The Bahamas/St. Maarten: --- Well-known businessman Samir Andrawos is making headlines in the Bahamas while the activists and environmentalists on that island have been working overtime to stop Andrawos from constructing a dolphinarium on their island. A group called reEarth penned a letter on June 14th, 2013 to the Prime Minister of Bahamas Perry Gladstone Christie outlining their concerns about the unregulated development taking place at Blackbeard's Cay (Balmoral Island). In the letter to Prime Minister Christie, the activists are asking that the development of the intended dolphin facility be stopped immediately.
reEarth stated in their letter which will be posted below this article that they conducted research which showed that the laws and channels that have to be followed were circumvented, they specified that the planning and subventions act, marine and mammal protection regulations, animal protection and control act as well as the port authority act have been breached by the developers. reEarth outlined all the breaches in their letter to the Prime Minister. They also indicated that no public meetings were held so the citizens of the Bahamas were not heard regarding the development and construction of a dolphin facility in their country. An activist from reEarth told SMN News that they already have three dolphinariums in the Bahamas and developers are talking about constructing two more. reEarth activist explained to SMN News that reEarth started a petition online and in the Bahamas. reEarth also has a Facebook page condemning the development currently taking place at Blackbeard's Cay involving Samir Andrawos. SMN News learnt that the businessman teamed up with a politician on St. Maarten whose intention is to divert cruise lines to the Bahamas if he does not get back into public office.
St. Maarten was faced with the same situations in 2005 when Dolphin Discovery was keen in constructing a dolphin facility at the A.C. Wathey Cruise facility but the environmentalists on St. Maarten fought head on with government. The environmental and animal foundations held a protest in August 2005 while they also had a petition drive to stop the construction of a dolphin facility on St. Maarten. The tie breaker that assisted those that were not in favor of caging dolphins was an article in the law of the former Netherlands Antilles that only allowed one Dolphinarium in the Netherlands Antilles. At the time Curacao had already attached a dolphinarium to their Sea Aquarium Resort, therefore it was not possible to have one constructed on St. Maarten. Animal lovers and environmentalists on St. Maarten said they are keeping their eyes wide open to see if certain politicians that were behind the construction of a dolphinarium will bring back the idea now that St. Maarten is a country within the Kingdom. It should be noted that certain cruise lines are supporting Andrawos and the politicians that are affiliated with the project.
On June 12th, 2013, the Executive Council in Anguilla had a tie vote in order to shut down the Dolphin Discovery on that island. The Attorney General on Anguilla barred honorable Evan Gumbs from voting on the Dolphin Discovery motion. Ministers Edison Baird who opposed the existence of the Dolphin Discovery was allowed to vote which gave the Governor the edge to close down the facility.
Andrawos is a well-known businessman on St. Maarten who is known for breaking government regulations in order to achieve his goals. One such goal is the construction of the three-storey building in Cay Hill called the BOX which is under the company Orista N.V. Andrawos constructed a third floor on that building which was in violation of the building permit at the time. The court ordered Andrawos to break the third floor down but his connections to politicians led the shrewd businessman to have the Prime Minister's son negotiate the sale of his buildings with the former Minister of Justice in order to construct several justice facilities. That project (the justice park) was put aside by the CFT. The Parliament of St. Maarten also posed several questions about the one hundred million dollar project. It is now left to be seen if construction of the justice park will take place now that the Government of St. Maarten recently changed and a new Minister of Justice was appointed.