‘STOP KILLING OUR REEF AND DIVING GROUNDS’ SCREAM SOUTH COAST HOTELS AT PANAMA REGISTERED DREDGER
(Posted 19th October 2014)
Diani based hotels, resorts and ocean sport operators are up in arms when a Panama registered dredger, bearing the name of ‘Si Hang Cai Sha 1’ turned up at the reef off the award winning Diani Beach and started dredging for sand yesterday, as attached pictures demonstrate.
It is understood that the Kenya Ports Authority and the Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Transport have already denied any knowledge of the dredging or having given approval to what appears to be a highly illegal exercise and demands were made already that the Kenya Navy dispatch a naval vessel to bring the dredger to port so that those on board can answer to charges of destroying a reef in a marine national park.
The ship was overflown by a light aircraft and pictures were taken for evidence, to allow Kenyan authorities to investigate and then charge the crew and ship owners.
One source in Mombasa already compared this illegal activity to the poaching for elephant and rhinos in the country, warning that should the reefs be destroyed a key attraction at the Diani Beach, diving and snorkeling, will be wiped out in a short time, as was the case further North where near Likoni the reef, under very similar circumstances, was also destroyed last year and has yet to recover.
Key stakeholders, including the Kenya Coast Tourism Association Chairman Mohammed Hersi and other association leaders have already been alerted and are all applying pressure to have the vessel arrested while still on site, or else tracked down and brought to port.
The dredging is taking place right outside the Neptune Resorts at the far end of Diani Beach and has been witnessed in plain sight from shore by hotel management and guests yesterday and were heard until at least 9 p.m. last night when the sounds stopped. Watch this space for updates as and when available.
