Antigua to harvest ‘many tons of sand from the open ocean’

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CABINET NOTES:

The Cabinet received a report from the Minister with responsibility for the Blue Economy. CLICK HERE TO JOIN OUR WHATSAPP GROUP.

He reported on a plan to harvest many tons of sand from the open ocean.

There apparently are billions of tons of sand offshore which could be safely harvested over a 20-year period, from the nation’s exclusive economic zone.

Three arms of government:

a) The Fisheries Department, b) the Department of Environment; and, c) the Development Control Authority, will all play a role in ensuring that this sand harvesting can be done safely and securely without affecting fish stocks or the environment.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. The government finally waking up to the “Blue Economy”, I’ve been highlighting the importance of this for some time now.

    Antigua has always needed another financial venture to work alongside our hospitality sector (which is good, but the pandemic has shown our country needs another and much larger revenue stream).

    Some good news at last … 👏

    SOME CAUTION THOUGH, GASSY 🥸 HAS A HISTORY OF NOT FOLLOWING PROJECTS THROUGH TO THEIR CONCLUSION.

    #just saying folks!

  2. Reinventing the wheel is not a smart thing to do.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Csd6KODRBU
    In preparation of the Guiana Island project that would have required the mining of lots of sand, Barbuda was not an option. The two options presented were, Sand from Guyana, or Sand from the sea bottom. For the latter, the Royal Boskalis company, which were also involved in the Dubai project and were at that time working on a gas pipeline in Trinidad, was ask to make a presentation. They have already studied the sea bed of the entire Caribbean and know where and where not to mine sand. And the cost per ton of sand would have cost us less then bringing it all the way from Guyana.
    I suggest to the minister to engage the Royal Boskalis if he doesn’t want to keep reinventing the wheel.
    https://boskalis.com/about-us/company-profile.html

    • FROM THE SIDELINE it is not reinventing the wheel. You have used a very incorrect term. It is rehashing the same idea. This idea of mining sand from the seabed has been mentioned before by the government as well as the project that would involve fish farming in the ocean. What has become of those projects. Yes, we are all aware of the Blue Economy and the benefits that can be derived from the exploitation of the ocean, however, with this government it all appears to be just talk. I idea of exploiting the ocean is nothing new to me and many others. Over 30 years ago I had a friend that did a Ph.D in Oceanography because since then he say the potential and economic benefits from the ocean long before the concept of the Blue Economy became fashionable.

  4. Wickedness

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