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MONDAY, AUGUST 25, 2025
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$200m Exuma resort plan slammed as ‘catastrophic’ for environment By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net A LOCAL environmental advocate has denounced the government’s approval of the $200m Rosewood Exuma development on Sampson Cay as a “catastrophic” blow to the island’s fragile ecosystem. Joseph Darville, chairman of Save the Bays and Waterkeepers Bahamas, described the decision to permit activities such as dredging for a marina as “sacrilegious” and warned that the ecological damage could be irreversible. Speaking to Tribune Business, Mr Darville said no level of approval can justify the environmental cost and criticised the notion that economic benefits and job creation
should override environmental protection. “It’s really sad, really sad. As an environmentalist, it aches my heart that incredible biodiverse area could be so easily given away to be systematically destroyed. The area exemplifies everything that is so beautiful about under the water, and for them to do any harm to that area, it is catastrophic. It is sacrilegious. It should never be allowed to be done,” said Mr Darville. “I don’t care what permission they have been given. There is no way that anything that they intend to do in that area for development is not going to be catastrophic for that beauty, and we’re going to regret it, because that’s something that we should pass on unblemished to future generations.”
While acknowledging the importance of job creation—especially in remote Family Islands—Mr. Darville argued that Bahamians should not have to choose between employment and environmental preservation. He suggested that sustainable environmental preservation could generate significant economic benefits and criticised allowing foreign investors to be permitted to damage the environment in order to enrich themselves and provide locals a “couple little jobs”. “Off course, it is concerning that we have to have employment for our people. But this is just some greedy people who want to make a whole lot of money and are coming in and destroying our environment in order to enrich themselves, to foreigners
A TAXI and tour operator argued that taxi drivers must provide better service while defending livery drivers’ right to earn a living as well. Following the ongoing dispute between rivals within the transport industry, Cheryl Cambridge, owner of Cheryl’s Bahamas Taxi & Tours which operates across the board providing taxi, livery and tour services, backed livery drivers saying taxi drivers should not think they are the only ones with mouths to feed. Tyrone Butler, president of the Bahamas Taxicab Union (BTCU) has been vocal about his disapproval
of livery drivers operating in spaces reserved for taxis. He has parted with the Bahamas National Alliance Trade Union Congress (BBNATUC) and has since joined the Trade Union Congress (TUC) headed by Obie Ferguson KC, in the hopes that BTCU will see changes in their favor. Mr Butler has argued that “the law does not provide for a livery franchise to be operating in the same space as a taxi driver” and has accused the government of “favoring” livery drivers by allowing them to do so. He has also called out hotel properties for doing the same. Ms Cambridge, however, said taxi operators cannot dictate to property owners who they allow to service their guests. She also
LIVERY - See Page B3
CPC eyes vendor verification system to boost consumer confidence By FAY SIMMONS Tribune Business Reporter jsimmons@tribunemedia.net SENATOR Randy Rolle, Chairman of the Consumer Protection Commission (CPC), says the agency is exploring the introduction of a vendor verification system aimed at strengthening consumer confidence and ensuring safer transactions, particularly for tourists and online shoppers. Speaking to Tribune Business, Mr Rolle explained the proposed system would allow both
SENATOR RANDY ROLLE locals and visitors to verify vendors based on their business history and track record. “We’re looking at some policies that we can
VENDOR - See Page B2
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Poachers top concern for fishing industry By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net JOSEPH DARVILLE and, of course, passing a couple little jobs to Bahamians,” said Mr Darville. “We could utilize that same area to create preserving of the environment, and get our people involved in all of this area. And we could make an abundance of money. “We’ve got to establish the fact that we are adamant about preserving the magnificent beauty and that area you cannot restore that. We’re going to pass on a damaged country by allowing foreigners come in and dictate to us what they want to do, and for a proverbial pot of porridge, we give them permission to destroy our own heritage.” The $200m Rosewood Exuma development on Sampson Cay was granted
EXUMA - See Page B3
‘Livery drivers also have mouths to feed’ By ANNELIA NIXON Tribune Business Reporter anixon@tribunemedia.net
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FISHERMEN were “spared” with the passing of Hurricane Erin, and poachers remain top concerns for the industry, says Keith Carroll, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) president. Reporting that boats that have come in thus far have yielded less than satisfactory volumes for the crawfish season, which opened August 1, Mr Carroll, said poachers have been spotted and reported to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force. “I could say some of the boats [that] come in, they haven’t done as good as last season, but they still did pretty good,” Mr Carroll said. “They see signs of poaching. They saw some boats out there while they was out there. I know they saw poachers, because we got reports from them where they saw them, and we called the Defence Force, but still nothing happen. I don’t know what to say, but the poaching is still there. It ain’t like how it was, but it’s still there.
“People will come and take their chances. It’s up to us to have, you know, Defence Force out there patrolling. And they have to be there 24/7 because these guys only want a chance to get in. If they can get in and fish [for] couple hours, that’s all they need... They travel couple hundred miles to get here, at least 300. And they’ll stay in the old Bahama channel for days and days, looking for opportunities to come in to fish for couple hours and go back out if they have to. And they do that for months until they get enough fish to go home with. We need the Defence Force to be out there at all times. When one boat leave another one got to be there.” While Mr Carroll attributes lower crawfish volumes to an uptick in poaching, he told Tribune Business that fisherman were spared from what could have been a disastrous impact from Hurricane Erin which threatened the southeastern Bahamas with tropical storm conditions. “I hope we can continue, getting past this hurricane
FISHING - See Page B2