The Ministry of Infrastructure is seeking contractors to clear the remaining structures and debris from the former dolphinarium in Blowing Point.
During a government press conference on 12 October, infrastructure minister Jose Vanterpool said a request for information will be issued this week.
“This has been a concern that has been raised by many visitors as well as residents over the years, and I want the public to know that the government is committed to addressing this,” he said.
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Vanterpool encouraged interested contractors to look out for the request and participate in the process.
“This is the next step towards finally resolving what has been a long-standing eyesore at one of the gateways to our island,” he said.
Anguilla’s dolphinariums
Anguilla’s first dolphinarium, Dolphin Lagoon, which held captive bottlenose dolphins in 17ft-deep tanks in Meads Bay, was established in 1998 by US doctor Graham Simpson.
In 2004, Simpson and his wife sold the facility, renamed Dolphin Fantaseas Anguilla, to Dolphin Discovery, an international marine-mammal attraction company.
Dolphin Discovery sold the Meads Bay land in 2005 and agreed to vacate, prompting a search for a new site where it could develop an open-water attraction.
It identified Sandy Point to the west of the Blowing Point Ferry Terminal as a suitable location, but during construction faced legal challenges.
Concerns were raised over the adequacy of Dolphin Discovery’s environmental impact assessment, use of Crown land and whether required development permits had been obtained.
Critics also questioned whether the dolphins would have adequate living space and water quality, and whether their waste would pollute surrounding waters and damage coral reefs.
A sudden end
Despite the objections, in June 2012, the government signed a licence allowing the company to operate the dolphinarium, and the facility opened that July.
The site comprised dolphin pens submerged in the sea connected by boardwalks, alongside a range of visitor amenities.
Guests could pay up to $179 for encounters that included meeting, kissing, hugging, shaking ‘hands’ with, riding and swimming with the dolphins.
After five years in operation, in September 2017 Hurricane Irma struck the island causing considerable damage to the facility.
Several weeks later, Dolphin Discovery reported that the dolphins had been evacuated prior to the storm to its Dolphin Cove site in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.
The attraction never reopened, and its abandoned structures and debris remain in Blowing Point over nine years later.
