Bahamas Moorings Ltd is a Bahamian-owned company recently granted a seabed lease to install moorings in the Exuma Cays.
The lease required that the company meet environmental and other conditions. When the company began to install some moorings in advance of meeting all such conditions, they were ordered to cease and desist.
The Office of the Prime Minister has since become aware that an employee of our office acted as a witness to the leasee. We are conducting an internal review of the matter.
The placement of moorings prior to the full set of approvals and the involvement of an OPM employee have raised concerns about the venture.
As a result, the Government and Bahamas Moorings Ltd have agreed not to move forward with the agreement, with Bahamas Moorings voluntarily relinquishing their leases.
Bahamas Moorings will remove any moorings already installed, at their own cost.
We are grateful for their cooperation, and for the vision they shared with the government regarding how to manage moorings in our waters in ways which are consistent with marine conservation principles.
It’s important that the Bahamian public has confidence that mooring rights are handled transparently and in a manner consistent with the national interest.
We are committed to moving forward with a process that includes broader stakeholder and public consultation, including the convening of local government officials and representatives of the marine industry, in order to formulate a new policy structure for managing seabed leases.