By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas was yesterday warned it faces a “PR nightmare” and severe tourism backlash unless it saves the five surviving dolphins at an abandoned project off New Providence’s north coast.

Ric O’Barry, the Dolphin Project’s co-founder and director, told Tribune Business the “genie is out of the bottle” with “thousands” purportedly voicing outrage and threatening never to return to The Bahamas after his organisation posted details about the earlier deaths of eight dolphins at the former Blackbeard’s Cay development.

Comparing the situation to food trucks prevented from entering the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict, the 63-year dolphin veteran said his group is poised to provide the remaining dolphins with food, medicine and upgraded facilities essential to their survival but has yet to receive the Government’s permission to do so.

Asserting that quick action by the Bahamian authorities is essential, Mr O’Barry nevertheless said this nation can “flip this around” and turn negative publicity into positive by publicly pledging to rescue the survivors and transfer them to a purpose-built dolphin “sanctuary” that is fully equipped to cater to their needs (see other article on Page1B).

Pledging that such a facility “will not cost the Government or Bahamian taxpayer anything”, he added that Dolphin Project and its partners would handle construction and raise the necessary financing as it had done in establishing a previous sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia.

He and Sam Duncombe, principal of the Bahamian environmental group, reEarth, told this newspaper they have already identified a “potentially perfect” sanctuary site near Rock Sound on Eleuthera’s east coast that would need further assessment and significant work. However, they said it could be readied to accommodate the five Blackbeard’s Cay dolphins once they are “stabilised” at their current location.

Jomo Campbell, minister of agriculture and marine resources, whose ministry has primary responsibility for the oversight and supervision of Bahamas-based dolphin attractions, did not respond to requests for comment before press time last night. Vaughn Miller, minister of the environment and natural resources, also could not be reached.

However, Dolphin Project’s online post about the Blackbeard’s Cay situation, which has already attracted negative headlines in London’s Daily Mail newspaper as well as other media, disclosed that Mrs Duncombe met with Mr Campbell and his senior officials on April 10, 2024, to alert them to the dire conditions in which the five surviving dolphins are being kept.

“She communicated that Dolphin Project would fund getting the mammals’ health up to speed. Five days later, the minister [Mr Campbell] called her, assuring that he would grant Dolphin Project access to provide immediate and critical assistance. When Duncombe attempted to follow up, all communications from the Government went silent,” Dolphin Project asserted.

Mr O’Barry, describing conditions at the abandoned tourism project, was quoted thus: “The five survivors are in a world of trouble from everything I have seen. From critical food (and water) deprivation to lack of critically needed shade and electricity, from potential hazards within the dolphins’ enclosures to lack of proper medical care, it would be more appropriate to state that survivors are living a nightmare.”

The 61.5 percent mortality rate, with eight of the project’s 13 dolphins having died and six fatalities alleged to have occurred in the 12 months to February 2024, was described by Mrs Duncombe in an e-mail to Mr Campbell following their April 10, 2024, meeting as “unprecedented in the captivity industry and a looming PR nightmare for The Bahamas.”

Speaking to Tribune Business yesterday, Mr O’Barry said he visited the abandoned Blackbeard’s Cay project and dolphin pen on March 31, 2024, with the Dolphin Project also flying a marine mammal vet to Nassau. The sole person remaining at the development is Luis Arturo Hernandez, the dolphins’ caretaker and trainer.

“I was able to get in there and talk to Luis,” he disclosed. “He lives there like a homeless person. I bought him lunch, and sat and talked with him. He’s been abandoned just like the dolphins. He put me in touch with the person in Mexico City that’s paying him.” That is Dr Jose Luis Solorzano, a veterinarian, but Dolphin Project wrote in its post that it was unknown whether he is licensed to practice in The Bahamas.

The group added that any of Mr O’Barry’s “grievous observations - of which most were confirmed by Hernandez - could be considered animal abuse. And any one of them could have been responsible for the high number of dolphin deaths”.

These included a lack of electricity and running water, as the project’s generator has not worked for six months; the inability to keep fish for feeding the dolphins frozen or even cool; expired and empty medications for the dolphins; and the five survivors all appearing to be “seriously underweight, suffering from malnutrition and dehydration”.

“The infrastructure is in complete disrepair. The fences in the dolphins’ sea pen has large holes, torn in several spots. The property is littered with garbage. There is no protection from weather (including hurricanes) and it is exposed to tourists,” Dolphin Project wrote.

“There is no enrichment for the dolphins, nor is there any shade in their enclosure. The water in which they are being kept is extremely shallow; two metres at the deepest point”. Mr O’Barry said the locks on the freezers, where the dolphins’ food is stored, “have not worked for years” and there is concern over the quality of the little food they are getting.

However, while Dolphin Project is poised to intervene, he added that it first needs the Government’s permission which has yet to be forthcoming. “I bought a generator that runs the freezer and the lights but we have to get permission,” Mr O’Barry told Tribune Business. “We don’t charge for this.

“It’s kind of like the rescue in Gaza. There are trucks parked at the border, but they cannot get in without permission. We have all this free stuff and medication to give out to them, but the Government has not given us permission to come in. It’s like the trucks in Gaza.”

Asked about the international fall-out from the Dolphin Project publicising the plight of the Blackbeard’s Cay dolphins, Mr O’Barry added: “We are getting thousands of people, because of social media, saying that if they don’t do something we are not going back to The Bahamas. It’s outrageous.”

Noting that The Bahamas needs no more adverse publicity, given the temporary negative impact of the US and Canadian crime alerts earlier this year, he said: “I’ve worked in The Bahamas for years on Flipper, Thunderball, all those movies and I love The Bahamas. They don’t need any bad publicity.

“They can turn this thing around, if they decide to make a sanctuary for those dolphins, immediately. It’s so simple. All they have to do is say that sentence.... They can flip this around, say it to the world at hand, but they’d better do it quickly because they cannot stop thousands of people knowing about it. The genie is out of the bottle.”

Tribune Business can reveal the background to the dolphins’ fate is complex, as they were owned by a business that was ordered to shut down by the Supreme Court but remained open in defiance of its orders and amid a lack of enforcement action. The tale also involves two US bankruptcy court proceedings, a former Cabinet minister and litigation in The Bahamas.

Blackbeard’s Cay, also known as Balmoral Island, is located off New Providence’s north coast almost directly opposite the Sandals Royal Bahamian resort although the latter has nothing to do with the project and dolphins. The dolphin encounter and marine park, designed as an attraction and excursion primarily targeted at cruise passengers, was owned by a company called Blue Illusions.

That entity’s ownership was split 50/50 between two foreign investors, Samir Andrawos and his business partner, Victoria Iglesias. However, Blue Illusions was almost immediately hit with a Judicial Review action by Mrs Duncombe and reEarth challenging the permits and approvals granted for the project.

Then-Supreme Court justice, Stephen Isaacs, ruled in the environmental activists’ favour by ordering that Blackbeard’s Cay effectively be shut down. He overruled the dolphin import licences, ordering that the mammals be moved to a suitable location and also quashed the development’s Town Planning Committee approval and ordered that the site be restored to its previous use.

However, Blackbeard’s Cay and its dolphin attraction remained in business for six further years with no enforcement action taken by the authorities to enforce its shut down until the COVID-19 forced all activities to cease. The financial impact from the pandemic-enforced closure ultimately proved an insurmountable obstacle for Blue Illusions to climb.

Both Mr Andrawos and Ms Iglesias are presently embroiled in personal bankruptcy proceedings before separate US bankruptcy courts in Maryland and southern Florida, respectively. Each has had a bankruptcy trustee appointed over their financial affairs following legal actions initiated by Blue Illusions’ main creditor, SuttonGate Holdings.

Court filings obtained by Tribune Business reveal that Mr Andrawos’ creditors view Blackbeard’s Cay as their best source of debt recovery. They allege that financial records show the dolphin attraction and other amenities were generating $7m per year in annual revenue, or a collective $49m over seven years, prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The situation, though, has been further complicated by the fact Mr Andrawos’ 50 percent equity ownership interest in Blue Illusions has been claimed by Damian Gomez KC, former minister of state for legal affairs, via Bahamian legal proceedings in a bid to recover $1.25m in outstanding legal fees allegedly owed to him by the Blackbeard’s Cay developer.

“Andrawos’ shares in Blue Illusions were recently seized pursuant to Bahamian legal process by Damian Gomez, a prior creditor of Andrawos,” US court filings asserted. Tribune Business revealed in April 2022 that this prompted Lawrence Katz, the bankruptcy trustee for Mr Andrawos, to initiate legal action against Mr Gomez in the Maryland Bankruptcy Court to prevent him from selling that 50 percent stake.

Mr Gomez, who was yesterday in court representing Long Island MP, Adrian Gibson, in the latter’s criminal trial did not respond to Tribune Business calls and messages seeking comment before press time last night although the ‘blue ticks’ indicated he read the What’s App contact.

It thus remains unclear exactly who has ownership of the abandoned Blackbeard’s Cay project, and responsibility for the dolphins, as the candidates include both bankruptcy trustees and Mr Gomez although there is no suggestion the latter has done anything wrong. And Joel Tabas, the Chapter seven bankruptcy for Ms Iglesias, said she had pledged the dolphins were being fed and cared for.

Referring to Ms Iglesias as the “debtor”, he wrote in a September 15, 2023, legal filing: “Debtor’s businesses include the purported operation of a marine park on Balmoral Island with various marine animals, including dolphins and stingrays, and contracts for tourism services and cruise ship excursions in the Caribbean.

“Plaintiff has investigated his ability to take over these operations or sell them, but due to their offshore location, and the political and legal climate there, the process is complicated and may take a substantial amount of time and money.

“However, due to the nature of the operations, it is essential that someone continue to pay for the care and feeding of the marine animals, in particular the dolphins. Debtor has purported to be caring for and feeding the dolphins during the pendency of her bankruptcy proceedings. But a clear picture of this process and the current health condition of the dolphins is not known by plaintiff at this time.”

Tribune Business previously reported that both Mr Gomez and now-national security minister, Wayne Munroe KC, had represented Blue Illusions in a bid to overturn the Supreme Court ruling that ordered its closure.