Photo courtesy Lory Kenyon. Coral reef ecologists around the world agree..." no golf course on Guana Cay."

The developer states that they will use seashore paspalum, a commercial grade grass that is more tolerant to being watered by saltwater. In an advertisement, the developer states, "The course will be grassed with Seashore Paspalum, a grass variety requiring little or no fertilizer and more tolerant to brackish and re-use water. The design intent is to limit the amount of irrigated turfgrass in favor of non-irrigated native plants." I wanted to find out if the statements the developer were making about seashore paspalum were accurate. According to seashore paspalum experts, the statement is simply wrong. George Snyder of the University of Florida was recommended to me by members of the Coral List.

He writes, "Seashore paspalum is mainly being touted because of its salt tolerance.  After it is well established, it can be irrigated with seawater, although it still grows better with water of better quality.  That is one of the main reasons that it is being used in regions where freshwater is scarce.  I know of no reason why chemical runoff should be less from paspalum than from other grasses.  Some say it requires less nitrogen fertilization than bermudagrass, but I really think that the fertility requirements are still being worked out.."

Clearly, seashore paspalum has key benefits for certain areas. The golf course community has made tremendous improvements in the last fifteen years towards the goal of developing golf courses that are environmentally sound, if not superior to the alternatives for development. But seashore paspalum in no way solves the problems of nutrients and run-off entering the coral reef of Guana Cay.

Dr. Jeff Nus of the United States Golf Association says, "The seashore paspalam is very tolerant to saline water, once established, it can survive periods of sea water for a while, but during the establishment stage, to fill it in on the fairways, you cannot use saline water alone. You cannot use the saline water on immature grass before its matured.  That’s the caveat.  As far as nationally marketed species, it is the most tolerant. The major concern is that this island neighbors a coral reef...Systems can be built to do a good job in protecting an environment, where you catch the runoff in a closed loop and keep it recirculating. But the whole question is whether you can keep that as a closed loop.  The last thing you want to do is have that golf course leaching into the water."

I mention that Guana Cay is hit by a hurricane every year these days. Dr. Nus responds, "We’ve funded enough studies to know that there can be runoff from golf courses, but we also know that golf courses can be maintained if the management is done properly if there are no unexpected events. There is no way this developer has a plan for a hurricane."

Andrew Ross, of the Montego Bay Marine Trust Park chimes in to add, "For any of these landscaping grasses you need to tend them, for example water and fertilize them. A porous limestone substrate might as well be a direct pipe to the sea."

In the development phase, the developer will be using freshwater to establish the turf. That is during the construction phase, when other construction-related material will be dumped into the coral reef. Fertilizer and herbicides will be used. Note the wording of the developer, "...little or no fertilizer... "

After the developer is done with construction and out of the Bahamas, what is to say they will not increase the use of fertilizers, herbicides and freshwater? The consensus among coral reef ecologists is that despite even the bare minimum of these chemicals or even in their absense, the golf course alone will kill this reef.