International conservation experts branded the controversial development known as Nygard Cay a “tragedy” for The Bahamian people, and criticized the government for giving preferential treatment to a wealthy foreign investor over the country’s own citizens.

The experts, hosted on a tour of the area by fast-growing social and environmental advocacy group Save The Bays (STB), said allowing Canadian fashion designer Peter Nygard to extend his imposing Mayan-themed project onto publicly-owned land without the necessary permits and in a manner that has caused significant environmental damage, calls into question the state of democracy in The Bahamas today.

“I’ve never seen anything quite like Nygard cay before,” said Rachael Silverstein, the Waterkeeper for Biscayne Bay, Florida. It is really a tragedy how much beautiful marine area and land that belongs to the people has been appropriated by a single individual, and for such an egregious use.”

The property, formerly known as Simm’s Point, has doubled in size since purchased by Nygard in the early 1980s through accretion of Crown land from the seabed in the absence of official permission. The construction of groynes and jetties has also blocked the vital flow of sand into Clifton Bay, an area of vital ecological importance. This, in turn, has caused the severe erosion of Jaws Beach, one of the last beaches open to the public on New Providence.

Like Silverstein, several of the visitors are senior members of the global Waterkeeper Alliance, a leading NGO that coordinates more than 200 stewards of the marine environment, or Waterkeepers, who are assigned to rivers, bays, lakes and coastal areas around the world.

Alex Matthiessen, former Hudson Bay Waterkeeper and Presidential Award winner, now CEO of the Blue Marble Project, said: “To me what is really disturbing about Nygard Cay is the precedent it sets for The Bahamas. The government is basically playing favorites. There are lots of Bahamians who would maybe like to develop their waterfront, get permission to develop Crown lands, but nine times out of 10 they get denied the right to do that.

“Here you’ve got a very wealthy foreign investor being allowed to basically destroy Bahamian habitat for his own selfish purposes. What is going on at Nygard Cay is really about the state of democracy in The Bahamas.”

Gabrielle Parent-Doliner, swim guides affiliate at Lake Ontario Waterkeeper, said The Bahamas has garnered a great deal of negative attention in her country thanks to the controversy at Nygard Cay.

“As a Canadian, I have heard a lot about Nygard – this situation has been covered in every media outlet in Canada,” she said. “Canadians have a reputation of being these environmental stewards, so this is a bit shocking.”

The issue has also caught the attention of the US press, with the New York Post reporting last week (http://bit.ly/1JHIzZd) that Nygard could face prison for contempt of court after continuing to dredge the sea floor despite several court injunctions, granted to lawyers acting for STB, which barred all further work on the property.

The matter is but one in a series of legal troubles facing the embattled designer. UK and US media are also reporting that neighbor Louis Bacon has filed a $50 million lawsuit against Nygard for defamation (http://dailym.ai/1wwa80i) in connection with unsubstantiated allegations of arson, racism, drug trafficking and even murder.

A newly released video on the conservationists’ visit to Nygard Cay is part of an ongoing series of short films covering key aspects of STB’s fight for a better Bahamas. It can be viewed on Save The Bays website, www.savethebays.bs, on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SaveTheBays, or on the organization’s YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ih55gjHvEp8. Please leave comments and share it with friends.

Founded just over a year ago, Save The Bays has taken The Bahamas by storm. The grassroots effort to protect ecologically significant areas of the archipelago from unregulated development has transformed into a broad-based coalition that is at the forefront of both social and environmental issues. The group is calling for comprehensive environmental protections, oil spill legislation, greater transparency in government and much needed ‘conchservation’ laws.

With more than 17,200 followers on Facebook, STB is the fastest growing, most popular non-profit, non-government organization in Bahamas history on social media. The group’s petition calling on the government to enact an Environmental Protection Act, a Freedom of Information Act, to stop unregulated development and to take a stance against oil pollution, is also climbing in numbers, with 6,384 signatures so far. To get involved, sign the petition or learn more, visit www.savethebays.bs.