Officials at the Port Department responded to claims made by Neal Watson of Bimini Scuba Center about a foreign vessel carrying out charter services in The Bahamas. Watson claims that he has made several complaints about the charter service in question that was involved in a recent dive expedition where a German woman was attacked by a shark and reported missing.
Senior Acting Port Controller Berne Wright said, “firstly I know of no such letter that was submitted to the Port Department regarding those comments. Whenever there is an incident like this as there is loss of life the police would spearhead the investigation. In this case, this vessel is registered in Grand Bahama with the Port Department. If an instance like what were to happen the Chairman of the New Providence Port Authority and his board because it is actually them who licensed these foreign yacht charter companies.”
Senior Deputy Controller of the Port Department on Grand Bahama, Clarence Reckley addressed concerns about foreign chartered vessels competing with local operators. Reckley said, “there’s no competition between the local operators and the foreign charters. Because with the foreign charters, all of those charters are booked not in The Bahamas, they’re booked in the US, Canada or wherever, but they’re not booked in The Bahamas.”
