THE EDITOR, Sir:
I RECENTLY read Mr. Peter Espeut's article, 'Checking Out the Competition' published in the Jamaica Gleaner on May 12, 2004, which describes his visit to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, in preparation for the upcoming Pew Fellows Programme meeting in November 2004.
I was dismayed to discover that his piece was rife with inaccuracies and errors, and furthermore, that such a poorly researched piece was widely circulated in the Pew Fellows Programme newsletter, SeaSpan. I would like to correct the numerous inaccuracies and errors that appeared in his article.
Grupo Punta Cana, a Dominican company, is the sole owner of the Punta Cana Resort and its family of related businesses, and social and environmental endeavours. Frank Rainieri, a prominent Dominican businessman, is the President and CEO of the company. Oscar de la Renta and Julio Iglesias are also on the Board of Directors (Jose Feliciano does not own property in Punta Cana). My family is a minority stockholder in the company; I do not "preside over the company." We originally purchased the land in the 1960s, not in the 1940s. The workers in our businesses do not live in "a shanty town."
We provide housing for our workers and transportation to and from Higuey for the majority of workers that commute to work. We also have constructed the Punta Cana village for our employees, which has houses with electricity, plumbing, air-conditioning, and access to the nearby Punta Cana church.
We own and operate the bilingual Punta Cana School for the children of workers in the area and are also in the process of building a 400-student polytechnic high school where the children living in the area will be able to learn professional skills and training.
In fact, The New York Times published an article on August 29, 2003 highlighting Punta Cana's "sense of corporate responsibility often unheard of in Latin America."
The New York Times also reported in a Travel Advisory by Rachel L. Swarms on May 9, 2004 as follows: "In 2002, the Dominican Republic was the most popular Caribbean destination for Caribbean residents, surpassing Jamaica and the Bahamas, according to the Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, a branch of the Commerce Department."
Additionally, the condition of the Punta Cana Reef he attempts to analyse in three dives contradicts the findings of a study conducted by The National Centre for Caribbean Coral Reef Research at the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science at the University of Miami. This team, many of whom will attend the Pew conference in Punta Cana in November, found that living coral covered approximately nine per cent of the suitable substrate on reefs in the Punta Cana region (not two per cent as he concludes), a quantity that we recognise is inadequate.
While Espeut takes 'perverse delight' in the coral cover that was lower than in his country, the University of Miami found that reef cover lower than that in Punta Cana has been reported for only two countries, Cuba and Jamaica. Also in direct contradiction to his article, the University of Miami found that "It is very likely that overfishing is the single most significant contributor to the decline of the reefs in this region." This team also observed "significant overgrowth of algae at all sites. Because fish densities are so low, this is to be expected. A healthy fish population serves, in part, to keep algae in check. When algal growth goes unchecked, algae overgrow the places where coral would normally flourish, and, at an ever-increasing pace, the coral reefs shift into dark forests of thick algae. This shift is obvious in the Punta Cana region."
Espeut's estimates of only 20 fishermen in the area are also grossly inaccurate. There are over 70 fishermen who belong to the local fishermen association and numerous unregistered fishermen that come from Higuey, Beron, Bavaro, and other areas to fish on and near the reef.
SALT-TOLERANT GRASS SEED
What Espeut clearly didn't learn on his trip was that the Punta Cana golf course uses a salt-tolerant grass seed, which requires less fertiliser than normal golf courses (not the "tons" that he claims). Additionally, we are one of the only developments in the Punta Cana region that operates a waste treatment facility to clean wastewater from our hotel facilities and private residences and reduce pollutants that leach into the ocean. We also have numerous social and environmental programmes aimed at improving the marine and terrestrial habitats of the region.
We are looking forward to hosting the Pew Conference in November specifically because we are concerned with the current status and health of the Punta Cana reef system. We feel that the "world-famous environmental scientists" that will attend this meeting offer the unique ability to contribute to community-based strategies for protecting and restoring the Punta Cana reef, utilising the best possible science to "leave a legacy" in protecting the marine resources of Punta Cana. In the future, I would recommend that Mr. Espeut attempt to utilise the best possible science and most accurate information before "throwing the blame" in his articles.
I am, etc.,
THEODORE W. KHEEL
tedkheel@aol.com
Grupo Punta Cana
75 East 55th Street
New York, New York
Via Go-Jamaica
