Pirates Ahoy!

by S Brian Samuel

We all know that Grenada is staggeringly beautiful, but not everyone knows that the best way to enjoy Grenada’s ‘pure’ beauty, is from the sea.

Shimmering blue water, clean, sweet wind, lush mountains and arguably the prettiest town in the whole world. Everyone loves a day cruise; it’s one of the high points of any visit to Grenada. And indeed, Grenadian small businesses have responded to this clear market demand, offering cruises in boats of all types: party-boats like Rhum Runner, catamarans like Shadowfax, classic wooden sloops like Savvy, and the longest-running cruise operator in Grenada, Mosden Cumberbatch. These businesses have been struggling to survive the past 2 years. Boats are very expensive assets, and it would be a foolish owner who cuts corners on maintenance. But now the tourists are back, Covid regulations are a thing of the past, so things are looking up for Grenada’s small boat owners, right? Wrong.

Lately, I’ve noticed a new marine species in Grenada’s waters: foreign charter boats. At latest count, 3 foreign-owned boats (2 yachts, and a party-boat) have been granted licences to operate day charters, in Grenada’s already crowded market. It is alleged that at least one of these boats operated ‘pirate tours’, illegal and uninsured day-charters, for about a year, and instead of punishing him, the government rewarded him, by giving him a licence. On Sunday, 27 March 2022, two of these foreign boats were photographed off Grand Anse Beach, both clearly overcrowded:

While I’m a firm believer in liberalisation, globalisation, call it what you will, I also believe that too much of a good thing is a bad thing. And in this case, I have the following questions:

1. Why has this government decided to drastically increase the number of boats offering cruises to tourists and locals? Although the economic recovery is (hopefully) underway, tourist numbers are still nowhere near their pre-Covid levels, resulting in more and more boats, going after a much smaller market.
2. Why were foreign boat owners, who were found to be operating illegally in Grenada, not punished according to the law, but instead rewarded by being given licences?
3. Why are 4 large dogs allowed to be on board a boat for day charters? This is unsanitary, and potentially dangerous.
4. Why is at least one of these foreign-owned boats allowed to repeatedly anchor off Grand Anse Beach, in clear breach of the law?
5. Why is the Coast Guard not enforcing the laws, regarding overloading of marine craft?
6. I understand that at least one of these foreign boat owners has been deemed a ‘Grenadian’ under Grenada’s much-misused CBI programme. In which case, what was his ‘investment’ in Grenada – the boat?

Repeat: I’m all for openness, I welcome foreign investors coming to Grenada, to set up businesses, build hotels, contribute to our economy. But I have to ask: what benefit are these foreign boats bringing to Grenada? They clearly bring benefits to their owners, but what do we get out of it? A couple of deckhands hired from time to time, occasional repairs to the boat, but where’s the footprint, the lasting benefit? If the market turns bad, or a hurricane hits, these foreign boats will sail away to richer pastures. Grenadian owners have nowhere else to go. They’ve been here for decades, through thick and thin, created an industry, trained staff. Now these new foreign entrants have arrived, to feed off the market they did not help create.

Where will this end? Will every visiting yachtie be able to claim his boat is an ‘investment’, and set up shop? This is bad policy, and bad for locally owned businesses. Countries like Barbados protect their SME tourist sector, why can’t we?