The fight to save four ‘critically endangered' subterranean shrimp species and their cave below Wilkinson Quarry is likely to end up in a lengthy court battle, The Royal Gazette can reveal.

Efforts to have a stop order lifted fell through on October 10. The rift by Planning Consultant David Summers of Bermuda-Caribbean Engineering Limited - who was hired by Wilkinson Estates Limited, owners of the Hamilton Parish property.

After the cave was discovered in 2002, the Ministry of the Environment put a stop order on an area around the cave, until it could be further explored. But a team of experts - including Government Conservation Officer, Jeremy Madeiros - were not prepared for the splendours hidden beneath the rubble.

And other experts agree, including the head of a UNESCO task force, who Aquarium, Museum and Zoo Director of Conservation Services Jack Ward said called it the most “premier submerged cave that exists anywhere”.

Wilkinson Estates Limited called an October 20 tribunal to try and lift the stop work order.

“It is contemplated having to take the Minister of the Environment to court to have the matter of the (stop-work order) settled,” Mr. Summers said last night. He said he wanted to have the stop order lifted and “it is certainly going to have to be settled in Supreme Court”.

“An attempt was made in good faith to have the matter resolved through hearings, however, that proposal was prejudiced by some unfortunate and unethical criticisms by one of the Government's consultants,” he said.

Mr. Summers would not say when the case would go to court.

Meanwhile, Dr. Tom Iliffe, Prof. of Marine Biology at Texas A&M University has called the Wilkinson Quarry Cave on his web-site: “Clearly one of the best decorated in Bermuda and is remarkable on a global scale.

“Furthermore, because the submerged portions or most of Bermuda's caves are interconnected, especially those of the Walsingham area, damage to one cave from blasting, siltation or water exchange blocking is likely to have a detrimental impact on most or all adjoining caves, endangering a significant portion of Bermuda's endemic organisms.”

Mr. Ward confirmed he asked Dr. Iliffe to fight for the cave on the October 20 tribunal, which was cancelled by Mr. Summers.

The cave, located below the Wilkinson Quarry contains at least four “critically endangered” species of cave shrimp.

Mr. Summers said some of the “foremost experts in caves were brought into Bermuda”.

But according to Dr. Iliffe's web-site, Mr. Summers had gathered three experts who “have already written statements in support of quarrying the cave” - Italian Prof. Arrigo Cigna, Canadian Dr. Peter Calder and American Roy Davis.

But in response, Dr. Iliffe said he would “obtain at least ten times as many letters from experts supporting preservation of the cave”.

Dr. Iliffe said “the tribunal was cancelled within days after the appearance of this web-site”.

Mr. Ward said no more tribunals were scheduled to take place, and Mr. Summers said the next step would be court.

“My understanding is that the next step in the process would be a court case to determine whether or not the cave should be saved,” he said.

“In that case it's the applicants taking Government to court probably to demonstrate their loss of income,” Mr. Ward said.

In his web-site, Dr. Iliffe “strongly recommend that further quarrying operations, including blasting, be permanently halted in the vicinity of the cave so that it can be set aside as critical habitat for endangered species”. “A gate needs to be erected at the entrance to prevent unauthorised entrance and to maintain environmental conditions (i.e., humidity, temperature) within the cave.”

“The site needs to be monitored for effects from blasting and operation of heavy machinery,” Dr. Iliffe writes.

“Ideally, this quarry which endangers not only the cave described here, but also the sizeable and historically important Admiral's Cave located adjacent to the quarry, should be permanently shut down and the Island's aggregate should be imported from other countries”.

Dr. Iliffe also alleged the cave was vandalised by quarry workers. “According to Government Conservation Officer Jeremy Madeiros, most of the vandalism occurred between his first and second visits to the cave.

“A row of larger stalactites that were intact on Madeiro's first visit, now lie in pieces completely covering the floor of the cave,” the web-site alleges.

“A quarry worker reportedly showed off a large stalagmite to patrons of a bar in Hamilton shortly after the cave was opened. “The quarry employee who accompanied us into the cave on the first day told us he wanted a large drapery from the lower level of the cave but figured that he would have to break it into several pieces in order to remove it from the cave,” he said.

Dr. Iliffe's website may be found at: www.tamug.edu/cavebiology/Bermuda/Quarry/WQcave.html