The DoE is awaiting formal instructions from government on the moratorium announced by Environment Minister Dwayne Seymour in the Legislative Assembly on 5 Dec.
Seymour said the action followed “numerous observations and complaints” made to the DoE and the Ministry of Tourism.

While he did not give a time frame for the moratorium during the Legislative Assembly meeting, Seymour told the Cayman Compass that the freeze on licences for the Wildlife Interaction Zone will run for approximately six months.

The moratorium on new licences has capped the total number of authorised operators at the popular Wildlife Interaction Zone at 209, which the minister said was the overall total of current licencees.

DoE Deputy Director Tim Austin said the department, which is responsible for granting licences to operators, is waiting for directions regarding the licence applications.

“Subsequent to the Minister’s announcement, we have taken the decision to temporarily suspend issuing new licences until we receive written instruction from the Cabinet on the full nature of any moratorium or cap policy which Cabinet wishes to be applied,” Austin said in an emailed response to the Compass.

A recent post on a pro-cruise berthing and cargo project site alleged that the DoE was “overrunning” licences as it responded to claims of overcrowding at the local tourist attraction.

However, a DoE statement refuted this.

“Our duty was to issue licences to any operator who applied,” the statement said. “Prior to the recent announcement in the Legislative Assembly/Finance Committee, there were no guidelines or restrictions on numbers of vessels which could be licensed if they met all of the various criteria to make them eligible for a licence.”

The DoE said the increase in numbers of licensed vessels reflected the reality that more owners of vessels are applying to be part of the experience.

Additionally, the DoE said, there was “the confounding factor” of moving from a three-year licence to an annual licence under the National Conservation Law. The Marine Conservation Board previously approved and issued Wildlife Interaction Zone licences.

According to statistics on permits in 2017, the DoE issued nine new licences and four renewals.

“Using maths back from the current 125 in 2019 (58% increase over 2018), that would mean there were 79 in 2018 (49% increase over 2017), 53 in 2017 (20% increase over earlier) and 44 prior to that,” the DoE statement said.

While the DoE has been issuing licences, it said it has been monitoring the activity in the Wildlife Interaction Zone.

“We have been actively enforcing the requirement to have a WIZ permit and this has also resulted in an increase in applications,” the DoE statement said.

Seymour, in his statement in the Legislative Assembly, said the Cayman Islands Coast Guard will patrol the WIZ to assist with enforcing the rules.

What the regulations say

Under the WIZ rules, licensed vessels are not permitted to carry paying passengers into the Sandbar area of the Wildlife Interaction Zone after 2pm on weekends and 3pm on public holidays.
Licensed vessels are not permitted to carry more than 100 people per trip into the Sandbar area, regardless of the total capacity of the vessel.
Licensed vessels are also not permitted to discharge paying passengers into the Sandbar area of the Wildlife Interaction Zone if there are more than 1,500 people already in the area, and if more than 20 licensed tourist boats are in the area, and should remain at the Sandbar area of the WIZ zone no more than one hour per visit.
20 licensed tourist boats are in the area, and should remain at the Sandbar area of the WIZ zone for no more than one hour per visit.