Inconsistent enforcement

January 8, 2009

Dear Sir,

I am quite shocked by the Government's decision to allow a beach bar to be established on a protected site. For the record, I am not against creating new entertainment and facilities for our visitors. In fact, I like the idea. What I am against is inconsistent enforcement of the conservation regulations by the Parks Department.

I have operated a boat tour to the Coopers Island area for six years. We have allowed our guests to swim up to the beach and enjoy the sand and sun. They never go beyond the beach line, they bring no rubbish with them, and they only utilise the bathroom facilities on the boat. Essentially we create zero impact on the environment.

Meanwhile another entrepreneur can establish a bar on a beach, with a lunch wagon and port-a-loos. Obviously no matter how regulated this endeavour will be, there will be some negative impact on the environment. How can the Government grant permission for this beach bar on a national park, yet deny access to my guests who simply wish to swim up to a public beach? Something is fishy….

DAZED AND CONFUSED

St. George's

Belco sale request

January 8, 2009

Dear Sir,

Bermuda's retailers are trying to get the bucks from us residents through Christmas and this early part of the New Year. Good for trying. Shop Bermuda has been their slogan in which I agree with. Thanks Boyles Shop for trying to get male customers in their Hamilton shop only to buy men's shoes in their present sale. What I don't agree with is Boyles Shoe Shop having this sale on men's shoes in their Hamilton shop only but not in their Somerset and St. George shops.

When it does happen in the East and West End shops, the male customers there will get the dribbles. I hope they will change their minds right now and encourage the male spenders in all their shops now. Not for us to go there and find that no sale is on. Or are they indirectly trying to close these shops? Parking and traffic is bad on a Saturday in Hamilton and there is no quality in racing to buy in a weekday lunch time.

ROGER LAMBERT

Sandys

Let the people decide

January 12, 2009

Dear Sir,

I noted the words used by Dr. Brown when giving a reason for not holding a referendum on Independence for the Island: "I would lose". This seems to say that the issue is all about Dr. Brown and not about the people of Bermuda. Dr. Brown obviously is aware that the vast majority of the people on the Island are against Independence because they know that it would only benefit greedy politicians.

If Dr. Brown really believes that he will be able to brainwash a stupid population to vote for Independence, then he is insulting our wonderful smart people. He stated that it was amazing that the young people were so against Independence. Simple really! They have the most to lose!

Perhaps he should be less vain and selfish by holding a referendum to let the people decide. The talk of Independence is unsettling to International Business and a resolution is needed very soon.

CONCERNED VOTER

Smith's

Squandered opportunities

10 January 2009

Dear Sir

Today's issue of The Royal Gazette published a rebuttal 'letter to the editor' from Mr. William Craig, CEO of Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC), in response to complaints made about the quality of ZBM & ZFB programming. I would like to thank Mr. Craig for taking the time to apologise to BBC viewers but his reply raised some other issues that deserve further discussion.

Blaming CableVision (CV) for BBC's abysmal "service reliability" is not a "function of a tough environment" nor is it "caused by CableVision." BBC's continued demise over the last couple of decades is due entirely to the absence of sufficient reinvestment in either the BBC physical plant or available programming options. If anything, CV provided BBC with a lifeline by increasing their free to air (FTA) distribution network and by association the number of potential viewers, which advertisers are willing to pay for. Why else would "ZBM and ZFB-TV have paid for a digital fibre feed to CableVision to provide a direct connection"?

Mr. Craig appears hung up on the fact that "CableVision pays as much as $9 per month per subscriber for foreign channels but zero for local TV broadcasters such as ZBM-TV, VSB-TV and ZFB-TV." He fails to recognise that CV is a private company that has invested considerable sums (likely quite a bit more than BBC shows on their balance sheet) in a capital intensive business with a view towards making a reasonable return for their shareholders (even in tightly regulated environment where the Broadcast Commission effectively determines their bottom line) and no one is forced to subscribe to their services. Furthermore a number of these "foreign channels" offer 24/7 original programming unavailable through local FTA sources; unlike BBC which scratches together about 22 minutes of original programming a day in the form of an evening news broadcast which BBC actually believe we should pay for? No thank you.

By contrast BBC have, for more than 30 years, been issued a licence to broadcast their (albeit poor) signal across the entire island for everyone's viewing pleasure but have squandered repeated opportunities to generate ad revenue either by improving signal quality (additional broadcast towers and an upgrade to HD would be nice) or programming options (look no further than the 2008 Summer Olympics, a total disaster).

Mr. Craig goes on to make reference to "an independent survey of 403 CableVision subscribers in mid-December at the time of CableVision's media campaign to illegally drop ZBM-TV" but appears quite selective in choosing to report the results noting "98 percent of their subscribers with an opinion stated that they "want CableVision to continue to carry ZBM and ZFB TV" without mentioning if these same subscribers would also be willing to pay for these stations. Which ultimately begs the question … why would I pay for something that is ordinarily free? I wouldn't; but if I did have to pony up shouldn't I be able to choose between BBC and/or US-sourced high quality HD feeds of CBS, ABC or NBC (perhaps offered through CV)?

Thankfully Chief Justice Ground agreed with CV's position (which contradicts Mr. Craig's above remark regarding the alleged illegality of their actions). Accordingly let's hope this ruling will serve as the clarion call BBC needs to reinvest in both themselves and their product to improve their bottom line while at the same time permit CV to expand their programming line-up to offer consumers more choice.

KEG

Pembroke

Re-think the proposal

January 14, 2009

Dear Sir,

I appreciate that Belcario Thomas has done his homework with regard to the design of the Beach Bar he has been given permission to build. The main issue here is that this has been done despite expert advise against it due to the pristine and unspoiled naturalness of the area. I wonder how many people realise, for instance, that where the beach bar is intended to be located on Warwick Long Bay is on a sand dune just to the right as you face the beach.

It is currently covered with the native shrub named Tassel Plant. Its root system is naturally many feet long, an adaptation which has occurred over thousands of years, that holds the dunes closest to the shore from being washed away and the tides during storms from reaching farther up the embankment. This is the wisdom and intelligence of nature which man has difficulty understanding except when it is too late. Tassel Plant is also difficult to reproduce.

Jobson's Cove has long been the beach of choice for parents to take very young children because it is shallow, calm and protected. It is only a hundred yards or so from the proposed beach bar location. There is no good reason to disturb this idyllic spot to please people who feel the need to be entertained and fed at every post.

One argument put forward is that we need more entertainment outlets for locals and tourists. Trust me, no matter how many places we create we will still have the same lament because we do not address the underlying cause of our boredom. A place cannot be boring, only people can. There are other options for the Belcario Thomas to realise his entrepreneurial dreams. Let him re-think this rather than make a mistake that is not reversible.

FRANCES EDDY

Warwick

Imperative: Stop longlining

January 8, 2009

Dear Sir,

I am a member of our community who is concerned for the protection and nurturing of our ocean life and its ecosystems. I've always thought that what makes our island a true jewel is how conscious our community is of our impact on our marine life and the state of our ocean. However, learning of the recent development in which the government is considering to allow longline fishing within our EEZ concerns me as this method of fishing is highly destructive to our marine life.

Longline fishing is a technique which uses hundreds or even thousands of baited hooks on a line which can extend over 60 miles long (almost three times the length of our island). This type of fishing, in which 5 million baited hooks are cast out each day, seeks to maximise profits at the expense of tremendous environmental consequences.

Although targeted at certain species of fish, this method is subject to bycatch, catching and killing sea birds, turtles, sharks, rays and other marine life. Turtles often get tangled in the line especially the leatherback sea turtle which is attracted to the line as it resembles the tentacles of a jellyfish, their food of choice.

In addition to catching species which are not marketable, longlining catches juvenile fish which haven't had the opportunity to reach maturity in order to be able to breed. As a result, the fish population struggles to sustain their numbers. Applying mitigation techniques has not eliminated bycatch. In March of 2006, Hawaii had closed down their swordfishing season only months from the start because of an excessive amount of loggerhead sea turtles being caught even despite attempts to prevent bycatch. This issue extends further into the current situation the world is facing with overfishing.

Records by the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) have shown that over the past century the quantity of each species of fish caught has decreased dramatically. Not only has volume decreased, but the size of the average swordfish landed decreased from 266 pounds in 1963 to an average of 90 pounds in 1996. I feel it is imperative that we reconsider how Bermuda wishes to go forward, finding alternative methods to generate economic growth without having to exploit our most prized resource. We must question ourselves as a country where we want to stand and how we want to identify ourselves within this global crisis.

KIM

Smith's