Billionaire boater has been accused of destroying reef

by Cayman News and Stef Bottinelli on 31 Jan 2016 An anchor chain on the 300-foot mega-yacht, the MV Tatoosh, owned by billionaire Paul Allen, has destroyed almost 14,000 sq.ft of reef in the West Bay replenishment zone, the Department of Environment confirmed following a survey of the area. DoE officials said more than 80% of the coral in the area has been damaged by the luxury boat’s chain. Local divers conducted an in-water survey of the coral reef damage last week and the DoE expects to publish the detail findings next week.

Early findings already indicate extensive damage and investigations into the circumstances of the incident are ongoing, with the assistance of staff aboard the Microsoft billionaire’s superyacht, which was anchored close to the Doc Poulson wreck and The Knife dive site, officials said.

“In addition to assessing the damage and determining the cause of this incident, we are also paying close attention to lessons learned so that we can more effectively prevent these accidents while still hosting visiting yachts,” a spokesperson for the DoE said.

However, while staff may be assisting and cooperating with the DoE enquiry, a statement released by Allen’s communication team shows the billionaire is not taking responsibility and implicated the Port Authority, saying the crew followed officials’ instructions on where to place the vessel. Shifting winds reportedly changed the position, pushing the ship toward the reserve but it was relocated to avoid damage.

Any vessel that causes damage to local reefs can be fined. However, despite a number of incidents of reef damage over the last few years by both cruise ships and luxury yachts, the government has failed to collect on sanctions. Carnival Cruise Line made a one-off donation last year after one of its cruise ships damaged a significant area in the George Town Harbour in 2014, but the cruise line was never fined.

There were no fines or donations from Pullmantur cruise lines either when its ship, The Zenith, destroyed a significant area of reef when it was anchored in a legitimate but a less used anchor zone in December.

Microsoft’s Paul Allen’s yacht wrecks coral reef in the Caribbean

The Department of Environment has accused the Microsoft co-founder of having caused serious damage to the protected coral reef in the West Bay replenishing zone.

Following an inspection by local divers to assess the damage, officials have found that Allen’s 300 ft yacht MV Tatoosh wrecked a high percentage of the coral, which is essential for marine’s life.

It is thought that the accident was caused by a yacht’s chain when it was anchored by the Doc Poulson shipwreck and The Knife dive site.

The Cayman Islands Department of Environment are currently surveying the area thoroughly and are planning to release the findings next week.

One of the environmental body’s spokesperson said in an interview with the Cayman News Service: “In addition to assessing the damage and determining the cause of this incident, we are also paying close attention to lessons learned so that we can more effectively prevent these accidents while still hosting visiting yachts”.

Paul Allen’s camp is blaming the Port Authority for the damage, claiming that they followed instructions when mooring the superyacht.

It’s unclear whether the 63-year-old billionaire was aboard of the vessel, or when the incident happened, but if Allen is found guilty he could incur a heavy fine.

https://caymannewsservice.com/2016/01/billionaire-boater-destroys-wb-reef/?utm_source=fark&utm_medium=website&utm_content=link

http://www.ybw.com/news-from-yachting-boating-world/microsofts-paul-allens-yacht-wrecks-coral-reef-in-the-caribbean-16759