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A 300ft yacht owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has torn up more than 14,000 square feet of coral in the West Bay replenishment zone of the Cayman Islands. Although Allen wasn't there at the time, the boat's anchor chain is said to have destroyed as much as 80 per cent of the reef – something that seems rather ironic, considering Allen's own foundation looks to encourage marine conservation.
A statement from Allen's investment firm, Vulcan, claims that the incident took place on 14th January. A diver is said to have alerted the crew that the giant yacht's anchor cable had been dragging through coral.
“The crew [then] promptly, and on their own accord, relocated their position to ensure the reef was protected,” it said. It also pointed out that the crew were now aiding investigation by the local authorities to find out exactly what happened.
The Tahoosh is so big, it even has its own Wiki page. It was originally purchased by Allen in 2001 for $100 million. Source: Wikimedia
With a net worth of $18 billion+, Paul Allen is unlikely to feel the pinch of any fines related to the incident, which the Guardian claims could be up to $600,000 (£420,000). However more damaging may be the effect on his reputation. Allen is known as an environmental philanthropist, helping to subsidise efforts to restore coral reefs around the world, as well as conserve other marine life.
Having a ship that you own chew through almost an entire reef in a protected area is embarrassing and potentially problematic for any environmental partnerships Allen had planned for the future.
Unfortunately for the local environment though, the Cayman Islands hosts these sorts of mega-yachts as a way to bring in local income. This is far from the first incident of this type, though the local authorities have said they will try to learn from this incident to better protect the environment against this sort of damage in the future.
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KitGuru Says: It's hard to imagine how a ship's anchor chain could cause so much damage without anyone knowing. Did they just drag it around without hauling it back in?
As you may already know, the anchor chain does not stop the ship drifting around the fixed point, depending on the depth of the water it’s likely the ship was anchored nearby and did this over a period of time.
Coral is pretty fragile, that anchor is probably freaking huge, and to be honest on a ship that size who would notice a little turbulence?
Any fines assessed against him should be based on a percentage, instead of a flat fee. Therefore, his fines should represent something like 5% of his entire income…so for someone who makes $50,000 year, the fine would be $2500, but for someone worth $18 billion, they’d be $900,000,000…some might say that is unfair, but what is more unfair is that some rich, idiot, gets to destroy a irreplaceable part of our already destroyed planet and is given a fine equivalent to a parking ticket…and just so everyone knows, I am anti-capitalist and proud of it, so don’t try to use it as a four letter word.
Except you’re making it out as if he’s a rich cunt that did it for fun when in reality he wasn’t even on the yacht at the time of the incident, it was just owned by him. The local coastguards put the ship to where it was so it’s not like the crew were just recklessly cruising around the area and Paul Allen is very philanthropic when it comes to the ocean so he was probably hit very hard when he heard the news.
Sure the fine was pretty low based on his income and the amount of damage that was dealt but as far as things go it was still an accident
so basically you’re poor, stupid and proud of it. the definition of a socialist
Agreed. They do a similar thing with traffic fines in Switzerland, so you sometimes hear about 7-figure penalties…
So basically you’re a moron who thinks everything must be binary because more than 2 thoughts can’t co-exist in your tiny pathetic little mind LOL. Better a socialist by far, than a braindead redneck loser…
some people never learn
Ooh ooh that sharp wit! Feelin’ the burn here! Guess you must be one of them there fancy rich, smart fellas right? LOL