Today three expert witnesses took the stand in the case of the Department of Environment versus the owners of the MS Westerhaven cargo ship. The ship ran aground on Belize’s reef in January and the Port Authority says it was due to negligence. 6,000 square meters of reef was damaged and more than 1,000 square meters was completely levelled. Today attorneys for the DOE Deanne Barrow and Lois Young called to the stand Walter Jap and Herbert Watkins, two ecologists from Florida. They both testified that using the habitat equivalency analysis – it will cost US$18 million to repair the reef or at least it would cost that amount to attempt to restore it. They added it would be difficult logistically and just about next to impossible to do so.

But this afternoon, attorney for Westerhaven Senior Counsel Michael Young called his own expert witness to stand. He is Richard Shaw, an environmental consultant who is also from Florida. Shaw told the court that he did his own assessment of the damage and that it would cost a small fraction of the US$18 million being sought by government. He says it will take only $4.5 million.

Michael Young, Attorney for MS Westerhaven
“The challenge was whether that particular method of assessment is based on statutory requirements of the United States. It is something that I would comment on in my address to the court at a later stage. I don’t really want to say more than that.

Again we are dealing with areas where I simply needed to or wish to bring to the attention to the court that the H.E.A. or the assessment in this case really came out of the United States and questions arise as to well you know ‘Is that to be applied in Belize?’ That is really the fundamental issue that is being addressed there.”

Richard Shaw was the defense’s final witness and the case was adjourned this evening pending close arguments.