IT is possible that environmentalist David Cabeldu has misinterpreted what he says are secret plans to
extend the area of reclaimed land around St Helier Harbour.

There is, after all, a difference between a ‘what if’ consultancy exercise and firm plans for development.
That said, it is just as well that Mr Cabeldu, a member of Save Our Shoreline and a long-term campaigner on behalf of the Island’s marine environment, has given early warning of a scheme that, quite simply, would be unacceptable.

As has been pointed out, three of the areas shown on the consultants’ chart obtained by Mr Cabeldu would encroach on parts of the south coast protected under the terms of the Ramsar Convention for the preservation of internationally important wetlands. In addition, all the areas would fall within the Marine Protection Zone.

Quite what the Marine Protection Zone is intended to protect if it does not preclude land reclamation is a mystery.
Meanwhile, although Ramsar status is not intended to prevent all human activity, it presumes that any development on the scale of reclamation should be out of the question.

It is clear that the Waterfront Enterprise Board, which appears to be behind the investigation into the new sites, has a duty to develop the area for which it is responsible in ways that make full economic sense. It is, however, equally clear that they must achieve this with due sensitivity to the impact their proposals might have on the environment.

It should also go without saying that they must always act within the bounds of established States policies.
With all this in mind, it is hard to see the consultancy over the reclamation extensions as anything other than a waste of time and money – unless, that is, there is some secret agenda to overturn Protection Zone provisions, or water down the guarantees offered by Ramsar status.

All in all, consultants would have been better employed in the investigation of alternative methods of disposing of inert waste – such as the creation of artificial reefs which could actually enhance the marine environment if carefully located in locations offshore.