Gina Ebanks-Petrie, Director of the Cayman Islands Department of Environment (DOE), has called for amending the marine conservation law or passing the national conservation law and adding stingrays as a protected species to prevent people from taking these marine creatures, which should not be in captivity, from anywhere in Cayman waters.

This problem was highlighted last week when a local vet discovered Dolphin Discovery in West Bay, one of the captive dolphin facilities on Grand Cayman, had taken stingrays that had been tagged from the Sandbar in the North Sound.

The DOE investigated and found that four of the ten stingrays held captive at Dolphin Discovery could have been taken from the wildlife interactive zone.

CITN-Cayman27, the local television station reported the incident on their local 6pm News27 programme and also said the owners of the facility had agreed to return the tagged rays, which we understand they have done.

Gina Ebanks-Petrie said the only protection the iconic creatures have in Cayman is in the wildlife interaction zone at the Sandbar and Stingray city.

“It is not possible,” she added, “to prove that the four tagged rays were taken from the protected zone because the rays move freely in and out of the area. As a result, the dolphin catchers could have taken the rays from elsewhere. However, because of the tags, they were clearly stingrays that populated the well-known natural tourist attraction.”