By DIANE PHILLIPS

It is impossible to think of The Bahamas without thinking water. Our history, our lives, our livelihoods are enriched by it and immersed in it.

We are surrounded by the seas, the ripples, waves and flat calms that engulf us, living on our little slice of hard ground scattered somewhere in the universe of 100,000 square miles of open ocean running freely from the northern tip just off the Palm Beach coast of Florida to the southern border at Cay Lobos. There, just 15 miles off the Cuban coast, lies the old Bahama Channel, a major transit route for merchant shipping vessels as well as cruise ships transiting from Florida to the northern Caribbean.

Our waters define us. More than five hundred years ago, they were the gateway to the New World. Our ancestors made their way to this land crossing the Atlantic until they reached these seas. Until the recent advent of travel by air, people, goods and supplies arrived by sea and even today, our country’s number one economic engine, tourism, is driven in large part by the cruise industry which is projected to deliver 6.2 million passengers to our shores this year.

Take our breath away

Despite our absolute dependency on these waters, we have not always been kind to them. We have overfished them and told ourselves there would always be more fish in the sea. We have allowed others to come in and disrespect them, anchoring on coral reefs or taking marine resources when the only thing they should be allowed to take is photos. In the 1700s, our forebears felt helpless as pirates ruled the waves. In the 1800s, it was the illegal trade supplying the Civil War in America. In the 1980s, it was the drug trade zipping across from Colombia and elsewhere to packaging houses here and on to the big market to the north. Throughout, these beautiful waters that take our breath away just looking at them have been the highways of the west for human trafficking.

Despite the gun and drugs, slave and rare tropical bird smuggling, the waters treated us as if we were not their abusers. The most horrific human abuses took place in the holds of ships carrying slaves and the waters just laid down and let it pass. They were the innocent pad on which ugly trade passed.

But a change is in the making. Our relationship with our waters is changing. We are more aware of the treasures they hide, the reefs, the resources, the food, the potential blue carbon credits of our sea grass meadows and at the same time, we are more reckless in how we scour and scar, how we travel over these once-willing partners to whatever we carried on their back. We want to be more protective, yet we are more vulnerable than ever as more people than ever before have the ability to do harm. And it is our own fault for we do not enforce rules that others would obey if we showed the courage to stand up and do the right thing.

Instead, what is happening is a new kind of ugly, a disrespect for the water and for those who swim, snorkel or dive in them, a disrespect for those in boats smaller than the yachts and superyachts that treat this as a personal playground and play by their own rules since we don’t seem to have any.

Foreign-operated and local boats tear through bays. If there is a no wake zone, there is no visible enforcement. If there is a speed limit, there are no signs. If there are rules, no one is bothering to pay attention to them. Many may not even know. Many destinations require licences simply to ride a bicycle but in The Bahamas anyone with a credit card can operate a boat even if they never set foot on one before.

Boats a greater threat than sharks ever were

Boats have become a greater threat to safety in the water than sharks ever were. And sharks are protected because people paid attention to their value. Boats and boaters on the other hand have been left to their own devices because we thought that every kid who grew up in The Bahamas grew up around boating and knew the basics. Not so. The more the population grows and especially in the inner city, the greater the numbers of those who can gaze at the waters but not have the slightest knowledge how to run a boat.

Tragic age of the sea

And so we find ourselves at this crossroads in our legacy. Welcome to the new age, the tragic age of the sea around us. The waters of The Bahamas have become the wild, wild West of this land that is 90 percent water and ten percent hard earth.

The latest incident of a visitor in Exuma being hit by a speeding boat that failed to stop thrust a microscope on a boil that has been brewing for years and is about to pop. That father visiting with his family from Texas was lucky to have been rescued by volunteers. He was fortunate and so was The Bahamas that he went on national TV in the US and thanked those volunteers including well-known Exumian Reno Curling instead of calling The Bahamas out for allowing unsafe conditions.

The man was only 20 feet offshore when the boat hit him. The rule is a boat under power is to be 200 feet offshore of any swimming area but then there are no signs in the water anywhere with such rules and no enforcement.

A couple in a small boat off Staniel Cay in the Central Exumas wasn’t so lucky. They were hit in their dinghy last year by a larger boat whose captain said he never saw them because they were below the level of his freeboard and no charges were ever filed. The larger vessel ran right over them. The woman died from her injuries and the man was left in critical condition clinging to life, all because they chose to vacation in a country that lures people to its waters but does nothing to protect them or ensure their safety.

If ever there were a need to take the issue of safety around the waters seriously, the most recent incident in Exuma should arouse our resolve to do better. Let it serve as the catalyst.

No boats in bays

We must not allow shipping, supply delivery or commercial vessels of any kind to enter bays where swimmers are. We must stop turning a blind eye to commercial vessels and snorkellers sharing the same close-to-shore space.

At a minimum, DEPP must be aware of any application that requests permits for any development in The Bahamas that would allow a supply or passenger vessel to come within 200 feet of a shore frequented by swimmers and deny such applications, requiring the applicant to find a different, safer solution.

At a minimum, foreign boaters should be required to show a license or certification if they are renting a boat in The Bahamas. At a minimum, any Bahamian operating a vessel powered by anything over 15 hp should be required to pass a physical operator’s exam.

At a minimum, authorities must monitor Nassau harbour and the waters off Montagu Beach and Arawak Cay where nearly every hour of every day violators tear through too close to shore, threatening children, seniors, the regulars who swim daily and the visitor who has dreamed of one day soaking in the turquoise waters of The Bahamas.

Prime Minister pledge

Just a week ago, Prime Minister Philip “Brave” Davis stood at a podium, his back to the harbour off the western end of Arawak Cay. He was opening the new facilities at LJM Maritime Academy pledging stepped up enforcement of laws about speeding vessels in the harbour. The Exuma incident was fresh and raw on everyone’s mind and the audience applauded. We could not hear his next sentence. Right behind him, a vessel sped by, its engines roaring, followed by another and another, three during the few minutes he spoke.

It was all the evidence anyone would need to see the point he was making. The point we think he was making since we couldn’t fully hear him over the noise of the engines.

The time has come and passed. Before there is another Exuma incident, swimmer hit by boat, let us take the necessary steps to turn the wild, wild West of the waters into the waters we all take such pride in, the waters that gave our ancestors life and will one day feed the generations to follow, giving life to our children and their children to come.