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VOLUME:115 No.255, NOVEMBER 28TH, 2018

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INSIDE: FULL JURY SERVICE LIST PULLOUT TODAY

SHOWDOWN

• Consultants say emergencies only • Nurses to vote on strike Dec 4 • Teachers signal they’ll walk too

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamas Doctors Union maintained the planned industrial action could range from “work to rule”, NEARLY 600 senior which means following and junior doctors, fuelled working rules and hours by frustration, withdrew exactly as they are required services yesterday warn- to reduce efficiency – utiing that only “life and lising sick days, go slow, death” cases will be accom- taking leave as is desired or modated until there is even demonstrating in the resolution over outstanding coming days. physician reimbursements According to CPSA presand improvements to base ident Dr Locksley Munroe, salaries. doctors in the country feel Anyone reporting to undervalued and believe any of the country’s public their issues have continmedical ued to linger. facilities will It is time, experience he said, the “difficulties” unresolved receiving matters come care, the docto a close. tors insisted, Dr Munroe adding that added that no elective the duration procedures of this action were to be rests on the carried out. shoulders of Later, the the PHA. Public HospiThere are tals Authority 120 senior advised that or consultall electives DR LOCKSLEY MUNROE ant doctors were cancelled. and 460 junior These included procedures ones. “As the general public at out-patient specialty knows this body - the Conclinics inclusive of medical, sultant Physicians Staff surgical, dental, ENT (ear, Association - submitted an nose and throat), eye clinic industrial proposal in Januand family medicine clinics, ary of 2016 and since then we which were reduced until have had interactions with further notice.

Public Hospitals AuthorIn a move seen as crip- ity and administrators,” Dr pling to healthcare, the Munroe said yesterday.

Consultant Physicians Staff SEE PAGE THREE Association backed by the

POST OFFICE OPERATING ‘BY YEAR END’

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net

PRESS Secretary Anthony Newbold said yesterday the General Post Office’s department and staff relocation to the Town Centre Mall will be complete, if not by Christmas, by the end of the year.

Speaking to reporters during his weekly press briefing, Mr Newbold said “several” departments will have moved by Christmas and the rest by the end of December.

He also said new post office boxes have been ordered and added the relocation to a bigger space does mean it’s “quite possible” more jobs could be required.

Mr Newbold also dismissed rumours that there have been layoffs at the Gaming Board and said the government has “no plans” to reduce the public sector during the upcoming year.

SEE PAGE SIX

‘WTO COULD BRING HALT TO GROWTH’

By NATARIO MCKENZIE Tribune Business Reporter nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

TIGER’S IN TOWN TIGER WOODS is hosting golf’s Hero World Challenge in Albany, New Providence this week where 18 of the world’s best players will be in action.

For more coverage, see Sport.

AN ex-Cabinet minister yesterday called for more focus, and specific policy actions for vulnerable industries that may not be able to withstand the “initial shock” of World Trade Organisation membership.

Ryan Pinder, now a Graham, Thompson & Company attorney and partner, told a Bahamas Chamber of Commerce and Employers Confederation (BCCEC) breakfast meeting on the WTO that the most “significant challenge” for this nation’s accession is the impact on Bahamianowned industries that rely heavily on existing tariff protection.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

SIX YEARS ON - WHERE’S MY MONEY?

By NEIL HARTNELL Tribune Business Editor nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN justice has been denied a fullymodernised Supreme Court registry because of a sixyear legal dispute over an alleged multi-million dollar breach of contract. Aaron ‘Kiki’ Knowles, the former FNM strategist, and his Benchmark Publishing Company have been unable to complete a project to

convert court records into a searchable electronic database.

Legal filings obtained by Tribune Business reveal their rolling contract, which began in 2008 and involved the electronic scanning, logging and indexing of hundreds of thousands of pages, was allegedly first interrupted when it reached “phases six to eight” in early 2012.

Mr Knowles and Benchmark claim that $560,000

in due payments were withheld between March-July 2012.

Politics then appears to have intervened when the PLP won the 2012 general election. The Christie administration likely had little time for Mr Knowles, given his role as FNM advocate and close association with former PM Hubert Ingraham, and Benchmark almost immediately had trouble fulfilling its contract.

FULL STORY - SEE BUSINESS

Nassau & Bahama Islands’ Leading Newspaper

ALICIA WALLACE MARCH, YES - BUT THAT CAN ONLY BE THE FIRST STEP

SEE PAGE EIGHT

PAGE 2, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

PLP chairman Fred Mitchell.

DEPUTY Prime Minister Peter Turnquest.

Mitchell: Cut the attacks - and not the economy

By RIEL MAJOR PROGRESSIVE Liberal Party Chairman Fred Mitchell criticised Finance Minister Peter Turnquest yesterday for what he called “ad hominem attacks” against PLP Deputy Leader Chester Cooper.

Mr Turnquest and Mr Cooper, the PLP’s finance spokesman, have been in a war of words after the latter suggested the steep revision to the 2017-2018 deficit estimates after just five-and-a-half months showed the government “simply doesn’t know what it’s doing”.

Tribune Business reported the Exuma and Ragged Island MP argued the deficit was “not substantially different” from what

the Christie administration incurred in 2016-2017, as its $661m worth of “red ink” would have been much lower if not for the impact of Hurricane Matthew.

This prompted an immediate response from Mr Turnquest, who accused Mr Cooper of “amnesia” over the four successive Bahamas sovereign credit rating downgrades presided over by his party when in office.

In response to the row, Mr Mitchell said: “I was particularly concerned after I saw a report on Eyewitness News last night about the ad hominem attacks that are involved every time Peter Turnquest gets pinned to the mat on the figures and facts which he spins with regards to his superintendents of the job of minister of finance.

“Every time the (FNM) came to office they would then say ‘stop, review and cancel’ and they have done it again this time. We warned them when they came into office not to believe their own propaganda. They deliberately pursued a strategy where unwisely, so they thought, that you can go to the bank borrow several hundred million dollars and pay off all your debts.

“It is impossible to pay off your debts; you cannot pay off all your debts.

Debt is a fact of life and in a developing country you cannot have development unless you have debt.”

He continued: “The whole question is one of management and the competence of the leadership.

The moment you signal to a

country that you are cutting back...when the government does that everything in this country depends on government spending. When the government does that there is a negative impact on this economy so it is no surprise that the deficit figures that they predicted have proven to be false and it’s going to get worse because of their own doing.”

Mr Mitchell also accused the government of moving the goalposts on the Grand Lucayan resort purchase and planned sale.

“They have said for example that they are investing in a hotel, $65m in Grand Bahama design, they say to create jobs but the first thing that happens is 200 people get laid off or about to get laid off so how

many jobs did they save?

Then they said they’re not going to spend anything on the hotel, the hotel will be sold within six months, now they have announced that deadline has slipped and that’s not going to happen and they now say they are going to spend $3.5m of Bahamian tax payers’ money on a facelift of the hotel.”

Mr Mitchell said as Mr Turnquest is the minister of finance, he has a credibility problem because the facts don’t add up.

“The facts show very clearly that the FNM has a credibility problem. The proof is in the pudding and the pudding does not taste good.”

As the Christmas season is fast approaching, Mr Mitchell said if a PLP

finance minister were in office their goal would to be to ensure people have a good Christmas not continuously announce bad news.

“Instead this man gets up and it’s just one bad story after the next,” said Mr Mitchell.

“We must cut back, we must do this, we must do that, they laying off people soon and so forth that’s not the PLP story and that’s not the PLP action. So all we have to do today is to present those two stories – a narrative of stop, review and cancel or the narrative of growth.

“The FNM is the stop, review and cancel narrative and the PLP is for growth and development and I think the country does better on the PLP side.”

TWO JAILED FOR SERIES OF HOUSEBREAKING OFFENCES

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

TWO men accused of multiple charges of stealing, housebreaking, attempted housebreaking and receiving, were yesterday sentenced to more than two years each on

two-thirds of the counts.

Kendrick Miller and Corey Sweeting, who pleaded not guilty to all charges when they were initially arraigned in October, in their appearance before Magistrate Ambrose Armbrister requested opportunities to re-enter

their respective pleas.

The pair, back in October, had alleged that they were abused while in custody and forced to sign statements against their will.

However, while they both maintained this position, the pair later admitted their guilt to all offences.

According to court

dockets presented by Police Sargent 2733 Lincoln McKenzie, the pair on various days between March and September, unlawfully entered at least ten homes, stealing various items.

In each of the scenarios, the accused admitted to entering these homes

unlawfully, and making off with valuables with the intent of exchanging them for financial gain.

Magistrate Armbrister, who had carriage of only ten of the cases, convicted the pair and sentenced them to various terms of imprisonment, all to run concurrently.

The lengthiest sentenced imposed on Sweeting was 34 months, while the longest penalty imposed on Miller was 36 months.

The men have seven days to appeal the sentences.

They were not represented by an attorney yesterday.

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, PAGE 3

PHA: WE REGRET DECISION TO TAKE INDUSTRIAL ACTION

By KHRISNA RUSSELL Deputy Chief Reporter krussell@tribunemedia.net

THE Public Hospitals Authority said it “regretted” the Consultant Physicians Staff Association’s decision to take industrial action yesterday. It added that a meeting has been proposed for some time between November 30 and December 7 on issues of contention.

The PHA further advised that measures were taken to limit the impact on services rendered at public institutions as a result of the withdrawal of services by

the CPSA. All emergency services will continue and the PHA will endeavour to provide the highest level of patient care.

PHA’s response to the doctors came hours after the CPSA announced its members would take industrial action in several forms ranging from work to rule, go slow, withdrawal of services or even protesting.

The CPSA was backed by the Bahamas Doctors Union for a total of 580 doctors who took action.

Weighing in on the standoff yesterday, Progressive Liberal Party leader Philip Davis said the doctors’ actions were “regrettable,”

adding physicians should not have to take industrial to resolve labour issues.

He said the prime minister and minister of labour must act with haste to ensure the situation is restored to normalcy as soon as possible.

Meanwhile, PHA said it looked forward to continuing discussions with doctors.

“The authority regrets the decision taken by the CPSA given that less than one week ago the PHA offered a third counter proposal on November 21, which the CPSA formally acknowledged receipt of on that same day,” the PHA said.

“Since discussions began

with the Consultant Physicians Staff Association, agreement has been reached on several significant items, including leave benefits, a pathway to health insurance and the formation of joint committees to establish performance-based compensation models and medical malpractice insurance.

“The management of the PHA continues to believe that negotiations were continuing amicably, and looks forward to the continuation of this process. A meeting has been proposed for a date between November 30 and December 7; the PHA awaits confirmation of a date convenient to the CPSA.”

It continued: “The PHA maintains open lines of communications with the CPSA and encourages constructive dialogue with respect to their grievances.

It is our hope that discussions will continue in good faith as we seek to fulfil our mandate of delivering quality healthcare to the Bahamian people.”

A press release issued previously explained that several services were cancelled. “The public is further advised that services at all out-patient specialty clinics, inclusive of medical, surgical, dental, ENT (ear, nose and throat), eye clinic and family

medicine clinics have been reduced until further notice. Persons holding appointments for clinics are asked to contact the respective clinics to reschedule appointments.

“Elective surgeries have been cancelled until further notice, only emergency cases will be performed at this time. All dialysis and chemotherapy treatments will continue to be carried out as usual.

“The public is reminded that only emergency cases should present to the PMH for care.” For more information on emergency cases, people should contact the A&E hotline on 326-7014.

Doctors in the country feel undervalued and it is time the unresolved matters come to a close, says CPSA president from page one “For us it has been rather difficult primarily because industrial action is not something that physicians generally would be engaged with and essentially we had to learn some very, very painful lessons.

“So far that interaction has been progressive at least in a preliminary manner. However following their directives last year, November of 2017, we were advised concerning financial matters and we followed those directives.

We submitted our templates on the manner in which physicians should be reimbursed and yet this is one year later and we still have not come to any sort of resolution or conclusion on the matter of physician reimbursement.

“Given the implications of that, that is what triggered this event today (yesterday) that the body as a whole is frustrated and feels that they are not valued in any way by the authorities and therefore in terms of withdrawal of services, that is what the plan of action is as of today just to let the general public know that the physicians are not satisfied with the manner in which their concerns are being dealt with and therefore we are making a statement to the public in particular just to let them know that there is going to be difficulties and also to the administrators that is time for this matter to come to a satisfactory conclusion.”

“As of today there are going to be industrial action and the public just needs to understand. We hope that they are going to be on our side,” Mr Munroe said. ‘We are going to continue to ensure that no one’s life is at risk. It has to be a life and death situation, however so, yes, the profession of medicine shall look after you far better than our administrators are looking after the professionals in the medicine.”

Asked what it would take for the PHA to put an end to doctors’

DR Locksley Munroe and Dr Melisande Bassett yesterday. grievances he said: “Essentially they would need to correct our salaries and we are not even asking for what is the true value and worth of the consultants, we’re simply asking that our services be honoured. It is still essentially an honorarium that we are asking for so if they can honour that request and as people speak about demand we’re not making demands we are simply asking that you respect what it is that we do. Once they do that then everything will be sorted out.”

Photo: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

Dr Melisande Bassett, representing the BDU, pointed to the measures taken by the three unions operating under the PHA, which have either taken or sought to take industrial action. She said this spoke volumes of the level of displeasure among medical personnel.

Dr Bassett said: “Today the presence of myself along with my executive team and other junior doctors is to lend support to the consultant body as well as to bring light to the fact that there are three organisations that

work under the PHA that have either gotten approval for strike action or are in the process of seeking it. That in itself, I think, speaks volumes. We all face a common obstacle in trying to get the administration to understand that their employees are not indentured servants, but we are partners in healthcare and we can’t be marginalised and ignored just because you don’t understand the services that we provide.

“To give the public an idea of that the junior doctors with the consultant doctors have been in

talks to make certain that emergency healthcare is not withdrawn and all emergencies are met.

“We will support our consultants in ensuring that they are duly compensated for the hard work they do and when we do get our approval for our strike vote they will support us as well because there are many issues that we face that we all share together and we can’t provide the best healthcare to the public if we are disadvantaged, that’s the bottom line and we need the administration to understand this,” Dr Bassett said.

Now nurses consider own strike poll

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net

AS DOCTORS engage in industrial action, nurses are preparing to take a new strike poll of their own signaling more bad news for the public health sector.

Bahamas Nurses Union President Amancha Williams confirmed this yesterday, acknowledging the validity of a letter circulating on social media that revealed the union has applied to the Department of Labour to conduct a new poll on December 4.

Key reasons are the “failure of the Ministry of Health to facilitate outstanding payments to nurses” and “unilateral variation of the industrial agreement by the Public Hospitals Authority.”

Nurses previously took a strike poll on June 7. At the time, 377 participants voted “yes” to go on strike and seven voted against.

However, the government refused to give the union a strike certificate, saying it did not give every nurse in the country an opportunity to vote.

The BNU called this a thinly veiled attempt at withholding a strike certificate from the union at all costs, noting the total number of nurses who

did not have an opportunity to vote was only six.

“It was all a government plot so we wouldn’t be able to strike,” according to Ms Williams. “And we know why. We constitute one of the largest group of employees in the hospital and that’s why they held our strike certificate.

“They were wrong because the rules and regulations say there has to be a written complaint from a nurse saying she wasn’t given an opportunity to vote, and they had no such complaint.”

A key issue animating the BNU’s strike poll call has been the proposed shift change expected to be implemented next month. Nurses vehemently oppose the change from a four on/four off shift to a five on/two off one.

Their position was buttressed this month when Director of Labour John Rolle told The Nassau Guardian that a 2014 agreement between the Public Hospitals Authority and the BNU relating to the shift change was nonbinding, a position at odds with the legal view of PHA. Mr Pinder said that 2014 agreement was not registered with the Department of Labour.

In an interview with The Tribune recently, former BNU President Jannah Khalfani, the woman who

AMANCHA WILLIAMS signed the 2014 agreement with the PHA, suggested the union had outsmarted the governing body during negotiations, capitalising on its supposed ignorance of the proper process for changing the terms and conditions of the nurses’ employment. The PHA, Ms Khalfani said, needed to send a letter to the union officially requesting that the industrial agreement be opened to negotiations, a process never started.

Ms Williams said in view of such revelations, PHA’s decision not to reverse its announced shift change shows its disrespect for nurses.

“You would think they would come and sit down, apologise to the union and say let’s start over,” she said. “But no. They are bullies, stiff-faced, and disrespectful.”

Late last month, the PHA called it “reprehensible”

that the BNU would admit to “deception” during negotiations in 2014.

“The PHA stands on its original position that our proposed implementation of the standardised shift system is supported by and is in compliance with the Employment Act of 2001, the specific agreement dated December 9, 2014 and the industrial agreements between the PHA and the BNU covering the periods of July 1, 2010 to November 15, 2015 and November 16, 2015 to November 15, 2020,” PHA said in a statement last month. “We further contend that we do not rely on these agreements in combination, but that each document stands

on their own, giving rise to our authority to amend our shift system as well as our roster schedules. These rights are clearly spelt out in the 2010 industrial agreement and more specifically, in article five of the 2015 industrial agreement.

Further in consideration to our nurses and the BNU, we sought their concurrence regarding the value of the compensation; the period of the work week, as well as the minimum break period between shifts, to which the BNU agreed.”

PAGE 4, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

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Time for Mr Culmer to start listening IT IS a rare thing in politics to be able to please all of the country – but if ever there was a statement seemingly designed to annoy everyone it was the one made by FNM chairman Carl Culmer.

Hundreds of Bahamians took the time to march in protest on Wednesday last week to express their concerns about the state of the nation.

The message was perhaps not as focused as it could be – complaints ranged from high electricity bills, unemployment through to general dissatisfaction with Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis. That said, when hundreds of people march in protest, they deserve at least to be listened to.

In dismissing the march with the words “Much like the PLP, the march was a complete failure”, Mr Culmer does nothing but reinforce the image of a government that is arrogant, doesn’t understand and won’t listen.

Does that image match the government’s actual performance? Perhaps.

Perhaps not. But playing down the concerns of so many does nothing to ease such worries. It does nothing to show the government really will listen to what people have to say.

Oddly enough, one person Culmer should perhaps be listening to is one of his party’s own senators. In pointing out that the PLP have little virtue to boast about from joining in Wednesday’s march when they struggled to listen to the participants of the “We March” protest during their own term, Jamal Moss is showing the awareness that Culmer seems to lack.

The lesson for Culmer to draw, however, is not to dismiss the march – but to understand that in not listening to those who took part in the “We March”

protest, the PLP added another nail to their political coffin.

If there’s one thing more than anything else that the people have grown tired of, it’s the trading of political insults and pointing the finger of blame at the opposite side.

When people want answers over the high cost of electricity, they don’t want someone to point the finger and say “Blame dem”.

When people want an explanation for the deficit already being $105m higher than predicted just over five months ago, they deserve better than the Deputy Prime Minister promising accountability later rather than now.

When the Prime Minister promises a review of rescue operations in the aftermath of the crash that left pilot Byron Ferguson missing, people are entitled to point out that he also promised a review of the BPL board collapse and there has been little sign of that happening.

When the much-touted Oban deal now seems to be much forgotten about and no one seems to be forthcoming about it, people are entitled to ask if the government really did its due diligence in that matter – and whether they are doing so in other deals.

If instead the government chooses to dismiss the concerns of the people, they should not be surprised if the people chooses to dismiss the government.

That is the lesson that Mr Culmer should learn from previous protest marches – and if he or his comrades don’t listen, then he is opening the door for someone who does.

And that, we think, is what the people ultimately want – politicians who listen, who give straight answers and who can at last deliver the change so many in this country need.

We are living in the world of designer babies EDITOR, The Tribune YESTERDAY it was announced that twin girls were born in China. They are the first babies in the world to be genetically altered, in order to make them immune to HIV. And so it begins... humans have found the means to reengineer themselves.

CRISPER (clustered regularly interspersed short palindromic repeats) is a library of DNA snippets, that bacteria use to identify viruses and destroy them. This technique has been adapted to work on the human genome.

Sickle cell is caused by a genetic typo. The betaglobin gene has the letter A at position 17, instead of the letter T. Scientists can now create a CRISPER molecule that snips out the A and replaces it with a T. Problem solved. No more sickle cell. This can be done at the embryonic stage or even in a full grown adult.

Some people are naturally resistant to HIV (20% of Northern Europeans).

Turns out they have a naturally occurring mutation. They lack 32 letters of DNA in the gene CCR5, which is located on the surface of white blood cells.

HIV recognises and uses

these 32 letters to latch on to white blood cells to start the invasion. If you don’t have these 32 letters, then the HIV virus has nothing to attach to and you’re immune. So again, a custom CRISPR package can be built and injected into an embryo and presto, HIV immune baby. Similarly, adults can be injected to become immune and those with HIV, cured.

Some cancers are hard to treat. Lung, colon, breast, pancreatic, prostate, leukaemia, lymphoma, liver, ovarian, oesophageal, all have high mortality rates.

CRISPER can be used to target whatever cancer you may have. A DNA snippet of your cancer is programmed into a CRISPER molecule.

The same CRISPR is also programmed to modify T cells, so that they recognise that specific cancer. Inject the CRISPER package and a month later, cancer gone and cannot come back.

And it’s possible to create a CRISPER package that can recognise almost any form of cancer.

CRISPR packages can be devised to correct a slew of genetic disorders.

Autism, Crohn’s, cystic fibroses, Down’s syndrome, MS, haemophilia, Huntington’s, Parkinson’s,

Tay-Sachs and many others, can be prevented by injecting an embryo that grows to be totally free of these diseases.

But what’s more, these individuals will pass these genetic modifications to their offspring, who in turn will pass it on to theirs.

Thus, genetic disease can be eradicated from the human genome.

But what else is possible?

Well just about anything.

Belgian Blue cows are naturally about 20% more muscular than other cows.

It turns out that they have a defect in their myostatin gene (which acts as a brake on muscle development).

A CRISPR molecule can be devised that knocks out the myostatin gene in humans and presto, we have babies that are born super strong and grow up to looking like body builders. And again, they pass this modification to their offspring. Want children with blue eyes? No problem. Almost any trait can be programmed. And so eugenics becomes a reality.

We have entered the age of designer babies.

THEODORE P TSAVOUSSIS Nassau November 27, 2018

PLP is at a crossroads EDITOR, The Tribune

WHILE Sir Lynden was the foremost leader in Bahamian history, the Progressive Liberal Party is not the party of Sir Lynden, nor is it the party of any one man. Instead, it is a party emboldened by an idea of a grand experiment promoting the social and economic well-being of all Bahamians. Beneath the rubbles of our defeat is an ascending philosophy inscribed of ordinary duties inherited by the common interest we share with our founders.

Sixty-five years ago, the faith of these men, William Cartwright, Cyril Stevenson, and Henry Milton Taylor and the likes of them shaped the landscape of Bahamian history splintering the bones of an historical past burdened with the social, economic, and political oppression of the Bahamian people.

The idea of the Progressive Liberal Party spanning generations of humble people and ordinary men is challenged by a singular reality of our ability to kindle the conscience of the Bahamian people in the midst contemporary injustices and a status quo reasserting the economic battles of the past.

The imperfection, misfortunes, and defeats, of the Progressive Liberal Party, is powerless in its ability to renege us of the binding social and economic contract we have with the Bahamian people of uprooting the barriers that hinder their development.

The debt we owe to the Bahamian is constituted by the familiar words of wiping every tear from every eye aligned

LETTERS letters@tribunemedia.net with our wherewithal to realistically manage the expectations and the hopes of our people. To appear insolvent unable to bear the burden of the moral obligation of our inherited commitment will be the most significant broken promise of our time.

Avoiding uncomfortable truths has always led to the detriment of our party. The narrow interest men should not come at the expense of our cause, rob the hopes of our people, and delay the movement that rattles the roadblock of opportunities for all. The Progressive Liberal Party is a constant work in progress.

The progressive instincts that lead a historical vanguard with the willingness to dismantle the apparatus of social, economic and political suppression are the same progressive instincts that shattered the system of oligarchies that must inspire us to awaken to the consequential urgency of correcting the gross injustices and the feelings of inferiority among our people.

We should refrain from spending idle time on rebuking the mistakes of the past and instead use such energies on the moral instructions and the practical grooming of aspiring leaders. It’s a “sine qua non” that these aspiring and ambitious leaders have the unmatched skills and strong strength distinctively suited to guide us through soul-searching times.

The symbolising grit of

Progressive Liberal Party’s character is in our ability to allow history to reassure us in turbulent times that our founding ideas have allowed aroused citizens to join in the downtrodden struggle to shape their country’s course.

This paralysing debate of defining who we are as an organisation 65 years later can unquestionably be resolved by the renewal of our social and economic vision and the purpose that built and sustained this movement that has triumphed past tribulation.

The success of our party is intrinsically linked to the ironclad rule of politics; that the success or failure of any party is in the widespread support of its overall cause.

If you abandoned the interest of the people, they would leave you. The Progressive Liberal Party is small compared to that of the Bahamian people.

Decisions made in echo chambers must be relevant to the desires and wishes of the Bahamian people. The climate of opinion must be an instrument in determining the course of our party.

A continued refusal to take notice or acknowledge the prevailing perception of the Progress Liberal Party among the Bahamian people will fuel their unceasing resentment.

Therein lies an astonishing reality of The Progressive Liberal Party being at a crossroad; is our ability to redefine, retool, reconfigure, and preserve whom we are and whom we would like to become as a party.

LATRAE RAHMING Nassau November 25, 2018

Murky waters near Baha Mar EDITOR, The Tribune CURIOUS - what is Baha Mar building in the water, beach front in front of their hotel? Daily construction barges are seen crossing from Arawak Cay to Baha Mar - clearly a lot of piles have been erected.

Obstructions in the sea causes beaches to disappear.

Was there a public application for this?

Has Port Authority approved? What precisely is Baha Mar building? The water between Arawak Cay and west to Delaporte Point is supposed to be reserved with considerable restrictions such as the speed of

water craft - fishing. Does what Baha Mar is building comply? So we imploded the old Crystal Palace - no developer/investor would have spent a few million on that without a development plan having been approved to replace those buildings and we know it is proposed add an ‘amenity’.

If this has been approved, obviously without public transparency, it is time OPM - BIA whoever publicises what Baha Mar plans and now approved.

ABRAHAM MOSS Nassau October 30, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, PAGE 5

Teachers request strike vote over poor working conditions

By RIEL MAJOR THE Bahamas Union of Teachers has requested a strike vote for its members due to lingering issues, including concerns over mould, at C H Reeves Junior High School.

At a press conference yesterday, BUT acting president Joan KnowlesTurnquest said teachers have operated in good faith despite their many challenges. She said the teachers were presented with a show-cause letter by officials to explain their initial reasons to sit out.

The BUT has filed a trade dispute with the Department of Labour over the issue.

“A walk-about inspection was done by the Department of Labour to ascertain if mould is present, however the results of this walk-about have not been revealed to the union to date,” she said.

“Consequently, BUT wishes to advise that upon request of the members of C H Reeves Junior High School, a letter requesting a strike vote has been sent to the minister of labour, requesting the same,” said Ms Knowles-Turnquest.

Ms Knowles-Turnquest said the union stands in solidarity with its members in addressing the unhealthy and unsafe working environment and wants the Ministry of Education to correct the malfunctions that exist at the school and to revoke the show-cause letters presented to the teachers.

“To date work has ceased at the school and teachers are working in substandard conditions,” she said.

“Classes are being held outside and under a pavilion, four individual classes are packed into the school’s auditorium.

“Teachers have broken out with skin diseases, upper respiratory ailments, we had a few miscarriages, and God knows what else is out there that we are not addressing,”

MINISTER of Education Jeff Lloyd. she claimed. “These are hardworking and dedicated teachers who are working (under) conditions that are unhealthy and hazardous to their health. I think health is more important than anything else. We have students getting sick and we have teachers getting sick so we stand in unison with our teachers,” Ms KnowlesTurnquest said.

Vernon Rodgers, BUT area vice-president of New Providence, said: “One of the major problems is the roof that is leaking...there are some chemicals in the roof that we are not aware of and the ministry cannot

give us any answers. The (chemical) drips on them and it burns their skin, sclerosis, teachers’ thyroid glands swollen because of the environment.

“The teachers and the unions have questions and the government has yet to give any answers.”

Nearly two weeks ago Education Minister Jeff Lloyd said teachers and students had returned to C H Reeves after a two-week sit out was conducted by teachers.

Before this, Mr Lloyd said the Ministry of Education requested the assistance of Anthony Ryan

of the Environmental Monitoring Risk Assessment Division in the Department of Environmental Health, who assessed the school’s affected classrooms, finding what he described as recognised environmental concerns, including dust

Photo: Terrel W Carey/Tribune Staff and accumulated dirt. He cleaning of dust on ceiling subsequently formulated beams, and the cleaning a prescription to rectify of air-conditioning units, those issues, Mr Lloyd said, window sills and elsewhere. adding that a contractor Other contractors was immediately hired to made repairs to a leaky roof conduct the remediation and to faulty toilets in one of process. This included the the female students’ bathremoval of mildew, the rooms, the minister said.

SHOT MAN ‘STABLE’ IN HOSPITAL

A MAN is in hospital after he was shot on Monday night, police said. The incident occurred shortly after 8pm when a man was walking in the area of Commonwealth Boulevard and Malaysia Way in Elizabeth Estates. A dark-coloured vehicle pulled next to him and occupants opened fire in his direction before speeding away. The injured man was taken to hospital and is

listed in stable condition. Police in New Providence are also searching for a man responsible for an armed robbery that happened on Monday. Shortly after 5pm, a man was sitting in a 2009 silver Nissan Note on Collins Avenue when he was approached by an armed man who held him up and robbed him of the vehicle. Investigations are ongoing.

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1/25/17 11:54 AM

PAGE 6, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Over-the-Hill scheme to be explained at meeting

By MORGAN ADDERLEY Tribune Staff Reporter madderley@tribunemedia.net PRIME Minister Dr Hubert Minnis will host a town meeting this evening when elements of his administration’s Economic Empowerment Zone Act will be explained, press secretary Anthony Newbold said yesterday.

Executive manager of the Over-the-Hill Unit Samita Ferguson will lead the presenters who will discuss matters relevant to the new law, such as tax concessions for property and business development, discounts on custom’s duty, and the online application form.

The meeting will be held at Wesley Church Hall on Baillou Hill Road and Meadow Street and will last from 6.30pm to 8.30pm. All residents are invited.

“Tomorrow (Wednesday) night should be an exciting one for the residents of Over-the-Hill, because there will be

another town meeting at the Wesley Church Hall to address elements of the Economic Empowerment Zone Act,” Mr Newbold said at his weekly press briefing.

“Of course, the prime minister will be there, at a place he is quite comfortable (and) familiar with, to talk about what I call his most cherished initiative — the redevelopment of Over-the-Hill.

“The prime minister has spoken recently about the official groundbreaking at the Southern Recreation Grounds next week sometime, December 4 or 5,” Mr Newbold added.

“The hiring of between 40 and 50 environmental monitors.”

Regarding tonight’s meeting, Mr Newbold noted everyone, but “especially” residents of the area are encouraged to attend.

He added that Mrs Ferguson will lead a team of presenters who “will talk about tax concessions for the development of

property and for businesses under the economic Empowerment Zone Act”.

He also said: “(They will) talk about discounts on customs duties; exemptions on excise taxes; what happens with your business licence fee and who won’t have to pay it and for how long; same with stamp duty and real property tax.”

Representatives from the Ministries of Works and Finance, Department of Customs, National Insurance Board (NIB) and Department of Inland Revenue also will be there to help residents learn about the benefits of the new law.

“The process in applying for tax concessions in the Over-the-Hill area will be similar to the process that other people use to access any other concessions that’s offered by the government,” Mr Newbold said.

“The application process for accessing concessions… will be done mainly through

an online platform. And because of that, the Digitising and Modernisation Unit from the Ministry of Finance are going to be there tomorrow night and they’re going to demonstrate hands on how this can be done.”

When asked what will be done to accommodate residents who don’t have regular access to computers, Mr Newbold suggested the use of Urban Renewal centres.

“The Urban Renewal areas will be used in this regard as well, to help with that. And in addition to that, when the people from the Ministry of Finance go over there tomorrow night, they’re going to explain how best people will be able to access and to begin with a lot of people probably would need some help.

“So an area like the Urban Renewal centre will probably need to be made available so there’s a general area where people can go and make these applications.”

PRESS SECRETARY ANTHONY NEWBOLD

TOWN Centre Mall.

Photo: Shawn Hanna/Tribune Staff

POST OFFICE OPERATING ‘BY YEAR END’ from page one

When asked if the post office is still projected to open in time for Christmas, the press secretary said: “Not all of the departments.

Several of the departments will be there.

“In fact, what has happened is — you know, you’re moving the General Post Office there. Which means the post office boxes must be moved as well… Some of those boxes, they’ve outlived their usefulness.

“And so they’ve had to order some new boxes and that will work for some people who’ve been trying to get boxes at that General Post Office for a while.

Because in the process of ordering new boxes they’ve ordered some additional boxes. So that’s something that people who have been trying to get boxes up there will be happy to know.

“But all of the departments won’t be there before Christmas. But they expect that they should have all of them in there by the end of

To advertise in The Tribune, contact 502-2394

December.”

Mr Newbold added the staff should be moved in and up and running “by the end of December for sure.”

Regarding the likelihood of a new space opening up the avenue for new jobs, Mr Newbold said: “It’s quite possible. We will have to see what’s in there. You know some people would have retired at some point from the post office. But new facilities, it’s quite possible.”

Mr Newbold also responded to reports of layoffs at the Gaming Board, telling reporters: “No, not that I’m aware.”

When asked if the government plans to reduce the public sector in upcoming months or the upcoming year, Mr Newbold said no.

“No plans to reduce the public sector. And if there’s any change in the public sector it will come about through the normal process — people are hired or people reach the retirement age. But there’s no plan to reduce the public service, no.”

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, PAGE 7

11 months and counting in wait for survey paperwork

By RASHAD ROLLE Tribune Staff Reporter rrolle@tribunemedia.net AN American woman seeking to build a winter home in Eleuthera has been waiting 11 months for the surveyor general to certify and record her survey plan, a delay even people in the Department of Lands and Surveys privately say is outrageous.

Wisconsin resident Vaughn Rogers said it has been frustrating “to see that this is how The Bahamas system runs”, noting she has hired a lawyer to address her problem and has sent letters to the Office of the Prime Minister and even the US Embassy in Nassau, all to no avail.

According to the Bahamas Association of Lands and Surveys (BALS), her experience has become a feature of the system, not a bug. The association blames acting Surveyor General Thomas Ferguson for the problems.

In the past three years, the body, which has a statutory responsibility to oversee the surveying profession in The Bahamas, quietly sent letters and emails to former Prime Minister Perry Christie and his successor, Dr Hubert Minnis, asking them to remove Mr Ferguson from his post and advertise the position so it can be substantively filled by a qualified surveyor.

Critics are now speaking out, saying inertia at the office is harming business and the economy.

Land surveying, the process by which land boundaries are determined and demarcated, is essential for establishing title in The Bahamas, among other uses. When a surveyor submits a survey to the Department of Lands and Surveys, it is the responsibility of the surveyor general to determine that the survey has met necessary technical specifications and to authenticate, identify, deposit and record the plan so property can be registered.

Ms Rogers said she first bought her property 18 years ago. Unresolved issues have led her to the Supreme Court where a recorded survey is necessary for her case to proceed.

“We just need his approval of the plan so we could move forward with the property to go to court to finalise our property title,” she said. “A month would be appropriate but this is delaying things way too long and there has been no explanation given for the delay.”

Some staff of the Department of Lands and Surveys, speaking to The Tribune anonymously because they were not authorised to speak to the press, said it should not take longer than two months to have a survey recorded. Remarkably, they echoed the BALS’s view that Mr Ferguson should be removed from his post, citing low staff morale because of the

THE BAHAMAS Land and Surveys Department. office’s poor functioning.

Yesterday, Mr Ferguson’s secretary told The Tribune he won’t discuss the matter without approval from the permanent secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister.

BALS’ first request for Mr Ferguson’s removal was made to Mr Christie on June 13, 2016, a year after the association complained in an initial letter to the former PLP leader that Mr Ferguson was refusing “to sign for the recording of survey plans.”

“The acting surveyor general’s refusal to record survey plans in a timely fashion has continued to be a grave problem for many of our practising professionals and clientele,” wrote association president Emile Ledee.

“Six months to a year to receive a recorded survey plan is simply unacceptable, especially when the process is known to take one month’s time.

“One cannot explain Mr Ferguson’s lack of professionalism towards a well-established and reputed institution. What can be said is that the acting surveyor general’s lethargic approach to protocol is consistent as the last land surveyor’s board meeting was held on March 25, 2013.

“As was stated in my last letter to you, the Bahamas Association of Land Surveyors is well aware that there is a vacancy for the post of a qualified and engaging surveyor general. More importantly, this association has numerous members capable of filling this position.”

On Monday, Mr Ledee told The Tribune the decision to call for Mr Ferguson’s removal was unanimously made by attending BALS members during a 2015 meeting.

He sent a letter reiterating this desire to Prime Minister Dr Minnis on February 11 of this year and has raised the concerns with Parliamentary Secretary in the Office of the Prime Minister Pakesia Parker-Edgecombe.

With no ministry responsibility like his predecessors and a bold vision for land reform that he announced after coming to office, Dr Minnis, surveyors say, is well-positioned to prioritise and address their concerns, but is yet to do so. The Department of Lands and Surveys falls in his portfolio.

Mr Ledee said: “In 2015, probably in May, we noticed that a number of our practising professionals could not get plans recorded at the Department of Lands and Surveys. They were taking too long to get done. Could you imagine your client needing to get their business done and it’s taking half a year?

“What drives most economic recovery in this country is the development of land. I don’t know how you cannot pay attention to what is going on here, what is being said and what is being communicated to you.”

The Bahamas has long had a shortage of public service surveyors.

In 2009, during a major speech on the disposition of Crown land and government owned land in the country, former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham said the government’s efforts to engage and retain surveyors in the public service “have been met with mixed results over the years”.

He said in 2007 his administration hired “two seasoned retired public officers… to accelerate the completion of surveys”.

And in an attempt to find

THERE are claims that letters sent to Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis have been “diverted”.

the right fix, he said four different people performed as surveyor general during a two-year period.

According to Mr Ledee, however, inadequate staffing does not explain the office’s current woes.

“I’ve known the same gentlemen and ladies who are still there doing the work the surveyor general relies on,” he said.

“It’s not as if they’ve been inundated with a lot of work. The economy is only now coming on with some kind of sense. More

importantly, we’ve noticed a clear deterioration in that department’s functioning since Mr Ferguson took over (in 2014).”

Another surveyor, Roderick Woods, told The Tribune “there are lots of staff there that are not functional in the way they ought to function, the office needs to improve its performance.”

In a letter to Mrs ParkerEdgecombe on October 29, BALS said it is “aware” that its communications to the prime minister

about this matter have been “diverted”, suggesting people in government with alleged connections to Mr Ferguson have been protecting him.

As for Ms Rogers, the delay has been a headache – an expensive one as she has had to pay legal fees.

“We love being down there,” she said. “We love the country, love the people and we’re not getting anywhere and it’s very frustrating. I’m discouraged, but I will continue forward.”

PAGE 8, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

THE Enough is Enough march in Nassau last Wednesday.

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

P

ROTESTS are always political. They do not have to be partisan, but most of them end up being aligned with a political party, if only by perception.

The two-party system we have maintained created an environment in which the opposition positions itself as the friend of the people and capitalises on any disagreement between the people and the leading party. When the same party leads the government, sentiments change. We saw this with the FNM’s change in position on value added tax, from strongly opposing the introduction by the PLP to later increasing it by 60 percent. The FNM went from friend to foe in a matter of months and found itself on the wrong side of a protest last week.

No government likes protests, especially in response to their actions or inaction. They are a clear indication of public sentiment.

Protests attracting thousands of people signal dissatisfaction with the administration and do not bode well for upcoming elections. Governments sometimes pretend to be unmoved by protests. They often convince themselves they are in control, at least for the rest of the term, and refuse to acknowledge the validity of the positions protesters take.

In the minds of leading parties, they are superior to the Bahamian people, in knowledge, position and power. They, much to their detriment, put ego above communication, leaving a wide gap where consultation and negotiation could have taken place. This creates the perfect opportunity for members of the opposition to look like heroes. This is not a secret, and we saw it happen only two years ago.

Flip-flopping FNM In 2016, Minnis encouraged Bahamians to participate in a protest, calling it “the people’s march.” It was stated that politicians were not welcome, but he went anyway. In fact, it was reported he was a part of the group that went to Rawson Square although the permit was for Pompey Square. He said: “What the people are showing

March, yes - but that can only be a first step and telling the government is they are tired of things being thrown down their throat.”

After the march, he said he was a changed leader. “I will listen to my employer and do what is right for the Bahamian people. This is the people’s time and I will listen to what they have to say,” he said.

The march held last week drew a different response from the FNM. The party chairman called it a PLP event and a failure. The FNM made a statement that drew ridiculous comparisons between the two marches. It focused on the number of participants, using it to measure the public’s satisfaction with the government. This is a clear indication the party does not understand protests — how they are organised, factors determining participation level, markers of success.

The recent march did not receive anywhere near the amount of promotion we saw for the 2016 march, it took place at a different political time (not approaching a general election, nor at the height of dissatisfaction), and was focused on specific issues. These do not amount to a comparatively large turnout.

It is also unwise to interpret the participation of a few hundred people as Bahamians being “prepared to give the FNM time to do its job”. The number of protesters is more closely related to the factors mentioned as well as ability to get time off from work, backlash from participation in the last march, disillusionment with protests and recognising the probability of the protest, on its own,

having an effect on a government led by someone who joined the protest last year and pretended to understand the cries of the Bahamian people.

people and have ripple effects, putting pressure on the body they need to act.

The purpose of protests

Before planning a protest, organisers need to have a clear understanding of the problem, a goal, knowledge about the people or the body with the power to act on it, and an understanding of the power protesters have and how to use it to motivate the target to act.

It is not enough to translate dissatisfaction into catchy phrases on placards and stand in a space with a permit. Change requires more work, more planning, and more risk.

For governments and people in positions of power, it is not enough to acknowledge the people’s right to protest, and insulting organisers and participants is unacceptable. Reducing issues people face and their actions to change them to partisan politics is lazy and reductionist.

High utility bills and increased taxation know no party. Politicians can engage in their usual petty wars without discrediting or overshadowing the Bahamian people’s response to any administrations poor performance. It is dishonest to join protests for brownie points, and insulting to ignore protests or reduce them to partisan ploys. At 18 months in, the best course of action is to follow through on the commitments made in 2016. Be a different kind of leader. Listen, but do not stop there. Take action in the interest of the Bahamian people, and create systems that allow us to participate in decision-making processes. Hear our voices during the process. Protests should not be the only way we communicate.

It is clear the government does not understand protests, but it is quite likely that the general public does not understand them either.

Protests are not the first or last step, and they are not productive in and of themselves. A protest is one in a series of tactics. You do not stand in Rawson Square with a sign for a few hours and get rewarded with an amendment to legislation. That is not how it works, nor is it the way these protests are generally designed.

Without a strategy for bringing change, protests are little more than theatre, drawing attention to an issue by putting them in the media for a day or two. If there is no occupation, work stoppage, traffic disruption, or other inconveniences, a protest has little chance of advancing conversations for change.

The Bahamas has a new fondness for protests, not because they have been effective, but because it generally feels good to be surrounded by hundreds or thousands of people with similar sentiments and energy, get attention and communicate a message to state actors. There is, of course, power in that solidarity and the sense of community it can build.

Understanding we are not alone creates a shift from hopelessness to recognition of collective power.

The power of the protest especially the kind we see in The Bahamas - is not in the names of the organisers, size of the crowds, number of politicians joining, or relevance and necessity of the

Using protests strategically

demand being made. It is in the attention it draws and how that attention is used to action the rest of the plan. The reward of the moment is lost if no plan exists, and if participants are not able to speak to it.

The next step can be as simple as getting 5000 more signatures on a petition, but it is best when there is an escalation. This usually involves risk. The protesters showed up for a few hours, held signs, and participated in call-andresponse, but what else are they prepared to do? More specifically, what are the willing to lose?

Governments are less concerned about noise in Rawson Square than they are about thousands of people complaining about lack of access to services because people refuse to go to work.

There is a reason the threat of a strike restarts long-stalled negotiations. People are willing to take an action that will disadvantage

THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, PAGE 9

Hailing the future taxi: Dronecar mashup model takes flight AMSTERDAM Associated Press A SCALE model of a flying drone-car drove and hovered across an Amsterdam exhibition hall yesterday, providing a glimpse of what could be the future of urban mobility.

The “PopUp Next” prototype drone, being developed by aviation giant Airbus, automaker Audi and the Italdesign design house is made up of three separate modules — a chassis with wheels, a two-seat capsule for passengers and a four-rotor drone. The concept has been shown before, but a one-quartersize scale model made its maiden public flight at the Amsterdam Drone Week convention.

First, the drone flew across the hall and landed on a black parking spot.

Then a small car drove itself underneath the drone and its passenger capsule was lifted up to latch onto the underside of the drone. Once the two were docked, the drone lifted off again and flew back to its starting point, where the capsule was lowered onto another set of wheels

ype dePOPUP NEXT, a protot Italdeand bus Air di, Au by signed Amstersign is displayed at the rdam, ste Am in ek We ne Dro dam The twoNetherlands, yesterday. comes bin com icle veh ter sea with n atio ort nsp tra bines ground g capadin lan and ff e-o tak l tica ver g/AP bilities. Photo: Peter Dejon

to continue its journey.

The model’s test flight went off without a hitch, but don’t plan on hailing such an airborne ride any time soon. There are several steps to be taken before the PopUp Next,

or a future iteration of the drone, is ready for commercial use.

“For this we need to tick a list of boxes – the vehicle is one, safety is the overarching one, infrastructure is one, acceptability is

another one,” said Airbus executive Jean Brice Dumont. “I think it will take more than a decade until a real significant, massive deployment of an air taxi system” is ready.

One serious competitor

plans to be ready even earlier.

Uber unveiled an artist’s impression a year ago of a sleek machine it hopes to start using for demonstration flights in 2020 and to have in service in 2023.

Uber’s battery-powered aircraft looks like a cross between a small plane and a helicopter, with fixed wings and rotors.

Meanwhile, a Dutch company has developed its own flying vehicle called the PAL-V Liberty that is a three-wheeled, two-seat car and gyroplane rolled into one.

At the Amsterdam convention, European regulators also are discussing how to keep the continent’s airspace safe as more and more drones take to the skies.

European Union rules are expected to come into force next year harmonising drone regulations across the 28-nation bloc.

“As this industry is rapidly expanding, it is important for us to anticipate market developments and be prepared for change,” said Patrick Ky, executive director of the European Aviation Safety Agency.

Q&A ON SCIENTIST’S BOMBSHELL CLAIM OF GENE-EDITED BABIES

By LAURAN NEERGAARD AND MALCOLM RITTER Associated Press DESIGNER babies might be here sooner than anyone reckoned. A Chinese researcher who says he created gene-edited babies crossed what most scientists consider a forbidden line.

It’s not clear if the claim is true and if so, how the twin girls whose DNA reportedly was altered will fare as they grow.

There is wide scientific agreement that rewriting DNA before birth — to prevent an inherited disease or to give a baby some “designer” trait — isn’t yet safe to try outside laboratory experiments that do not lead to human births.

“Grossly premature and deeply unethical,” is how noted US bioethicist Henry Greely of Stanford University characterised the claim.

The researcher, He Jiankui of Shenzhen, said he altered embryos when parents were undergoing fertility treatments to change a gene so that it might provide the resulting babies with a trait few people naturally have — protection against future infection with the AIDS virus.

“This is probably the worst gene you would choose” to test in pregnancy because it doesn’t fix a disease the children were destined to get, said Shoukhrat Mitalipov of the Oregon Health

& Science University, who in laboratory-only experiments studies how to repair gene defects in embryos.

“Where is the assurance this mutation now will result in resistance to HIV?” Mitalipov added. “He’s testing his hypothesis on babies.”

Here are questions and answers about Monday’s claim and the state of gene editing: WHAT IS GENE EDITING? It’s a technology that lets scientists alter the DNA of living cells — from plants, animals, even humans — more precisely than ever before. It’s like a biological cut-and-paste program: An enzyme that acts like molecular scissors snips a section of a gene, allowing scientists to delete, repair or replace it.

HOW IS IT USED? Researchers routinely use gene-editing tools in labs to study diseases in cells or animals, and they’re altering crops and food animals for better agriculture.

But in people, gene editing still is highly experimental.

One first-in-human study is testing intravenous infusion of gene-editing ingredients to fight a killer metabolic disease. Other researchers are developing ways to gene-edit damaged cells and return them, repaired, into patients with sickle cell disease and other disorders. But unlike Monday’s announcement,

none of those experiments would alter DNA in a way that patients would pass to their own children.

WHAT DID THE CHINESE SCIENTIST DO? The researcher said he used the gene-editing tool CRISPR to alter a gene named CCR5 in embryos for seven couples during their fertility treatments; one pregnancy resulted. A particular mutation in that CCR5 gene is thought to confer some resistance to HIV by making it harder for that virus to enter cells.

Today’s medications have turned HIV from a death sentence into a manageable disease in much of the world, but He said he chose that gene because HIV remains a big problem in China.

But He’s claims have not been verified by outside scientists, and there are questions about how the work was conducted.

WHY IS MONDAY’S NEWS SO CONTROVERSIAL? Altering genes in sperm, eggs or embryos means those changes can be passed down to future generations — people who would have no way to consent to those changes. Plus, long-term negative effects might not become apparent for years.

In 2017, the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine said lab-only research to

learn how to alter embryos is ethical — but said it’s not ready for pregnancies yet.

The academy said if it is ever allowed, it should be reserved to treat or prevent serious diseases with no good alternatives.

That lab-only research is going on, by Mitalipov and others.

But critics said Monday’s announcement opens the door to “designer babies”.

“If this goes unchallenged, other rogue actors will soon offer wealthy parents purported genetic enhancements for their children,” said Marcy Darnovsky of the Center for Genetics and Society.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE BABIES? No independent outsiders know yet, which is partly why scientists are so disturbed.

He, the Chinese researcher, said one twin had both copies of the intended gene altered while the other had just one altered. People with one copy of the mutation can still get HIV. Scientists who reviewed his claims said the alterations aren’t an exact match to natural CCR5 mutations, and that a big question is whether the gene is altered in every cell.

The particular method used is common in lab research but not precise or controlled enough for embryos, said Columbia University cell biologist Dietrich

Egli, who called it “essentially genome vandalism”.

WHAT ARE THE DANGERS? The biggest concern: That precision, or lack of it.

Unintended mutations could harm health rather than help it.

IS GENE-EDITING FOR PREGNANCY LEGAL? Where you live determines if, or what kind of, research can be performed on human embryos. In the US, scientists can perform laboratory embryo research only with private funding, not with federal taxpayer money. Any pregnancy attempt would require permission from the Food and Drug Administration, which is currently prohibited by Congress from even reviewing such a request — a de facto ban.

ARE THERE OTHER WAYS TO PREVENT INHERITED DISEASES? People undergoing fertility treatments that include IVF can have embryos tested for deadly gene mutations that run in the family, such as Huntington’s disease, and then implant only the embryos that lack such mutations. Also, some so-called mitochondrial disorders can be addressed by using some genetic material from mom and some from a donor egg, along with dad’s sperm.

LAUNCHES AMONG THE LOBSTERS: GROUP EYES MAINE FOR BLAST OFF BRUNSWICK, MAINE Associated Press IT MIGHT sound like a moonshot, but a group of science and space enthusiasts wants Maine to become America’s leader in sending tiny satellites into space.

The tentative plan for the ambitious project is to use a pair of former air bases as the homes of an operation that would launch CubeSat satellites, so-called nanosatellites no bigger than toasters. The former Loring Air Force Base in far northern Maine would serve as the launch site, while the former Brunswick Naval Air Station closer to the state’s busy coast would house mission control.

The effort’s architects aren’t just baking pie in the sky. Project director and Maine Space Grant Consortium executive director Terry Shehata has some powerful allies interested in getting the plan into orbit.

Maine Technology Institute has awarded $50,000 for a feasibility study, while Maine Space Grant Consortium, which is supported

by National Aeronautics and Space Administration, has committed more than $88,000.

The next step is to find out whether there’s a market for such a facility in Maine, a state with a small tech sector but lots of open sky to send satellites into.

“It does sound crazy, but why not?” Shehata said.

“Why not see if people can get excited about investing in a new space economy that would be the tide that raises all boats.”

Project backers will likely know by next fall if the project, which will take years and millions of dollars to complete, is possible, Shehata said. The work going on right now is focused on determining whether there is enough interest from the private sector to support a nanosatellite facility in Maine, and if there is, the development of the programme itself would follow.

Shehata said he sees the Brunswick mission control facility as a business and science incubator with a strong component for children’s education. In fact, he likes the idea of collaborating with Maine high school students to build the satellites.

The project’s application to Maine Technology Institute calls the facility SpacePort Maine and states that there are currently ten spaceports in the US, but all but one of them are designed to launch large rockets, while SpacePort would focus on smaller, lower-cost vehicles.

It also states that the project would be a union of public and private agencies working together to “give rise to a new Maine space technology cluster”.

PAGE 10, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

APRIL Dawkins-Ellis.

THE TRIBUNE

WARREN Lavardo Ellis.

Photos: Terrel W Carey Sr/Tribune Staff

COUPLE DENY TRYING TO TAKE $14,OOO OUT OF THE COUNTRY

By RICARDO WELLS Tribune Staff Reporter rwells@tribunemedia.net

A BAHAMIAN couple yesterday pleaded not guilty after they were charged in connection with a large sum of money allegedly discovered in their possession at the Lynden Pindling International Airport earlier this week.

Warren Lavardo Ellis, 43, and his wife, April Dawkins-Ellis, 36, both of Central

Pines, Abaco, were charged before Chief Magistrate Joyann Ferguson-Pratt with one count each of removing the proceeds of crime and attempted exportation of restricted goods.

According to court dockets, the pair on Monday, November 26, while being concerned together at LPIA, attempted to remove $13,907 fromThe Bahamas.

It is further alleged that the pair, on the same date, attempted to export

restricted goods, namely United States currency, in the same amount.

The couple pleaded not guilty to the offences and the two were each granted bail in the amount of $8,000 with one surety.

The case was adjourned to February 19, 2019 for trial.

Attorney Jumo Campbell appeared for the accused.

Woman Corporal Samantha Miah stood as the prosecutor in the case.

I heard gun shots outside, witness tells murder trial

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

A WITNESS in a Grand Bahama murder trial told the Supreme Court yesterday that he saw a man running past his house shortly after hearing gunshots in the area of Hearn Lane in March 2016 when three persons had been shot inside a wooden shack.

Prosecution witness Anthony Rolle was called to give evidence in the trial of Renaldo Hudson, 21, who is charged with two counts of murder, attempted murder and armed robbery.

According to initial reports, Jacklyn Armbrister, Noel Hamilton, and Agatha Gaitor were in a wooden shack on a track road in bushes off Hearn Lane and Bruce Avenue on March 21, 2016 sometime around 8am when a gunman opened fired on them. Armbrister was robbed of cash by the gunman who then turned and shot her and the two other people inside the shack.

Armbrister died at the scene. Hamilton and Ms Gaitor were taken to the Rand Memorial Hospital, where Hamilton was pronounced dead by doctors.

Ms Gaitor was taken to hospital and survived.

Mr Rolle told the court he was at home on the date in question around 8am when he heard gunshots from the back of his house.

He went outside and saw some people at the cabana, which is in the back of his house. Mr Rolle said he saw and spoke with two of his aunts.

“I asked them what happened, but they told me they did not know,” he told the court.

Mr Rolle went back inside the house and a short time later saw a man run past the window. He said he spoke to the man briefly.

“You saw the man after this (shooting) happened?” asked prosecutor Erica Kemp.

“Yes,” Mr Rolle replied.

When asked who the man was, the witness said the man was “Mooby”.

Ms Kemp asked Mr Rolle if he recognised the white shack in a photograph presented to him. He said he recognised the whole area.

When asked the distance of his house in relation to the shack, the witness said it was two corners down from his house.

During cross-examination, attorney Mario Gray asked, “You saw somebody

who was running past and you had a conversation?”

“Yes, he went past the window running west,” answered Mr Rolle.

The attorney asked if “Mooby” was running toward or away from the sounds of the gunshots.

Mr Rolle said the man was running in a direction away from the gunshots.

A prison doctor also gave evidence testifying that Hudson has a history of asthma and he had prescribed him Ventolin. He was asked the symptoms of an asthma attack.

The doctor said wheezing, tightness of the chest and difficulty breathing are symptoms.

In earlier testimony, a police officer said Hudson had made complaints of tightening in his chest while in custody at the CDU. During the afternoon proceedings on Tuesday, Judge Estelle Gray Evans instructed the bailiff to assist in removing all persons from the gallery.

The jury, the lawyers and the defendant remained inside.

After about several minutes Hudson was seen being escorted away by officers. It was later learned that the trial was adjourned to January 2019.

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THE TRIBUNE

Wednesday, November 28, 2018, PAGE 11

Trump threatens to end subsidies to GM WASHINGTON Associated Press PRESIDENT Donald Trump tested the limits of his presidential authority and political muscle as he threatened yesterday to cut off all federal subsidies to General Motors because of its planned massive cutbacks in the US. Trump unloaded on Twitter a day after GM announced it would shutter five plants and slash 14,000 jobs in North America. Many of the job cuts would affect the Midwest, the politically crucial region where the president promised a manufacturing rebirth. It was the latest example of the president’s willingness to attempt to meddle in the affairs of private companies and to threaten the use of government power to try to force their business decisions.

“Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra, for closing plants in Ohio, Michigan and Maryland” while sparing plants in Mexico & China, Trump tweeted, adding: “The U.S. saved General Motors, and this is the THANKS we get!”

Trump’s tweets followed a short time after National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow said the White House’s reaction to the automaker’s announcement was “a tremendous amount of disappointment, maybe even spilling over into anger.” Kudlow, who met with Barra on Monday, said Trump felt betrayed by GM. “Look, we made this deal, we’ve worked with you along the way, we’ve done other things with mileage standards, for example, and other related regulations,” Kudlow said, referencing the recently negotiated US-MexicoCanada trade agreement.

“We’ve done this to help you and I think his disappointment is, it seems like

MIGRANTS run from tear gas launched by US agents. they kind of turned their back on him.”

The White House rebuke appears to fly in the face of long-held Republican opposition to picking winners and losers in the marketplace. A day earlier, Trump issued a vague threat to GM warning it to preserve a key plant in the presidential bellwether state of Ohio, where the company has marked its Lordstown plant for closure. “That’s Ohio, and you better get back in there soon,” he said.

It’s not clear precisely what action against GM might be taken, or when, and there are questions about whether the president has the authority to act without congressional approval.

Buyers of electric vehicles made by GM and other automakers get federal tax credits of up to $7,500.

President backs use of ‘very safe’ tear gas on migrants SAN DIEGO Associated Press

DONALD Trump is strongly defending the US use of tear gas at the Mexico border to repel a crowd of migrants that included angry rock-throwers and barefoot, crying children.

Yesterday, US authorities lowered the number of arrests during the confrontation to 42 from 69.

Rodney Scott, chief of the Border Patrol’s San Diego sector, said the initial count included some arrests in Mexico by Mexican authorities who reported 39 arrests.

Scott also defended the

CHESS WORLD TITLE MATCH COMES DOWN TO SOME RAPID TIEBREAKS LONDON Associated Press

AFTER more than 50 hours of play over nearly three weeks, the chess world championship title will be decided by speedy tiebreaker games today.

A 12-game battle of brains between American challenger Fabiano Caruana and reigning champion Magnus Carlsen of Norway has resulted in 12 straight draws — the first time that has happened in a chess world championship match.

That means the match — which is taking place behind soundproof glass on a stage in London — now comes down to a series of rapid games that could even conclude in a sudden-death format known as “Armageddon” if a winner can’t be found.

Caruana, 26, is trying to become the first American since Bobby Fischer to be crowned chess world champion. Still, he remains the underdog against the 27-year-old Carlsen, a former teenage prodigy who has been the world’s top-ranked player since the age of 19 and is considered even more

REIGNING world champion Magnus Carlsen, left, from Norway, playing Italian-American challenger Fabiano Caruana in London. dominant when playing with shorter time controls.

However, Carlsen stunned many commentators when he offered Caruana a draw in the 12th game despite having what experts and computer programmes considered to be a better position and a large time advantage on the clocks. That led to suggestions the defending champion may be cracking under the pressure. “In light of this shocking draw offer from Magnus, I reconsider my evaluation of him being

the favorite in rapids,” former world champion Garry Kasparov tweeted .

“Tiebreaks require tremendous nerves and he seems to be losing his.”

Even Caruana acknowledged he was “relieved” to be able to reach the tiebreakers after being on the ropes in the last game.

“When you feel like you’re sort of on the brink of defeat, or at least you have a very dangerous position, then of course it’s quite good,” the American said.

‘SPONGEBOB’ CREATOR STEPHEN HILLENBURG DIES AT 57 STEPHEN Hillenburg, who used his dual loves of drawing and marine biology to spawn the absurd undersea world of “SpongeBob SquarePants,” has died.

He passed away on of Lou Gehrig’s disease, also known as ALS. He was 57. He had announced he had the disease in March 2017. Hillenburg conceived, wrote, produced and directed the animated series that began in 1999 and bloomed into hundreds of episodes, movies and a Broadway show.

The absurdly jolly SpongeBob and his yell-along theme song that opened “Who lives in a pineapple under the sea?!” quickly appealed to college kids and parents as much as it did kids.

“The fact that it’s undersea and isolated from our world helps the characters maintain their own culture,” Hillenburg said in 2001.

“The essence of the show is that SpongeBob is an innocent in a world of jaded characters. The rest is absurd packaging.”

agents’ decisions to fire tear gas into Mexico, saying they were being assaulted by “a hail of rocks.”

“That has happened before and, if we are rocked, that would happen again tomorrow,” he told reporters.

Critics denounced the action by border agents as overkill, but Trump kept to a hard line. “They were being rushed by some very tough people and they used tear gas,” Trump said on Monday of the previous day’s encounter. “Here’s the bottom line: Nobody is coming into our country unless they come in legally.”

At a roundtable in

Mississippi, Trump seemed to acknowledge that children were affected.

“Why is a parent running up into an area where they know the tear gas is forming and it’s going to be formed and they were running up with a child?” the president asked.

He said it was “a very minor form of the tear gas itself” that he was assured was “very safe.”

Without offering evidence, Trump claimed some of the women in Sunday’s confrontation are not parents but are instead “grabbers” who steal children so they have a better chance of being granted asylum in the US.

INDONESIA PILOTS STRUGGLED TO CONTROL CRASH PLANE JAKARTA Associated Press

BLACK box data show Lion Air pilots struggled to maintain control of a Boeing jet as its automatic safety system repeatedly pushed the plane’s nose down, according to a draft of a preliminary report

by Indonesian authorities investigating last month’s deadly crash.

The investigators are focusing on whether faulty information from sensors led the plane’s system to force the nose down. The new Boeing 737 MAX 8 plunged into the Java Sea on Oct. 29, killing all 189 people on board.

Information from the Lion Air jet’s flight data recorder was included in a briefing for the Indonesian Parliament.

Indonesian authorities were due to release the findings tomorrow but not to draw conclusions from the data they present.

Peter Lemme, an expert in aviation and satellite communications and a former Boeing engineer, wrote an analysis of the data on his blog.

The MAX aircraft, the latest version of Boeing’s popular 737 jetliner, includes an automated system that pushes the nose down if a sensor detects that the nose is pointed so high that the plane could go into an aerodynamic stall.

Lemme described “a deadly game of tag” in which the plane pointed down, the pilots countered by manually aiming the nose higher, only for the sequence to repeat about five seconds later. That happened 26 times, but pilots failed to recognise what was happening and follow the known procedure for countering incorrect activation of the automated safety system.

Lemme said he was also troubled that there weren’t easy checks to see if sensor information was correct, that the crew were unaware of similar problems had occurred before.

PAGE 12, Wednesday, November 28, 2018

THE TRIBUNE

Arctic animals at risk amid increase in shipping

By DONNA HAUSER, University of Alaska Fairbanks; HARRY STERN, University of Washington, and KRISTIN LAIDRE, University of Washington

VACANCY NOTICE

Broadcast IP Video Specialist Cable Bahamas Limited is seeking to employ an experienced Broadcast IP Video Specialist. The successful candidate must be a highly motivated person, organized and detailed oriented.

SUMMARY The position of Broadcast IP Video Engineer will be responsible for the installation and maintenance of all video equipment within the Headend and at field locations.

This position is responsible for troubleshooting activities for outages in conjunction with the technical teams, and ensuring acquisition routing and quality control of incoming and outgoing video feeds. The position also requires occasional extended work in and around a typical data center, telecommunications facility, and/or Central Office. These environments may include loud machinery/fan noise, chilled temperatures and wind, and lowered humidity working with and around highamperage AC and DC power.

JOB DESCRIPTION • Configuration, installation and management of Core Video Multiplexers, Edge Video Switches, Routers, IP Video Modulators; • Configuration and Management of IPTV, OTT, ATSC and all IP related video equipment.

• Ensure the integrity of video and encoding hardware and software; • Perform analysis, diagnosis and troubleshoot root cause of issues/ outages related to IP video content; • Assessing the impact of content issues that arise as part of daily operations; • Review current IP video environment, product requirements, and determine gaps; • Liaise with new equipment vendors and middleware service providers; • IP Video Headend system monitoring and management; • Troubleshooting of all alarms in relation to IP video broadcast generated from the Headend monitoring systems; • Work closely with IP Engineers and Headend Technicians to identify and resolve issues that impact the IP video network; • Development of MOPs, Testing Procedures, Labs with ticket creation; • Meticulous documentation of video network infrastructure; • Liaising with internal and external clients to deliver new products and initiatives; • Working within a team with a focus on delivering the company’s yearly objectives; • Help facilitate new network projects ensuring minimal disruption to live services; • Ensuring the video network infrastructure is fit for effective and

efficient service delivery and aligned with the company’s objectives; • Assisting in the maintenance and tracking of hardware and software owned by the company; • Perform all other Headend related duties as determined and assigned by management.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS REQUIRED • A bachelor’s degree in Computer Science/Engineering, Electrical Engineering or equivalent; • Two or more years of strong understanding and experience working with MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 (H.264) compression, MCPC and IPTV platforms, video transmission/reception equipment, video monitoring equipment and ancillary video equipment; • Two or more years of strong experience working with multicast and next-generation Video delivery technologies (IPTV, ABR HLS, Smooth Streaming, etc.); • Two or more years exposure with various test equipment, including: MPEG analyzers, optical power meters, RF signal level meters, RF spectrum analyzers; • Must have knowledge of and experience with a wide range of technologies including routers, multiplexers, switches, RF uplink and downlink hardware, and associated redundancy hardware; • A fundamental understanding of Linux command line; • Comprehensive understanding of IP Video Technologies and Network Environments; • Networking and IP multicast routing; • CCNA/CCNP, Comp TIA Network +; • IP transport of MPEG-TS over UDP/RTP multicast; • Strong understanding and experience working with TCP/IP technologies desired, including IPv4, addressing/subnetting, IP unicast routing and IP Multicast routing and associate technologies; • Able to Diagnose Network Connectivity Issues; • An understanding of digital modulation technologies (QPSK – 256

QAM) is desirable; • Working knowledge of RF systems, including: general understanding of the EIA spectrum, general understanding of RF performance

requirements in a QAM environment, basic RF troubleshooting

techniques, Working knowledge of the OSI model, specifically layers 1, 2 & 3; • Knowledge of multi-vendor middle-ware software such as Imagine, Arris, Builtwrite, Minerva, Anevia and TiVO/ROVI; • Ability to effectively use engineering NMS tools such as Solarwinds,

Wireshark etc.; • Experience with MS Office and MS Visio; • Ability to isolate problems and troubleshoot issues down to the hardware level.

PERSONAL COMPETENCIES • Ability to exercise judgement within broadly defined practices and select methods and techniques for obtaining solutions; • Excellent attention to detail and methodical approach; • Ability to self-motivate and work independently; • Strong decision-making & analytical skills; • Customer service orientated approach; • Strong oral & written communication skills; • Ability to manage multiple tasks and priority levels; • Proactive approach to changing technologies; • Be able to work outside normal work hours; • Be able to travel periodically to perform work/maintenance at all digital

Headend sites in The Bahamas and United States; • This position requires on call support (Tier 2/3) and off-hours maintenance activities (weekends, weeknights and/or Holidays); • Possess personal traits: Friendly, mature, factual, honest, meticulous, self-starter.

Qualified applicants should submit Resumes on or before Tuesday, December 11, 2018, to the Director of Human Resources, PO BOX CB-13050, Nassau, Bahamas or send electronically with Ref: Broadcast IP Video Specialist to humanresources@cablebahamas.com.

MOST Americans associate fall with football and raking leaves, but in the Arctic this season is about ice. Every year, floating sea ice in the Arctic thins and melts in spring and summer, then thickens and expands in fall and winter.

As climate change warms the Arctic, its sea ice cover is declining.

This year, scientists estimate that the Arctic sea ice minimum in late September covered 1.77 million square miles (4.59 million square kilometers), tying the sixth lowest summertime minimum on record.

With less sea ice, there is burgeoning interest in shipping and other commercial activity throughout the Northwest Passage – the fabled route that links the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, via Canada’s convoluted Arctic archipelago – as well as the Northern Sea Route, which cuts across Russia’s northern seas. This trend has serious potential impacts for Arctic sea life.

In a recent study, we assessed the vulnerability of 80 populations of Arctic marine mammals during the “open-water” period of September, when sea ice is at its minimum extent. We wanted to understand the relative risks of vessel traffic across Arctic marine mammal species, populations and regions. We found that more than half (53 percent) of these populations – including walruses and several types of whales – would be exposed to vessels in Arctic sea routes.

This could lead to collisions, noise disturbance or changes in the animals’ behavior.

Less ice, more ships More than a century ago, Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen became the first European to navigate the entire Northwest Passage.

Due to the short Arctic summer, it took Amundsen’s 70ft wooden sailing ship three years to make the journey, wintering in protected harbors.

Fast-forward to summer 2016, when a cruise ship carrying more than 1,000 passengers negotiated the Northwest Passage in 32 days. The summer “openwater” period in the Arctic has now increased by more than two months in some regions. Summer sea ice cover has shrunk by over 30 percent since satellites started regular monitoring in 1979.

Arctic seas are home to a specialised group of marine mammals found nowhere else on Earth, including beluga and bowhead whales, narwhals, walruses, ringed and bearded seals and polar bears. These species are critical members of Arctic marine ecosystems, and provide traditional resources to Indigenous communities across the Arctic.

According to ecologists, all of these animals are susceptible to sea ice loss.

Research at lower latitudes has also shown that marine mammals can be affected by noise from vessels because of their reliance on sound, as well as by ship

strikes. These findings raise concerns about increasing vessel traffic in the Arctic.

Sensitivity times exposure equals vulnerability To determine which species could be at risk, we estimated two key factors: Exposure – how much a population’s distribution overlaps with the Northwest Passage or Northern Sea Route during September – and sensitivity, a combination of biological,

ecological and vessel factors that may put a population at a higher risk.

As an illustration, imagine calculating vulnerability to air pollution.

People generally are more exposed to air pollution in cities than in rural areas.

Some groups, such as children and the elderly, are also more sensitive because their lungs are not as strong as those of average adults.

We found that many whale and walrus populations were both highly exposed and sensitive to vessels during the openwater period. Narwhals – medium-sized toothed whales with a large spiral tusk – scored as most vulnerable overall. These animals are endemic to the Arctic, and spend much of their time in winter and spring in areas with heavy concentrations of sea ice.

In our study, they ranked as both highly exposed and highly sensitive to vessel effects in September.

Narwhals have a relatively restricted range.

Each summer, they migrate to the same areas in the Canadian high Arctic and around Greenland.

In autumn, they migrate south in pods to offshore areas in Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, where they spend the winter making deep dives under the dense ice to feed on Greenland halibut.

Many narwhal populations’ core summer and fall habitat is right in the middle of the Northwest Passage.

Vulnerable Arctic regions, species and key uncertainties The western end of the Northwest Passage and the eastern end of the Northern Sea Route converge at the Bering Strait, a 50-milewide waterway separating Russia and Alaska. This area is also a key migratory corridor for thousands of beluga and bowhead whales, Pacific walruses and ringed and bearded seals.

In this geographic bottleneck and other narrow channels, marine mammals are particularly vulnerable to vessel traffic.

Among the species we assessed, polar bears were least vulnerable to September vessel traffic because they generally spend the ice-free season on land. Of course, longer ice-free seasons are also bad for polar bears, which need sea ice as a platform for hunting

seals. They may also be vulnerable to oil spills year-round.

Research in the harsh and remote Arctic seas is notoriously difficult, and there are many gaps in our knowledge. Certain areas, such as the Russian Arctic, are less studied. Data are sparse on many marine mammals, especially ringed and bearded seals.

These factors increased the uncertainty in our vessel vulnerability scores.

We concentrated on late summer, when vessel traffic is

expected to be greatSHIPPING est due to routes in reduced the Arctic. ice cover.

However, icestrengthened vessels can also operate during spring, with potential impacts on seals and polar bears that are less vulnerable in September.

The window of opportunity for navigation is growing as sea ice break-up happens earlier in the year and freeze-up occurs later.

These changes also shift the times and places where marine mammals could be exposed to vessels.

Planning for a navigable Arctic Recent initiatives in the lower 48 states offer some models for anticipating and managing vessel-marine mammal interactions. One recent study showed that modeling could be used to predict blue whale locations off the California coast to help ships avoid key habitats. And since 2008, federal regulations have imposed seasonal and speed restrictions on ships in the North Atlantic to minimise threats to critically endangered right whales. These practical examples, along with our vulnerability ranking, could provide a foundation for similar steps to protect marine mammals in the Arctic.

The International Maritime Organization has already adopted a Polar Code, which was developed to promote safe ship travel in polar waters. It recommends identifying areas of ecological importance, but does not currently include direct strategies to designate important habitats or reduce vessel effects on marine mammals, although the organisation has taken steps to protect marine habitat in the Bering Sea. Even if nations take rigorous action to mitigate climate change, models predict that September Arctic sea ice will continue to decrease over the next 30 years. There is an opportunity now to plan for an increasingly accessible and rapidly changing Arctic, and to minimise risks to creatures that are found nowhere else on Earth.

• This article is republished from The Conversation. Read the original article here: http:// theconversation.com/asarctic-ship-traffic-increasesnarwhals-and-other-uniqueanimals-are-at-risk-99733.