The Coral World Marine Park staff presented a detailed appeal for approval to the Coastal Zone Management board a permit application that would allow the construction of a two-acre dolphin encounter attraction.
Before a packed house Thursday evening at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School with about 200 residents assembled in the school’s multiuse auditorium, supporters and opponents voiced their opinion of the project.
Supporters argued that the dolphin encounter would provide a new tourist activity for St. Thomas visitors and residents, while also securing the financial sustainability of the park’s future. To best illustrate her point as it applies to the continued employment of 70 local staff members, manager Trudi Prior asked fellow Coral World employees in attendance to stand as she began her opening remarks to the board.
Touting the marine park’s long history of providing conservation education, sea and beach cleanups, and hours of interactive enjoyment to generations of children and parents alike, Prior went on to state that her management of Coral World has been a “labor of love” and that she had not taken a salary in 15 years.
“There is nothing evil in a business making a profit,” she said. “The addition of this much-needed attraction will insure the park’s good work for years to come and provide jobs for not only the current staff but for an additional 25-30 new employees that will be added once the encounter component is up and running.”
Park curator Lee Keller introduced the executive staff members throughout the two-hour, slide-enhanced presentation that included the park’s veterinarian, environmental control officer, behavioral scientist and project designer.
Keller explained the proposed dolphin encounter as a continuation of the ongoing educational programs already in place at the park. The initial plan will feature six Atlantic bottlenose dolphins that have been born and raised in captivity and have lived with each other in a matriarchal led pod all their lives. 
According to Keller, this particular species of in-shore dolphin in the wild occupies a natural habitat less than 10 feet deep along tidal creeks, marshes and beach areas. The habitat structure planned by Coral World would provide a two-acre space supported by concrete pilings and stainless steel mesh that would serve as the pen’s walls, Keller said.
Plans also include a medical facility, a birthing and breeding area, in addition to a movable platform allowing visitors of all ages and disabilities the opportunity to interact with the mammals.
With more than 40 attendees signed up to speak for five minute intervals, Board Chairman Austin Monsanto laid out specific guidelines to be used by testifiers that, for the most part, were adhered to with few interruptions.
Sixteen-year-old Charlotte Amalie High School student Analise LaPlace stood to speak in opposition to the project in her own words, humbly asking the board to deny the permit, comparing the inclusion of dolphins in captivity for the purpose of profit to the past enslavement of her ancestors who were used for the same purpose.
Admiralty Dive shop owner Laura Hausch, also in opposition to the permit, citied the loss of future revenue to already struggling small businesses on St. Thomas as a main point of contention. “We teach our customers to appreciate our island’s natural untouched beauty. What message are we sending them if we choose to hold these beautiful creatures in captivity in an unnatural environment?” Hausch asked.
Local business owner Kirsten Holmen described her company’s long history in dealing with the cruise ship industry and the need for new shore side excursions that have been requested by destination planners as her reason for support.
This sentiment was echoed by Ivan Williams, who called for the island’s tourism-based companies to “think outside the box” and seek out new activities for our visitors. “We are reluctant to change and this futile pattern must stop,” said Williams. “We have to be ready to compete when Cuba opens its door to the world.”
Residents will have seven days in which to submit written testimony to the CZM Board prior to a decision being made as to the outcome of the permit.
