As part of the Saint Lucia National Trust’s (SLNT) efforts to advocate against the establishment of the proposed Dolphinarium in Saint Lucia
This free event is slated for Wednesday, September 5, 2018 from 6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. at the Finance Administrative Centre, Pointe Seraphine, Castries.
Following the viewing there will be a panel discussion and question and answer session with Martha Watkins-Gilkes – Executive producer of ‘Dolphin Dilemma’, one of the founders of the Antigua and Barbuda Independent Tourism Promotion Corporation (ABITPC) and renowned diver and marine activist; Howard Allen – Director and Mitzi Allen – Producer of the award winning Hamafilms Antigua; SLNT’s Director – Bishnu Tulsie and Ian Joseph – President of the Gros Islet Fisheries.
Whilst our attempts to ascertain the exact location and other pertinent information has been futile, we were informed earlier this year that plans are likely to go ahead for the Dolphinarium. Considering that the initial plan shared by the developers was for the waters off Pigeon Island, we firmly believe that if the plans go ahead it would be regressive and do more harm than good for our tourism industry. It would also affect our marine ecosystem, the livelihoods of close to one hundred fisher folks and their families, beach goers in the north as the water quality would be compromised due to the dolphins excretion, operators of whale and dolphin watch excursions and snuba diving operations.
According to Martha Watkins-Gilkes, “We are about to expand the film to tell the Caribbean story in the hope of stopping Dolphin Discovery and other companies like it, from opening dolphinariums as tourism attractions”.
Furthermore she said, Saint Lucia is the latest island to consider adding a dolphinarium and activists want to put a stop to this. “Dolphin prostitution” as Watkins-Gilkes dubbed it, continues to be a lucrative business model but the damage to the water mammals, the environment and communities outweighs the profits to a few.
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It seems that man’s interaction with animals is deemed environmentally unfriendly only when rich white people say so.
In a horse race a horse is whipped to do nothing more than to finish first to make rich people even richer. However if a poor man whips his donkey on his way to his farm to feed his family, the same is considered to be cruel.
Rich people buy rare birds and even have wild cats and snakes as pets and no one seem to think that is upsetting the balance of nature. What about the so -called environmentalist giving up their cars and swim from Antigua to St.Lucia instead using a plane or boat that pollutes the environment. If you really care put your money, or in this case your muscle, where your mouth is.
I wonder if these people have any dogs at cats at their homes am sure these animals would prefer their freedom. Oops Watkins knows whats best for the creators environment. Hope she did not bulldoze any trees to build her house . Hope she does not drive a car either all the material came as a sacrifice to the environment.
It was really sad to see Anntigua government bowing under the pressure of the so called environmentalists. The same people that would take their children to all the various water parks in the USA, Canada or Europe to see these very same animals. Something the poor cannot do unless they sacrifice lots of finances to be able to do that. Had we had the first open dolphinarium here our tourism product would have looked much better. We do not even have a proper zoo. All we have are some dog kennels and donkey parks. Goats and everything else running wild.
St. Lucia do not let them bully you guys. They mean nothing good for the country
You are very wrong.Dolphins are not on earth for your entertainment or exploitation. I for one would NEVER take a child to one of these disgusting ‘experiences’ wherever it was. It is clear you have no interest in animal welfare – “We do not even have a proper zoo” and see their welfare only in terms of a tourism product for your island. If you want to make money open a factory and sell rivets. If you want to see wild animals I recommend any documentary by Sir David Attenborough.
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