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| | =GoToCayman.com - News from Cayman (ISSN: 1744-7690)= | | =GoToCayman.com - News from Cayman (ISSN: 1744-7690)= |
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| - | ==May 2007== | + | ==June 2007== |
| - | With the Hurricane Season about to start, experts at the NOAA Climate Prediction Center are projecting a 75 percent chance that the Atlantic Hurricane Season will be above normal this year. They predict 13-17 named storms, 7-10 hurricanes ov which 3-5 will be major of Category 3 strength or higher. Their full report is available at http://www.cpc.ncep.noaa.gov/products/outlooks/hurricane.shtml.
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| - | The team at Colorado State University have released their final predictions before teh start of the hurricane season. They expect 17 named storms, of which 9 will turn into hurricanes and five intense hurricanes. This continues to indicate that the 2007 Atlantic hurricane season will be much more active than the average 1950-2000 season. Their full report is available at http://hurricane.atmos.colostate.edu/Forecasts/2007/june2007/
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| - | Here are the names to look out for:
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| - | Andrea, Barry, Chantal, Dean, Erin, Felix, Gabrielle, Humberto, Ingrid, Jerry, Karen, Lorenzo, Melissa, Noel, Olga, Pablo, Rebeka, Sebastien, Tanya, Van and Wendy.
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| - | The Public Works Department has issued its updated list of public hurricane shelters and emergency medical centres (EMCs) for 2007. Hurricane shelters are provided in each district. They are for persons whose homes are not hurricane resistant or who live in a location which is considered to be especially at risk in a particular storm and who do not have an alternate safe shelter. Emergency medical centres provide shelter for chronically ill persons, the elderly and women in the last three months of pregnancy. Medical personnel and equipment are provided at EMCs.
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| - | Grand Cayman will start the 2007 season with 4010 hurricane shelter spaces, and the Sister Islands with 810. Another 325 shelter spaces will be added to Grand Cayman's stock with the completion of the West Bay John Gray Memorial Church Hall scheduled for the beginning of July.
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| - | Approved hurricane shelters for the 2007 hurricane season in Grand Cayman are:
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| - | John Gray High School Assembly Hall, George Hicks High School Multipurpose Hall, George Town Primary School Assembly Hall, University College of the Cayman Islands Hall, Red Cross Building,
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| - | Prospect Primary School (EMC), John A. Cumber (West Bay) Primary School Assembly Hall (EMC),
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| - | John A. Cumber (West Bay) Primary School - some classrooms, West Bay John Gray Memorial Church Hall (available 1st July 2007), East End Primary School - some classrooms, Gun Bay Community Hall, East End Civic Centre (EMC), North Side Civic Centre (EMC), Breakers Community Hall, Bodden Town Primary School Multipurpose Hall (EMC), Savannah Primary School Assembly Hall (EMC).
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| - | Shelters for Cayman Brac are: Aston Rutty Centre (EMC), West End Primary School, New Day Care Centre.
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| - | The hurricane shelter for Little Cayman is: The Public Works Department Building (EMC).
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| - | Further details can be found on the CaymanPrepared website at http://www.caymanprepared.ky
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| - | It's over two years since Hurrican Ivan, but the clean up is still going on. Speaking in a debate at the Legislative Assembly, Minister of Works and Infrastructure, Hon. Arden McLean said the company that government contracted for disposal of solid waste stemming from Hurricane Ivan recently sent off two shipments totalling approximately 5,000 metric tons of solid waste comprising 10,000 vehicle batteries, 4,000 cars, 900 tons of scrap metal, and five 40-foot containers of baled cardboard. The minister estimated it will take about 30 shipments before all the discarded material is shipped out. Interestingly the government is making some money out of this. The contractor has to pay $1.2 million for the scrap metal. On top of this, the firm
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| - | is paying a rental of $190 per hour for using government's metal bailer to press the metal into compact sizes.
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| - | Mr McLean also said that Grand Cayman produces 460 tons of waste daily, Cayman Brac six tons, and Little Cayman one ton. He commented "Waste generation in this country is the worst in the Caribbean. It shows how we live in this country." The minister is also chairman of a Solid Waste Management Committee, charged with reviewing Cayman's waste disposal practices, researching to find other disposal methods, and making recommendations. The committee will shortly be visiting the North American Waste Disposal Council of Florida to see how discarded material is got rid of in that state.
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| - | Government and the Port Authority have reinstated the ban on all cruise ships anchoring at the Spotts Dock in Savannah. "Because of damage to the living coral reefs caused by ships' anchors at Spotts, cruise ships are no longer allowed to anchor at this location," said Port Authority Director Paul Hurlston. However, it is possible for ships to stay in Spotts Bay without anchoring, said the Department of Environment's Research Officer John Bothwell. "Modern technology enables cruise ships to stay in position on engines when in harbour. The ships can simply hold position and the tenders can come to them."
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| - | "Over the years the Department of Environment has documented the damage to reefs by cruise-ship anchors and chains in the Spotts area," Mr Bothwell noted. "Because cruise ships are the biggest vessels to use the area regularly, their chains tend to cause a lot of the damage. We have recorded that one cruise ship anchoring for one day destroys 3150m² (0.8 of an acre) of previously intact reef."
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| - | The National Archive and Public Records Law has now been passed stipulating that every government agency shall store and arrange its records to allow for quick and timely access.
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| - | This law gives to the National Archives overall supervisory authority of public records and provides for creation, management and disposal of the public records of every public agency.
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| - | "Every public agency shall make and maintain full and accurate public records of its business and affairs, and such public records shall be managed and maintained in accordance with this Law," the new law reads in part. It calls for the National Archivist to issue record-keeping standards and to inspect files and the manner in which they are stored.
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| - | The freedom of information bill soon to be tabled in the Legislative Assembly specifies a time-frame of 30 days in which government entities must respond to public information requests.
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| - | The new law's quick retrieval provision will make finding information easier for civil servants, thereby ensuring prompt service for members of the public making freedom of information requests.
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| - | The National Archive and Public Records Law also prohibits unauthorised destruction of records and allows for disciplinary measures - including dismissal.
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| - | The CARICOM Special Visa, which was issued to accommodate travellers during World Cup Cricket, enabled all citizens of CARICOM member states to travel to member countries without visas. Now that the World Cup is over, all Cayman Islands passport holders are required to apply for a visa if travelling to Jamaica.
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| - | Jamaican Consulate officials remind the public that the processing time for the visa is 24 hours. "All applications should be submitted to the Jamaican Consulate office at the Dot Com Centre on Dorcy Drive, Industrial Park," said Honorary Vice Consul to the Jamaican Consulate Elaine Harris.
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| - | Scientists from the Central Caribbean Marine Institute in Little Cayman announced that the reef system of the western Caribbean territory has lost 50 percent of its hard corals in the last 10 years in spite of strong environmental laws.
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| - | President of the Institute, Carrie Manfrino said
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| - | "We are at a very critical time in the history of coral reefs.
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| - | It is like working with a sick patient. How well we treat that patient will determine if that patient survives. We could potentially see the end of hard coral reefs in our lifetime."
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| - | A U.N's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has warned that the world must make sweeping cuts in greenhouse gas emissions to avoid a rise in temperatures that could inundate islands and coastlines under rising seas, and kill off the world's temperature-sensitive coral reefs.
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| - | In a recent report the IPCC said keeping the increase in temperatures within 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 Fahrenheit) would only cost 0.12 percent of the world's annual gross domestic product.
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| - | Global warming is heating sea water, which leads to coral bleaching, an ailment that causes normally colorful corals to turn white, and white plague, a disease sweeping and killing coral around the world.
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| - | To Cayman residents who depend on tourism, that would be a small investment if it were enough to save the coral reefs.
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| - | Even with a 50 percent decline in hard corals, Caymans' reefs are still considered among the healthiest in the Atlantic. Scientists say the islands are geographically isolated by surrounding water 6,000 feet deep, which minimizes the impact of pollution from other countries. The Marine Conservation Law passed in 1986 established the marine park system and has played a key role in protecting Caymans' reefs. But director of the Cayman Islands Department of the Environment, Gina Ebanks-Petrie, said it has struggled to adapt to rapidly changing environmental conditions.
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| - | Nancy Easterbrook, of dive operator Divetech said "If the coral reef dies, the algae will go, and the tropical fish will go. Then there will be nothing left to see."
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| - | He added that more funding has been proposed in the 2007/08 Budget for a continued reorganising of the Grand Cayman landfill.
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