There is ever growing opposition to the Summer’s End Mega Yacht Marina development in Coral Bay of the Caribbean island of St. John. As a constituent district of the United States Virgin Islands and an unincorporated American territory, locals have no Presidential voting rights and only ‘non-voting status’ in Congress. This small island of less than five thousand people is now finding it needs help to save Coral Bay.

According to the Silvia Earle Alliance, the “three standing members of the Coastal Zone Management board are all childhood friends with the acting chairman of the Virgin Islands Port Authority, Bob O’Connor, a key principal. It was Bob O’Connor and one of the CZM members who secured leases on the property”.

Governor-Elect of the United States Virgin Islands Kenneth Mapp has publicly voiced his opposition to the Marina calling the development “too big” for Coral Bay. You can see a video of his comments in the YouTube video at the bottom of this post.

Opposition from locals is getting more organized as well. Friends of the Virgin Islands National Park has also sided with the opposition releasing a letter to the public, explaining the Summer’s End Marina will be detrimental to the health of the National Park, the National Monument, and Hurricane Hole, as well as the many endangered and threatened species residing within. According to the letter:

The monument contains significant biological flora and fauna, including several threatened and endangered species, which forage, breed, nest, rest, or calve in the waters. Humpback whales, pilot whales, four species of dolphins, brown pelicans, roseate terns, least terns, hawksbill sea turtles, leatherback sea turtles, and green sea turtles all use portions of the monument. Countless species of reef fishes, invertebrates, plants and algae utilize these submerged lands during their lives, and over 25 species of seabirds feed in the waters.

A local artist known as Captain Buck recently penned a protest tune found here.

If you should feel so inclined, please donate to the legal defense fund. We have already raised close to $70K which will help pay for the appeal of the CZM decision, filed on November 14, 2014 by the Virgin Islands Conservation Society (more info here), as well as opposition to the Federal permitting processes.