PROBLEMS at the beach.
Problems on land.
They might be different, but this week’s Heather-Lynn’s Habitat focuses on a similar fight of two men to head off what they see as impending problems.
For one, he is seeking to head off a possible illegal dump in his neighbourhood; for the other, he is seeking to prevent injuries to those who enjoy the waters of a section of the West Coast.
IT’S A NEW MENACE that has come out of beach improvement work done on the West Coast.
And one concerned citizen fears for the lives and limbs of beachgoers who try to take advantage of the golden sandy beaches between Discovery Bay and Sandpiper Hotel on the island’s Platinum Coast.
Detlef Fehrmann, a retired German businessman and Canadian citizen, is a repeat visitor with more than 400 visits to the island.
He now calls Barbados home five months out of the year and lives at a condominium at Art Studios.
Fehrmann is quick to applaud the work done by the Coastal Zone Management Unit (CZMU).
“It’s a fantastic project,” he said of the CZMU’s Holetown Waterfront Improvement Project, which stabilised a number of beaches and provided a concrete walkway linking once inaccessible parts of the West Coast.
But he has now found himself doing his own beach improvement work to add little finishing touches.
Detlef Fehrmann shovelling sand to provide a smoother footing for people who have to make their way across the coral stone boulders.
“The Platinum Coast has been bought up. You hardly have a window to the sea so I said I would create my own little effort here.
“When they took all the heavy machinery out of here, I said I have to do something. I brought in sand, palms. I put in plastic pipes for beach umbrellas and it’s not only for us here but it’s for the whole neighbourhood,” Fehrmann revealed.
That effort created an upper beach. But his major concern now, said Fehrmann, was the coral stone boulders which had been placed on the beach.
Fehrmann said some visitors had already had painful and bloody accidents as they failed to negotiate the huge, unevenly placed and sharp boulders.
And all it called for, he said, was a circular spot of cement on top of the boulders, which would provide a pathway for the less agile beachgoers.
The solution was so simple, he wondered why it was not included in the original plan for the area.
“We are caught between a rock and hard place,” he said.
“It’s now four months since this is known. I could have done it myself – buy some cement, some sand, start mixing. No big problem, but I don’t want to interfere with these coral boulders. I didn’t put them there, otherwise the CZMU might be breathing down my neck.”
He added that if officials just appealed to him for help, he would have no problem mixing the concrete and applying it himself.
And in fact, he has.
According to him, tired of waiting for a response from CZMU, he waited until the high tide had receded on Monday night and “put in a couple spots” on top of some of the boulders.
Fehrmann has also made it his business to clean up the area.
His morning litter patrols and his intense way of speaking about the dirty practice have earned him the nickname ‘The Judge”.
Nip dump in the bud
A RESIDENT of Clapham, St Michael, is concerned that the dumping of some tree cuttings could become the start of an illegal dump in his neighbourhood.
Requesting anonymity, the man said the cuttings were placed on an open lot near the hard court at Clapham Park, about a week ago, by another resident of the neighbourhood.
Alluding to the littering habits of Barbadians, he said: “This here got to move ’cause when it dump here and somebody see it dump there, they can [start to] dump here too.
“What should happen was that it should be cut up in pieces, put in a bag, call Sanitation [Service Authority] and let them remove it.”
He contended that the dried, prickly branches now made it difficult for him to clean the area since he could no longer access certain areas.
Those branches joined two piles of brush cuttings, which the concerned man said were left behind when those with responsibility for the hard courts cleared the area and when the water course was cleared of brush.
He said he had contacted the Ministry of Health and health inspectors at the Winston Scott Polyclinic about removing the piles, but has had no positive response.
The dunks tree cuttings, which have been dumped on an open pasture, have become a source of concern for one resident who feels they could become the start of an illegal dump.
