标签： Grenada

Carriacou’s Tyrell Bay Marina has officially reopened for business following a 7 October successful ruling at the Eastern Caribbean Court of Appeal, bringing an end to a six-month access blockade that left dozens of boat owners trapped on land, unable to launch or sail their vessels. The marina formally announced its return to full operations in a 21 October public statement, where leadership thanked customers for their unwavering patience, marina staff for their consistent dedication, and the broader Carriacou community for its ongoing encouragement through the prolonged crisis. The statement reaffirmed the facility’s longstanding commitment to supporting local patrons, uplifting the surrounding community, and sustaining the growth of Carriacou and Grenada’s broader marine industry, while extending a warm welcome back to returning sailors and new visitors from the global sailing community.
However, the carefully crafted public release deliberately avoided addressing a raft of outstanding pressing questions, including the scope of financial losses incurred by trapped boat owners, potential paths to compensation, accountability for the six-month access restrictions, and the cascading harm the disruption caused to adjacent local marine businesses. In a follow-up email responding to media inquiries, marina representatives noted that ongoing active court proceedings barred them from commenting on nearly all details related to the underlying conflict.
The entire disruption traces back to a decades-long legal battle over a parcel of land directly adjacent to the marina. In January 2023, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council issued a formal ruling granting full ownership of the disputed land to the Estate of Samuel Corion, but lingering legal questions over rightful possession and permissible use of the property have remained tied up in ongoing court proceedings ever since.
For Leslie Bell-Friedel, a Canadian sailor who had been living aboard her vessel with her husband since 25 April, the recent removal of the barrier fence and restoration of marina access allowed the pair to finally launch their boat and resume their planned travels, but the six-month ordeal left deep, lingering financial, physical, and emotional scars. The couple racked up thousands of dollars in unplanned costs, including inflated shipping and customs fees, alternate internet service subscriptions, unexpected immigration surcharges, unbudgeted travel expenses, and steep legal bills. Their vessel suffered avoidable wear after sitting on dry land far longer than the two-week window they had initially anticipated, forcing them to discard all their frozen perishable food and purchase a standalone air conditioning unit after the boat’s built-in climate systems failed to operate as expected while docked ashore.
Bell-Friedel explained that the months of crippling uncertainty took a heavy toll far beyond financial costs, straining personal relationships, derailing long-held family plans, and eroding the mental health of every boat owner trapped at the facility. Many spent months in constant, paralyzing anxiety over the threat of tropical storms or severe Caribbean weather that could have battered their stranded vessels while they had no ability to sail to safety. The prolonged blockade also forced the couple to cancel planned visits from family, and her father-in-law’s rapidly declining health means he will likely never get to make the long-awaited trip they had arranged to join them on their sailing journey.
While Bell-Friedel acknowledged that the marina acted fairly by waiving all fees for the period boat owners were trapped and unable to launch, she emphasized that the conflict was never a dispute between the facility and its patrons, but a spillover from the wider land battle between the marina and the Corion Estate. She placed full blame on the Corion Estate for erecting the barrier fence and refusing to negotiate a temporary, mutually acceptable arrangement that would have allowed trapped vessels to exit the property safely, and levelled allegations that local authorities including the Royal Grenada Police Force, the national government, and the Planning and Development Authority failed to enforce existing laws and protect affected residents and visitors. She further alleged that the fence and the refusal to grant temporary access violated Article 12 of the Grenada Constitution’s freedom of movement protections, as well as provisions in the national Criminal Code and the Physical Planning and Development Control Act, noting that no party associated with the Corion Estate has ever offered an apology or acknowledged the harm inflicted on the trapped sailors.
The disruption has also inflicted measurable, lasting reputational harm on Grenada and Carriacou’s lucrative marine tourism sector, as word of the trapped vessels spread rapidly across international sailing forums, social media boating groups, and sailing communities in France, Germany, and across the wider Caribbean. Many international sailors now report they are reconsidering plans to moor their vessels, conduct business, or spend extended stays in Grenada, eroding hard-won confidence in the fair and consistent application of local laws.
French sailor Lou Le Sommer, another trapped boat owner, reported total losses of approximately €30,000, with her vessel suffering costly damage to its anchor chain, water purification system, and engines after spending months stranded on land. She and her family were also forced to pay for unexpected accommodation in Martinique when relatives came to visit, as they could not host them aboard their stranded boat. While Le Sommer expressed deep affection for Grenada’s natural beauty and welcoming local residents, she noted the experience has completely shattered her trust in the country’s legal and administrative safeguards, and she will never moor her boat in a Grenada boatyard again, nor recommend the destination to fellow sailors. She echoed calls for full accountability for the failures that led to the crisis, and noted that rebuilding the international boating community’s trust in Grenada will require consistent, transparent enforcement of existing laws applied equally to all parties.
As of press time, repeated attempts to reach a representative for the Corion Estate for comment have been unsuccessful. While marina operations have returned to normal and trapped boats are back in the water, the underlying land dispute remains active in the courts, leaving critical unresolved questions over compensation, accountability, and the long-term recovery of Carriacou’s marine industry hanging in the balance.

As national elections place unprecedented operational and social strains on a country’s formal electoral systems, they also impose unique responsibilities on every private, public and community organisation whose staff, customer base and surrounding communities are directly participating in the democratic process, notes leading Grenadian organisational strategy consultant Carlana Charles McGuire of local advisory firm Paperclip Ltd. For employers, robust election preparedness goes far beyond basic shift scheduling: it requires intentional cross-team coverage planning, transparent two-way communication, and proactive safeguards to ensure divergent political beliefs never erode equitable treatment for all staff. For public and civil society institutions, meanwhile, preparation means sustaining uninterrupted core services, safeguarding critical operational records, and nurturing cross-stakeholder relationships to prevent workflow disruptions through polling day and its immediate aftermath. These obligations carry particular weight in Grenada’s tight-knit social fabric, where professional, familial and community ties often overlap seamlessly: a workplace colleague may also be a next-door neighbour, distant relative, or familiar attendee at a local political rally. The dynamic means community members can hold deeply conflicting political convictions while still collaborating productively in shared workspaces – a positive outcome that depends entirely on intentional, proactive leadership. To help local entities measure their election readiness, McGuire has outlined five actionable, practical assessment questions tailored to Grenada’s unique context. First: Has the organisation clearly communicated formal voting leave arrangements to all staff? The Grenada Division of Labour’s official 20 October Election Day Advisory explicitly mandates that all eligible working electors be granted the legally required time off to cast their ballot, with zero pay deductions or disciplinary penalties for that absence. Translating this legal requirement into functional, real-world policies means mapping out staffing gaps to cover absent team members, establishing clear protocols for who staff must notify ahead of their voting window, ensuring all frontline supervisors receive consistent, standardised guidance, and accounting for potential travel delays and long polling line wait times that could extend employee absences. Different operations – from retail shops, hotels and security firms to small home offices – will require customised staffing frameworks, all of which must be fully communicated to teams well before polling day. Employees also share responsibility for a smooth process: verifying their voter registration details ahead of time, coordinating their planned voting leave with managers as early as possible, and returning to complete the remainder of their scheduled shift once they have cast their ballot unless alternative arrangements are mutually agreed. Clear, pre-established policies allow staff to exercise their democratic rights fully while eliminating unnecessary uncertainty for colleagues and customers. Second: Can all employees express differing political views without fear of unfair, discriminatory treatment? The Division of Labour’s advisory also enshrines formal protections for workers against discrimination on the basis of their political opinions. Leadership teams must audit everyday workplace decision-making to ensure no political bias creeps into routine processes: from who is assigned high-priority, desirable projects, to whose personal time-off requests are approved, to who feels safe raising workplace concerns to management. Political affiliation should never factor into any of these routine calls. Managers must also recognise the inherent power of their positional authority: even an offhand, well-intentioned political joke, casual question about voting plans, or invitation to a partisan campaign event from a supervisor who controls an employee’s schedule, promotions or job security can create unspoken, unwelcome pressure. Organisations should publish explicit, shared ground rules for respectful conduct across all internal communication channels, including informal staff social media and messaging groups. Clear, accessible reporting pathways for staff to raise concerns must be established, and all supervisors trained to swiftly address any instances of political intimidation, public ridicule, or targeted provocation – with these standards enforced consistently even after official election results are announced. Third: Can core essential services continue uninterrupted if key senior or specialist staff are unavailable on polling day? Election preparedness provides a low-stakes opportunity for organisations to map out gaps in their general operational resilience. Leadership teams should test critical contingency scenarios: if the business owner, senior supervisor, or designated authorising officer is unreachable, can another pre-vetted staff member step in to make time-sensitive, necessary decisions? Can frontline teams access all the stored data and documentation they need to serve customers, process urgent payments, or resolve unexpected operational issues? Teams should formalise a full list of non-negotiable essential activities, identify pre-trained backup staff for each critical role, and confirm those backups have full access to the required information and delegated authority to act independently. Planning should be proportional, with no need to assume widespread, severe disruption, but with clear protocols in place to respond smoothly if unexpected staffing shortages, access restrictions, or operating changes arise. In cases where this audit reveals the entire organisation’s operations depend entirely on one single person, the process will have uncovered a long-term capacity gap that delivers lasting value beyond the election period. Fourth: Have teams established clear protocols to verify which election-related information is trustworthy? During campaign and polling periods, unconfirmed announcements, partisan commentary, and unsubstantiated speculation spread rapidly across social media and informal messaging channels. Organisations must establish a single, verified internal pathway for validating any election-related information that could impact operations, to ensure random forwarded messages in staff chat groups are never mistaken for official operational instructions. A designated lead should be assigned to cross-reference all updates against official government and election body announcements, authorise any formal changes to operating hours, locations or service delivery, and communicate verified information clearly to all staff. All internal updates should directly answer straightforward staff questions: What specific information has been officially confirmed? Will this update impact our working hours, service locations, or core operations? What concrete steps should employees take in response? If details remain uncertain, leadership should communicate that lack of clarity openly rather than sharing unconfirmed rumours. Fifth: Is the organisation fully prepared to maintain professional, collaborative work environments in the days and weeks immediately after election results are released? Election readiness does not end when polls close. Many staff will return to work carrying strong emotions, ranging from elation over a favoured candidate’s victory to deep disappointment over an unfavourable result. Management must enforce consistent, equitable behavioural standards to ensure unregulated celebration or post-defeat frustration never curdles into targeted hostility towards colleagues with opposing political views. For organisations that work closely with public sector institutions, all formal project commitments, official correspondence, milestone deadlines, and pending administrative decisions must be fully documented and archived, so operations can continue seamlessly even if elected officeholders or designated public sector points of contact change after the election. Formalised, well-documented work processes help reinforce professional relationships, rooted in shared organisational purpose rather than personal political connections. Ultimately, these five assessment pillars are rooted in standard, core management best practices: forward planning, clear delegation, transparent communication, rigorous documentation, and consistent fair treatment. Elections simply bring the high stakes of these routine practices into sharp, unavoidable focus. Organisations that complete this preparation ahead of polling day will deliver far clearer expectations for their employees, greater operational certainty for their customers, and a more stable, trusted decision-making framework for their management teams. In the lead-up to voting day, leadership should convene all relevant team members to ask one core guiding question: What policies, processes and ground rules do we need to finalise now, to ensure our staff and our core work are fully supported through every stage of the election period? The simple, intentional step is a practical, tangible contribution every Grenadian organisation can make to a peaceful, productive democratic process. Carlana Charles McGuire is Principal Consultant at Paperclip Ltd, a Grenada-based organisational, institutional and workforce advisory firm. NOW Grenada notes that all views presented in this contributed piece are the sole responsibility of the author, and do not represent the outlet’s official editorial stance.

Over October 13–14, 2026, Grenada rolled out a targeted national sample collection and surveillance training program to bolster its full-cycle capacity to prevent, identify, and respond to African Swine Fever (ASF), a high-stakes viral threat to regional swine populations. Funded by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) and executed by the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) in close partnership with the Ministry of Agriculture’s Veterinary and Livestock Division, the hands-on exercise marks the final installment of a multi-country preparedness series covering all six IICA member states in the Eastern Caribbean. ASF is an extremely contagious viral pathogen that exclusively impacts domestic and wild pig populations, with zero associated health risks for humans. Even so, unmanaged outbreaks can trigger near-total mortality in infected swine herds, erase the livelihoods of small-scale pig farmers, disrupt cross-border agricultural trade flows, and erode local food and nutrition security. The urgent push for enhanced regional readiness has been amplified by confirmed ASF outbreaks in neighboring Dominican Republic and Haiti, which expose the Caribbean’s unique vulnerabilities: porous cross-border movement of people and goods, long-standing regional trade links, and historic gaps in local veterinary and diagnostic infrastructure. The Grenada training brought together a diverse cross-section of critical stakeholders, including frontline veterinary personnel, officers from the Royal Grenada Police Force, representatives of the Grenada Ports Authority, and other public sector and industry partners. Over two days of combined classroom technical instruction and immersive field practice, participants mastered core competencies including low-stress animal handling protocols, strict field biosecurity standards, proper donning and doffing of personal protective equipment (PPE), sterile setup of designated sampling zones, accurate collection of ear blood swabs, and safe packaging, cold storage, and pre-shipping preparation of biological samples for diagnostic testing. A 7-member specialized IICA ASF technical team led by Dr. Ericka Calderon, IICA Headquarters ASF Project Manager, traveled to Grenada to lead the training, with additional expert facilitators joining from Chile, Guyana, and Saint Lucia. Zachary Tipton, International Programme Specialist with USDA, also contributed technical guidance to the regional initiative. Senior regional and local agricultural leaders emphasized the long-term strategic value of the training beyond a one-off technical drill. IICA Representative for the Eastern Caribbean States Gregg Rawlins noted that ASF’s confirmed presence on the island of Hispaniola means the threat is no longer a distant hypothetical for small Caribbean island nations. “For small island states like Grenada, proactive prevention, early detection, and robust preparedness are non-negotiable,” Rawlins explained. “This training is far more than a procedural drill: it is a targeted investment that will protect Grenada’s entire livestock sector and the thousands of livelihoods that depend on it.” Dr. Kimond Cummings, Chief Veterinary and Livestock Officer at Grenada’s Ministry of Agriculture, underscored the devastating global footprint of ASF on swine production systems, calling for coordinated, decisive action across the entire Western Hemisphere to contain its spread. “While the virus poses no danger to people, its impact on swine health is catastrophic, and it demands unwavering vigilance from every national veterinary authority,” Cummings stated. Dr. Calderon framed robust surveillance as the foundational first line of defense against ASF incursion. “Effective surveillance does not just detect existing outbreaks — it stops the virus from ever gaining a foothold in the first place,” she explained. Well-resourced surveillance systems empower veterinary authorities to map high-risk transmission pathways, monitor the movement of live pigs and pork products across borders, and make fast, data-driven decisions to contain risks before they escalate. The broader regional project, formally named the Surveillance and Response Project to Prevent African Swine Fever in the Americas, is designed to build a sustained regional network of fully trained veterinary and laboratory personnel, upgrade national sample collection and standardized reporting systems, and roll out coordinated targeted surveillance in high-priority high-risk zones. It also aims to formalize cross-border regional information-sharing protocols and pre-approved practical response frameworks, so that any suspected ASF case can be rapidly investigated and targeted containment measures deployed without delays. Javan Williams, Permanent Secretary of Grenada’s Ministry of Agriculture, called on all participants to integrate the newly acquired hands-on skills into standard day-to-day veterinary operations, rather than treating them as one-off training takeaways. “These capabilities will directly improve our ability to spot unusual disease signals early, mount a rapid, coordinated response, and protect our core livestock resources, keeping the livelihoods of our farming communities secure,” Williams said. He emphasized that formal training is only the starting point: sustained long-term vigilance will require regular routine farm visits, timely mandatory disease reporting, accurate centralized record-keeping, proactive on-farm observation, and ongoing close collaboration between veterinary teams, pig farmers, and all cross-sector stakeholders. Moving forward, the regional initiative will continue to support targeted field surveillance and systematic sample collection, access to accredited diagnostic testing at regional reference laboratories, and the full development of national customized ASF surveillance and emergency response plans. Program progress will be tracked using clear, measurable metrics including the total number of trained personnel, volume of samples collected and tested, geographic coverage of surveillance activities, and real-world application of acquired skills in field settings. Organizers explicitly clarified that the completion of this training exercise does not indicate any confirmed or suspected ASF presence in Grenada. As the final activity in the Eastern Caribbean training series, the program lays a collaborative foundation for long-term regional cooperation to protect animal health, agricultural livelihoods, and collective food security across the Caribbean.