers,” she said.
She also noted that during the study, it was realised that the Territory’s health services may be overwhelmed in the unlikely event of a disaster that required evacuation of ships. The Department of Disaster Management (DDM) held an exercise in January called ‘Operation Tropic Hit’ which ran a simulation exercise that showed how the Territory and its emergency services would have to accommodate and deal with such an event.
Dr Titley-O’Neal explained that the need for an extension of the cruise pier arose based on data received from the Development Planning Unit (DPU), which indicated a noticeable decline in the number of cruise ship passengers to the Territory.
The Executive Director further stated, “The cruise liners have already sent out and told everybody, ‘we are bringing bigger ships to the Caribbean’, so in order to accommodate these bigger ships, we have to upgrade our infrastructure to accommodate them and there is also a need to improve the land-based activities and there is a desire by the government to have better pedestrian access within Road Town.”
The public survey, which was done for the EIA, can be accessed online by readers at: https://surveymonkey.com/s/bvipareclamation. However, the actual study is not expected to be made available until it has been completed and funnelled through all the appropriate channels.
Regarding the way forward, the next step as explained by Dr Titley-O’Neal, is the completion of an addendum which will clarify certain points raised before the document is handed to the Town and Country Planning Department for further approval within three to four weeks.
Additionally, this will be followed by the completion of a construction side to the environmental management and monitoring plan which is also expected to take up to a month’s time.
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20 Responses to “Cruise pier study finds suspected ‘dead reef’ very much alive ”
Back grown and community family we love you .
All the things we fuss about are exactly what other destination who are ahead of us
doing.
Its pretty simple "we are in tourism or we are not" makeup your minds on what you
want the country to do.
I am amaized of the crap adult people write on thses bloggs some times.
Do you really think that TCPD will monitor dredging, building, spills, silt containments and mitigation? the cruise ship dock and the immediate 4.5 acres are not the only thing involved. The reclamation in front of Maria’s, part of the 2005 plans by CH2M Hill (a mass-developer from FLA) was supposedly abandoned.
And the impacts listed do not give enough assurances to move ahead. We still can't take care of our own trash waste, and we are adding more? The dredge sediments in the harbour have not been screened for contaminants/ pollutants which will be disturbed; do we add more taxis and ferries?; do we continue to overcrowd Cane Garden Bay and the Baths?: Are we waiting for maritime accidents? Who is driving this bus anyway? The BVI is in the driver’s seat, not the cruise ship industry. Bigger ships will not fix the problem. They will only add to the many problems including water, electricity, sewage we have already. And this dock development is not the only element in the master plan for the harbour. There is not enough room for what is being planned.
If you were to the young lady's talk you would know that the dredge sediments have been screened for. What you said about adding to the many problems that was spoken about too. Too many times you all come on the blogs dont go to the meetings and just run ya mouth. Cha!!