A private members’ club has been fined in Magistrates’ Court for cutting back a stand of protected mangrove trees.

Allan Marshall, from the Mid Ocean Club Ltd, admitted that the company had damaged red mangroves, which are a level-two protected species, when he appeared in court yesterday.

The court heard that a 30ft-by-60ft area of trees had been cut at the club’s golf course on April 24, 2023.

The incident sparked a furore, with Walter Roban, the Deputy Premier and Minister of Home Affairs, telling Parliament one month later that about 20 “very mature specimens”, which were about 30 to 40ft high, had been “cut down to four-foot stumps”.

Mr Roban added: “Unfortunately, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources estimates that perhaps 90 per cent of the mangroves’ ecological value is now gone.

“It could not have been undertaken at a worse time for the protected green heron, right in the middle of its nesting season.

“It will realistically take decades for the mangroves to grow back if they do at all.”

Mr Roban vowed to “name, shame and prosecute” the club, threatening a fine of up to $15,000, or one year of imprisonment.

He described it as an “unlawful desecration of our natural environment”.

The club responded in a letter to members saying the work had been undertaken under the belief that the Department of Environment and Natural Resources had been “both aware of and fully on board” with the cutting.

The club said environmental officers had asked it to cease trimming the mangroves at the 5th hole, but gave permission to continue trimming the mangroves at the 12th hole.

Mr Roban insisted that DENR officers had advised a representative that “light trimming was the most they could do without obtaining a permit under the tenets of the Protected Species Act 2003”.

Ben Adamson, lawyer for Mid Ocean Club, told Magistrates’ Court yesterday that the incident had been a “genuine mistake”, adding that the club was working with the Government on conservation plans.

The Royal Gazette understands that mangroves have started growing back in the area.

Magistrate Auralee Cassidy fined Mid Ocean Club $5,000 for the offence.

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