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Why Cayman Islanders Voted to Stop a Cruise Ship Pier and Save Their Reef · How To Protect The Ocean

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  Imagine a tropical paradise choosing reef
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  protection over economic promises.
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  We don't hear that much, but it happened
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  in Cayman Islands just
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  last, or two months ago
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  in April.
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  We're going to talk about it on today's
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  episode of the How to
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  Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  Let's start the show.
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  Hey everybody, welcome back to another
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  exciting episode of the How
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  to Protect the Ocean podcast.
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  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin.
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  This is the podcast where you find out
• 1:00:23
  what's happening with the
• 1:00:24
  ocean, how you could speak
• 1:00:25
  up for the ocean, and what you can do to
• 1:00:26
  live for a better ocean by taking action.
• 1:00:29
  For now until the rest of time, I'm
• 1:00:32
  really going to be focusing on action.
• 1:00:34
  And something that you can be focused if
• 1:00:35
  you want to take
• 1:00:36
  action for the ocean is you
• 1:00:37
  can join the undertow.
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  A couple of episodes ago, I had, I
• 1:00:41
  actually published two
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  episodes on the undertow.
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  It's a startup, an ocean community that I
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  co-founded with, or has
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  brought on as a co-founder
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  with my two co-founders,
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  Amanda Horn and Serena Wynn.
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  And we are putting this together because
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  we want people to feel
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  comfortable in taking
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  action for the ocean,
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  connecting with the ocean and so forth.
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  You can come in there,
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  virtual events, in-person events.
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  This is an online app that we are
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  cultivating this
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  community together, no algorithm.
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  So you can always get ocean information
• 1:01:07
  when you're on the app and
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  you can join the undertow
• 1:01:09
  simply by going to speakupforblue.com
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  forward slash join the undertow.
• 1:01:14
  It's a bit of a wait
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  list right now to get in.
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  We're releasing the app shortly, but we
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  want you to join the
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  undertow and take actions.
• 1:01:21
  Speakupforblue.com
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  forward slash join the undertow.
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  Let's get into action that was taken by
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  the island of Cayman
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  islands, Grand Cayman.
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  And it was just a wonderful thing.
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  It's where you go like,
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  look, there's a referendum held.
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  Do you want a big pier on your island?
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  Okay.
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  Yes or no.
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  64% said no.
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  No pier.
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  That's awesome.
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  That's not as easy as it sounds, but it's
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  so great when
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  democracy works in favor of,
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  you know, citizens
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  and for the environment.
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  That doesn't happen a lot.
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  So here's the thing of what's going on.
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  So cruise ships are a big part of island
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  communities, whether the
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  citizens want it or not.
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  Cruise ships go all over the Caribbean
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  and like Mexico, all over the Caribbean,
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  like really anywhere you want.
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  And Grand Cayman is part of that.
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  I remember visiting there a number of
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  years ago and along seven mile beach,
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  which is a gorgeous beach.
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  There's a big pier where cruise ships
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  come in and people can come
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  for the day and, you know,
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  shop and it's supposed to bring tourism
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  on a daily basis or on a
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  semi daily basis to the island.
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  But it doesn't always necessarily work
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  out in favor for the citizens.
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  There's a lot of environmental damages
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  when building a pier,
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  whether they want it or not.
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  It's a very intrusive process.
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  You have to destroy some underwater part
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  of the ocean for the pier to go in.
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  And this pier, they wanted to bring a
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  larger cruise ships directly to
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  Georgetown, the capital.
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  But there was
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  concerns of reef destruction.
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  There's concerns of overtourism and
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  there's a concerns of just the
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  transparency of the process.
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  Because let's be honest, these
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  processes are for developers.
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  These processes are in favor of tourism,
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  but really for these
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  large ships, cruise ships.
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  And so they're there for the companies,
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  not necessarily the citizens.
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  So a referendum was
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  held on April 30th, 2025.
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  The result 64.5% voted against the pier,
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  which was really interesting.
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  This is a non-binding referendum, but had
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  a strong public impact and was held
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  alongside votes on cannabis
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  decriminalization and national lottery.
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  So there's a lot of votes going on.
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  I just think it's great that the island
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  put that up for referendum to say, hey,
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  does this do the
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  citizens actually want this?
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  A lot of times the citizens don't really
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  feel like they don't really have a say.
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  Sometimes they don't have a say.
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  And the government just makes the
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  decisions for them based on, you know,
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  people voting in the
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  government in this time.
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  They held the referendum.
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  I guess it's a small population that they
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  can hold the referendum.
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  Although I feel like referendum pretty
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  humbles the government and being like, do
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  we know what people want?
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  So we'll hold a referendum.
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  And if whatever that referendum will say,
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  you know, it is what it is.
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  I mean, let's look at Brexit in the UK.
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  Not many people thought
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  that Brexit would happen.
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  The people voted on a referendum.
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  Now Brexit happened.
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  And we have what we have now in terms of
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  the UK out of the European Union.
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  There have been other votes that have
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  happened across the world in different
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  democracies for referendums.
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  I think it's a great way to reset and
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  give, you know, the power back to the
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  people and to see what
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  people really actually want.
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  Now, there are a lot of campaigns that
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  were run by CPR, Cayman National Trust
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  and other grassroots groups led the
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  opposition to this pier.
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  And the key concerns, again, were damage
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  to coral reefs and marine ecosystems, the
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  threats to small businesses and cultural
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  heritage and the lack of
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  clear economic benefits.
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  So here's the thing when we
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  talk about small businesses.
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  Small businesses are, you know, the
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  backbone of society, right?
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  We see small businesses.
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  We go into those businesses.
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  We connect with the community.
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  The money stays within the community
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  because the people who own those small
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  businesses live within the community.
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  So as you exchange money for products,
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  that money, the profit that they pay for
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  will go towards the house that that small
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  business owner lives in the
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  groceries that they pay for.
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  They put money back into the community,
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  whether it be through charitable
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  donations or even just regular, you know,
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  day to day spending.
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  And so they are the backbone.
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  And we've seen in a number of different
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  towns and cities across the world that
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  these small businesses are being put out
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  of business due to large corporate
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  businesses that come in and just get
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  smaller prices because
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  they have a lot of money.
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  So I think that's going to be one of the things that you're going to have to do is
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  have a better purchasing power.
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  And they just can
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  serve the community more.
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  You get everything you
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  want in those big stores.
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  You don't have to go to a store from
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  store to store and people who
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  are just in a rush are in that.
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  They're just in a rush and it's very
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  difficult to keep a small business these
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  days going, you know,
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  active in the community.
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  So that's a tough thing.
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  When you have cruise ships, now, how do
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  the cruise ships relate?
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  When you have cruise ships that come in
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  and people get off the boat, you are
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  going into a specific area, right?
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  you are going into a specific area,
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  if you're not in that
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  area, you can only go so far.
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  You know, a lot of times taxis and Ubers
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  or whatever will take you to
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  different parts of the island
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  if it's a small enough island for the day
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  and then bring you back in time
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  to get back on your cruise ship.
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  But a lot of the times
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  you're in specific areas.
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  Those areas sometimes
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  where the port goes in
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  are maybe owned by bigger businesses,
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  maybe owned by part of
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  the cruise lines, who knows?
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  You never know where these
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  corporations are putting these,
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  you know, what we think
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  look like small businesses,
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  but are businesses that get a benefit
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  from where these cruise ships go.
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  So the smaller businesses pay the price
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  or they have to pay larger rent,
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  or they have to pay like for their stores
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  to be there or things like that.
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  So it's a real, you
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  know, non benefit to this.
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  It's a negative impact
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  to these small businesses.
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  So having these cruise ships, these
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  bigger cruise ships come in is not
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  necessarily good for the businesses,
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  but also not good for the ocean.
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  Not only do you have the impact of the
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  reef destruction in
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  construction of the pier,
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  but you also have people coming to the
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  island, more people coming to the island.
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  We are in a big like growth economy.
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  Everybody's talking about how do I grow?
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  How do I do this? How do I grow?
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  I want to grow
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  bigger. I want to scale up.
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  Everything's big. Everything's going up.
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  At some point we have to look at these
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  islands and they are small islands.
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  They don't need massive growth.
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  Sure, they need money.
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  They want to grow. They
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  want their economy to do well.
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  But at some point there's, you know, when
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  you get that benefit and
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  you peak in terms of money,
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  only certain people benefit from that
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  money, as we just talked about.
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  But also the reef gets destroyed.
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  The environment gets changed.
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  The citizens who live there have to
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  change as well and have to adapt as well.
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  And it's not always a benefit.
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  And oftentimes it's a negative benefit to
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  those island communities.
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  Now I should preface this.
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  I'm not somebody who
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  lives on a small island.
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  So I don't know like just the day to day
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  impacts that small island communities
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  have on large tourism sort of pushes,
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  like a bigger cruise line coming in.
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  But I can't imagine that would be
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  something that would
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  be easily adaptable to,
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  especially when you're already trying to
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  adapt to small island living,
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  which you have increased prices.
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  It's very expensive to live in the
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  Caribbean, especially on Grand Cayman.
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  It's very expensive just to
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  shop for day to day activities.
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  When we went there, just, you know, a
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  loaf of bread, milk and a
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  couple of other items cost $100 US.
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  That's a lot of money just
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  for a small amount of items.
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  And that was before COVID.
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  That was before massive inflation.
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  I can just imagine what it is now.
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  It's very difficult for citizens to live
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  on that island that
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  are born on that island,
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  that not are coming in and buying big
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  houses and are rich.
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  These are people who have regular jobs,
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  you know, the middle class or even lower
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  middle class that are
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  having trouble surviving.
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  I can't even imagine what people who are
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  below that status have, you know, are
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  having trouble with.
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  So it can be very difficult in that.
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  So the fact that they added a vote and
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  said, hey, do you want this massive peer?
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  People said no, people weren't happy, but
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  a lot of people spoke out, which was
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  great voices like Sylvia Earl,
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  Jean-Michelus Cousteau.
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  They also spoke out against this peer.
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  So the people, the campaigners got people
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  from outside of Grand Cayman to speak out
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  on their behalf to make
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  sure that hey, you know what?
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  It's not just people on the island are
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  concerned, but it's also people outside
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  and that have a big impact.
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  Dr. Sylvia Earl and Jean-Michelus
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  Cousteau and others have a huge impact in
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  terms of what happens.
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  They have press releases.
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  They have public relations teams that are
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  just amazing and they get
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  their message gets far reaching.
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  If that gets out and it's negative, that
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  has an impact on how people look.
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  So that's one of the things.
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  So, you know, we talk a lot about that,
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  how international voices can help in
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  areas and saying, hey, I'm not going to
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  go there if we have these big impacts.
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  Right. So that's always good.
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  Now, there were arguments against, you
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  know, the cruise industry was arguing
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  against, but they said they're going to
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  have to adapt to it.
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  They said it would modernize Cayman
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  tourism and keep it competitive.
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  But even though they have frustration
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  with the vote, the way it turned out,
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  they are willing to
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  adapt and collaborate.
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  We'll see how that happens.
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  That's something that says, I'm glad
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  they're saying that.
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  They're not saying, hey, the vote was
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  corrupt or, you know, it was fraudulent
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  or anything like that.
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  We're back into like,
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  hey, democracy rules.
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  And this is what people want.
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  Now, cruise company may adapt to rules or
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  explore other islands.
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  So they might go to other islands.
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  In this case, that's what
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  the islanders have said.
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  The Cayman islanders
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  have said, you know what?
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  We don't want you here.
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  It's not for us.
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  The other thing is like, will development
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  resurface in another form?
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  So are they going to try and get, you
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  know, a cruise line in some other ways,
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  more cruise liners in other
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  ways, build a smaller pier?
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  Who knows what's going to happen?
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  That's going to be a really
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  difficult thing to look at.
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  But this is really an example.
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  The story is really an example of local
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  people making a global change.
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  And that's really important.
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  It sets a precedent for the Caribbean and
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  beyond that says, if you give the people
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  their power to vote on what they want and
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  what they don't want, they will use it
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  and they will activate that voice.
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  And they will say,
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  Hey, this is what we want.
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  And that will turn into action.
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  So the call to action really is to
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  support more local efforts
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  like these wherever you live.
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  And it's very important that you act
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  locally and then protecting oceans really
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  starts with protecting places we love.
• 1:10:25
  So just like the people of Cayman did, we
• 1:10:28
  need to love our oceans.
• 1:10:30
  We need to love our environment, whether
• 1:10:31
  you live in Ontario, like I do, like
• 1:10:34
  you're beside the great lakes or you live
• 1:10:36
  along the coastline.
• 1:10:37
  You need to get out there, enjoy nature,
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  understand nature, not just go for a hike
• 1:10:42
  for the sake of hiking,
• 1:10:42
  but really look around.
• 1:10:44
  Take like the iNaturalist app.
• 1:10:45
  Look at the species that are around.
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  Are they native?
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  Are they invasive?
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  Just start to look and just
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  love what you see and enjoy it.
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  Take your time to just relax.
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  And I think that's really important.
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  So this is just a great story of local
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  action actually doing some great work and
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  preventing a large cruise liners or more
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  larger cruise liners coming in and a
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  bigger pier being destructive, bigger
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  pier not being built.
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  So that's always great.
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  And yeah, that's just, I want to share
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  that just show that there is hope and
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  there are ways that people are protecting
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  the ocean, even in small islands and
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  having international
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  voices as well as local voices.
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  So I want to thank the people of Grand
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  Cayman for doing what they're doing and
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  enjoying their ability to vote and taking
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  that ability to vote to heart.
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  And I want to thank you for listening to
• 1:11:27
  this episode of the How to
• 1:11:28
  Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 1:11:29
  Don't forget, if you want to take action,
• 1:11:30
  you can go to speakupforblue.com forward
• 1:11:32
  slash join the undertow.
• 1:11:34
  Thank you so much for listening to this
• 1:11:35
  episode of the How to
• 1:11:36
  Protect the Ocean podcast.
• 1:11:37
  I'm your host, Andrew Lewin, from the
• 1:11:38
  true North strong and free.
• 1:11:39
  Have a great day.
• 1:11:40
  We'll talk to you next
• 1:11:41
  time and happy conservation.