How your holiday can help the Bahamas bounce back

In the wake of Hurricane Dorian, your holiday to the Bahamas is more important than ever CREDIT: GETTY

By  Susan Veness  and Simon Veness

Frederick Lightbourn, the proud owner of Nassau’s Poop Deck restaurant, approached us as we finished a delicious plateful of conch fritters and rice and peas, anxious to know if everything had been to our satisfaction.

“We take great pride in serving the freshest seafood,” he insisted. 

“It’s a lot easier – and cheaper – to serve imported fish these days, but I want people to get the real thing. I come from this beautiful country, and it’s a great place to have grown up, so I want everyone to have a little taste of our island. I promise you the best meal you can have in this country.”

For Frederick, proprietor of our pink-hued seafront lunch spot overlooking Delaport Bay on the northern shore of New Providence, local flavour and authenticity is a genuine concern. And, as it turned out, it’s a familiar refrain.  Read more >>

Global Ports Holding assumes Nassau cruise port management

By Natario McKenzie

Take-over marks official start of 25-year lease agreement for $250 million revitalization.

NASSAU, BAHAMAS- Construction on the new Nassau Cruise port is slated to begin by January 2020, according to operator Global Ports Holding (GPH), who underscored Nassau was primed to benefit from significant global and regional cruise tourism boom.

GPH assumed management of Prince George Wharf last Wednesday, and in a recent advertisement, forecast destinations like Freeport will soon be transformed by port management deals with cruise liners.

The company has reportedly received more than 250 job applications for openings publicized through local newspapers, Facebook, LinkedIn, and its website.  Read more >>

U-M ecologist awarded 2019 Packard Fellowship to study sustainable coastal fisheries in Bahamas, Haiti

ANN ARBOR—University of Michigan marine ecologist Jacob Allgeier is among 22 early career scientists and engineers named today as 2019 recipients of the Packard Fellowships for Science and Engineering by the David and Lucile Packard Foundation.

The fellows will each receive $875,000 over five years to pursue their research.

Allgeier uses artificial reefs, mathematical modeling and community-based conservation programs to understand how an unlikely but renewable source of fertilizer—fish excretion—can be used to stimulate fish production and improve food security in tropical ecosystems.

Over the past decade, Allgeier has glued together thousands of cinder blocks to create 38 artificial reefs in a shallow bay on Abaco Island in the northern Bahamas. He will use some of the Packard Foundation funding to radio-track about 500 fish living on those reefs to learn more about their feeding behavior.  Read more >>

More help coming for The Bahamas

The CB Facey Foundation has answered the call of Jamaica's itelbpo's 4Ys Foundation, contributing US$15,000 to support communities ravaged by Hurricane Dorian in The Bahamas.

The Category 5 storm came ashore the Abaco Islands and Grand Bahama with winds up to 185 mph, causing catastrophic damage, loss of life and leaving at least 70,000 homeless -- making it one of The Bahamas' most destructive hurricanes in history.  Read more >>

LGBTI group unveils Pride 2020 dates

NASSAU, BAHAMAS – The country’s first official Pride events are slated for October 5-12, 2020.

The dates were announced in a Facebook post by the steering committee Pride Bahamas on Sunday.

The committee was formed by the Bahamas Organisation of LGBTI Affairs and community allies, and events will be staged under the theme “The Rebirth of Pride Bahamas Centering LGBTIQA People in The Bahamas’ Future”.

“Pride Bahamas was re-conceptualized in 2018 as an effort to bolster LGBT advocacy efforts in the Bahamas and to provide in a platform where LGBT Bahamians, their friends, families and allies can come together and show that they are indeed real people, born and raised or otherwise citizens of the Bahamas, who have a place in society like everyone else,” read Sunday’s statement.  Read more >>

Congressman Brian Mast tours areas of Bahamas hit hardest by Hurricane Dorian

Congressman Brian Mast tours areas of Bahamas hit hardest by Hurricane Dorian (WPEC)

By James Torrez

TREASURE CAY, Bahamas (CBS12) — Over the weekend, Congressman Brian Mast visited Treasure Cay to see firsthand the damage left behind by Hurricane Dorian.

During a tour that last approximately two hours, Mast visited the Treasure Cay Marina, the Northern Abaco Volunteer Fire Hall and a small Haitian village where families still live, despite the destruction around them.

At the marina, boats slammed into condos and vacation homes. The downtown area is hardly recognizable for frequent guests.  Read more >>

UN Human Rights Council - Press briefing note on Bahamas

We are concerned about the deportation of 112 Haitian migrants from The Bahamas to Haiti last Thursday, including people from the Abaco Islands, which were badly hit by the destruction caused by Hurricane Dorian in September this year. We call on the Government to refrain from deporting individuals who lack documentation, without the individual assessments and due process guarantees to which they are entitled under international law.

Haitian migrants have often found themselves in positions of vulnerability in The Bahamas, as documented by UN human rights mechanisms. Many of them lived in informal settlements that were destroyed by the hurricane, losing their documents, jobs and belongings.

While Bahamian authorities had initially said immigration enforcement activities would be suspended in the affected islands, this position was publicly reversed at the end of September, when they announced that all migrants without valid documents would be apprehended and deported.

This has led to panic among Haitians affected by Hurricane Dorian, and reports are emerging of people leaving temporary shelters for fear of arrest, and of people failing to avail themselves of necessary humanitarian services or going into hiding.

There have also been deeply worrying discriminatory public declarations against Haitians, as well as messages of xenophobia and intolerance in the media. We are concerned that such narratives may lead to further stigmatisation of or violence against migrants and minorities.

In the aftermath of natural disasters, it is particularly important to ensure that the most vulnerable, marginalised communities do not suffer from discrimination in accessing their fundamental rights to food, water, shelter and other basic needs. We urge the Government to ensure that no one is left behind in the recovery efforts.

We encourage the Government to put in place procedures that facilitate access to documents for all those who had legal documents prior to Dorian – particularly those who may be either stateless or at risk of statelessness – and to ensure they have access to independent legal counsel. We call on the authorities to halt any further deportations to Haiti at the moment.  (source)