A local environment group – Earthcare - is in talks with international partners about a potential boycott of Hilton Hotels to bring more pressure to bear on the Bimini Bay Resort and Casino, long accused of environmental infractions, The Bahama Journal has learnt.
The resort earlier this year secured Hilton’s brand for the property.
The move is the latest strategy that critics are using to halt the environmental degradation of mangroves that is allegedly happening with the resort’s construction.
But the developers dismissed the criticisms and suggested they were acting well within their rights and breaking no environmental laws.
According to Paula Palmer, executive director of Global Response, an environmental action and education network, over the past several months letters have been written to Prime Minister Perry Christie and the Hilton Hotel, urging them to withdraw their support.
"What the next step is in the campaign, I do not know but I think the Hilton should be aware that many people are concerned about this and expect them to live up to the environmental standards it claims to apply to such things," said Ms Palmer during an interview with the Bahama Journal yesterday.
In an email, Global Response invited the International EcoTourism Society (TIES) to join the proposed boycott should it happen.
However, an Earthcare spokesman refused to comment on the issue "at this time."
Meantime, Ms Palmer explained that Global Response would participate in the boycott by informing its members through an email flier that would be circulated.
According to its website, Global Response is recognized for organizing very effective letter writing campaigns to help communities stop environmental destruction.
The proposed boycott is also been supported by Tourism Concern, which aims to reduce social and environmental problems connected to tourism.
According to the London-based organization, mangroves have already been bulldozed, water supplies are being diverted to the development, resulting in irregular domestic supply and a gate has been erected denying locals access to five miles of the seven-mile long island.
"Phase one of the development has already destroyed large areas of the coastline," said Guyonne James of Tourism Concern.
"In the past few days alone, they have removed hundreds of yards of mangroves from the shoreline."
A spokesman for Tourism Concern added that the development, if completed, would damage fragile habitats.
The spokesman stressed that Bimini’s lagoons and seagrass beds provide nursery and feeding grounds for reef fish and commercially important species, as well as nesting areas for turtles.
A letter posted on the Earth Action Network several years ago strongly urged Prime Minister Perry Christie to halt construction at Phase I and immediately implement the Bimini Marine Protected Area.
In an interview with The Bahama Journal from his office in Bimini, President of the Family Island project, Rafael Reyes has explained that Global Response is simply one of many environmental organizations that acts as part of the campaign created by longtime resident Samuel Grubber to protect his business interest on the island.
According to Mr. Reyes, Mr. Grubber, who has been living on the island for the past 10 to 15 years, has a shark study research, which primarily takes place in the Bimini Bay area.
What happens is that a letter is sent to Global Response, requesting other people to respond on their behalf," Mr. Reyes explained.
"Alot of these people from different organizations have no clue what’s happening in Bimini and probably had to look on a map to find out where it was located. Basically, they’re just going on the premise that what ever environmental issues that are stated are correct, without any type of knowledge of what is taking place."
In the end, Mr. Reyes labeled the proposed boycott as nothing more than a smear campaign.
"I think it’s shameful they put The Bahamas and people of the Bahamas in such a poor light after they are so diligent and respectful of the environment," he said.
“There is really nothing much we can do about the planned boycott. We live in a democratic society where people have the right to free speech. We have to sit here and take the abuse."
Part of the conference call, Gerardo Capo, Chairman of the Board, of The Capo Group, owners of the hotel added: "It is very painful democracy allows people to do certain things. But actually this has been happening for the past several years."
"I have better things to do. We always feel that we are doing things properly. We have our approvals. We are doing things that no other developer has been doing in the country and we are going to be doing other things that no one else has done," he said.
"We abide by the law. When I came to Bimini, I fell in love with the environment. Why am I going to invest time money and effort into destroying what really brought me here."
The government signed a revised heads of agreement with the project's developers last year.
The original agreement for the resort project called for 930 rooms, 3,200 condos and 611 family houses, but was scaled down by half in the revised agreement.
Some Bimini residents have however maintained that even the revised project is too big for Bimini, and that dredging for the project has already destroyed much of the island's mangroves.
Macushla N. Pinder
