The board of the Saba Conservation Foundation (SCF) has responded to the whistleblower allegations confirming that it has been managing a refurbished 1966 Draeger hyperbaric chamber, donated by the Dutch Navy to the Saba Island Government, since March 1990.
The SCF letter alluded to challenges in securing funding to maintain the chamber and emphasised how “SCF staff volunteered their services as trainers, tenders and drivers for the chamber, which could have been spent on nature conservation projects instead.”
The foundation said “the advancement of diving technology and safer diving practices,” reduced the likelihood of dive-related accidents and that the fees collected from dive emergency treatments did not cover the upkeep of the chamber. This led to the decision to impose “a hyperbaric chamber fee of US $1 per dive” in 2007, after a hyperbaric risk assessment by Divers Alert Network (DAN).
The statement also quotes a maintenance estimate given by Reimers, an accredited firm in this field, amounting to “US $49,000 for work needed to keep the chamber operational.” Unable to cover such cost the SCF “was thus forced to close the chamber in 2009.”
Despite this apparently undisclosed decision, “the collection of the hyperbaric chamber fee per dive continued,” states the letter released by the SCF, “with the guarantee that dive emergency treatments would continue, using the chamber at the Saba University School of Medicine.”
The statement does not offer precise dates, but it acknowledges that “after several months, the medical school agreement degraded because of the school’s concerns of legal liability and a lack of qualified physicians willing to operate the chamber under the conditions at the time. Therefore, the collection of hyperbaric chamber fees was ceased on March 1, 2011.”
The letter says SCF seeks “a long-term solution for the hyperbaric chamber at Fort Bay.” SCF also disclosed that “the Island Government has decided to establish a hyperbaric committee to evaluate the status quo and come up with a workable plan.” It said that “any assets, remaining funds and expertise will of course flow into the new initiative to re-establish a working hyperbaric chamber on Saba, with guidance by DAN and under the supervision of trained medical personnel.”
The statement does not mention who are the members of this initiative, their expertise, the legal grounding for the new entity or its registration. It states that “responsibilities have to be shared and solutions have to be elaborated, instead of pointing fingers and trying to blame someone for this situation.”
The letter asks for “recognition for the voluntary work rendered by so many persons, locals and foreigners alike to keep the Fort Bay chamber running for almost 20 years.” It said the non-profit company has “been audited positively for all finances, including this issue of the chamber,” and that “any fraud or misuse of funds would have been disclosed long before.”
Source: “The Daily Herald” 2012-06-05 (29)
Nothing that hasn’t been said before, just a coverup. This foundation is not capable of running day to day operations and now take on management of the Saba banks, the moorings are in a bad state we have been told by dive staff and there is no patrol. Sailboats take what ever moorings they want even private moorings.
The lionfish problem is massive and SMP has it seems never had a plan to deal with them,we encourage people of Saba to confront this board with your questions.
If the complaints are justified – even for parts of it – this is sad news for the SCF that had such brilliant history when Tom van ‘t Hof was in charge. Yes in the past the SCF has achieved incredibly much and the people who were involved at that time have the right to be very proud. Whether it is justified that this board and management of the last years can use the achievements in the history of the SCF for being proud is questionable especially when their own achievements would prove to be less glorious. The response to the accusations was not very convincing for me. What was actually the reason behind dismissing Jan den Dulk in 2009? How can the silence about the not functioning of the hyperbaric be justified? Why no fundraising if it was true that the SCF could not afford repair or maintenance? Are the financial reports published, who was the auditor? Even an approval by an auditor is no guarantee by the way. But on the other hand …… as long as no real facts can be shown, it is sad that in this 25th year of the SCF this discussion happens. The only way to make an end to this, is coming in the open with all facts. As long as that has not been done, complaints and suspicians look more or less justified.
Jan Van Dulk the dictatorship ruled, what about the sale of the previous marine park booat?
What about staff from the SCF on the weekend drunk and talking crap
What about Jan Van Dulk did the dictatorship prevail? What about the sale of the previous marine park boat? They had a deposit from a local?
Why is staff of the SCF out at bars talking crap about the dive operators, you don’t know who is in the bar sitting next to you! Alchol certainly works in our favour at times.
In response to the “Reef Guardians” comments: I agree that Tom van ‘t Hof did a stellar job building the marine park but what does that have to do with the current issues? And why smear Jan Van Dulk when he is not even there to defend himself. It appears that someone has a vendetta against the SCF and is hiding behind the tag “Reef Guardians”. Most individuals writing on this forum identify themselves.
As to the condition of the moorings in the marine park, it is impossible to have every mooring available at all times due to the constant wear and tear from mother-nature and skippers who maneuver over the mooring lines severing or damaging the equipment. Often boats will drag a mooring a considerable distance so that it is not at its specified location. To repair and move moorings is both dangerous and time consuming work. When a mooring is torn from its pins, it often required many man hours of deep diving to drill and reset lost equipment. Vessels arrive on Saba at all hours. Many times they moor after dark. It would take twenty four hour surveillance to police transients, and at a huge expense.
The hard-working staff and volunteers need to be commended rather than criticized for the difficult and hazardous work they perform. As to the fact that the reefs are under attack by invasive species that is not the fault of the SCF. The dive company employees as well as SCF staff try to mitigate the damage caused by lionfish but stopping this tempest is similar to stopping a tropical storm.
By working openly with the SCF staff and board, Tom van ‘t Hof’s hard work will be a foundation to superior facilities and services at the park; so that the next twenty five years will enhance one of the finest marine parks in the world.
paul fleuren
It’s an open forum and a “free” society and one can say what he or she thinks. I prefer for myself to publish my name if I wish to say something. Whatsoever, I agree that the staff of the Marine Park is a quite hardworking bunch and certainly they have good intentions. I as a dive center operator try to help them as much as I and my staff can. We fill a bunch of free rtanks for them and let them know when moorings are damaded. Cooperation should be paramount but also openness (that’s what I’m missing here). The problem is rather the lack of transperancy the board operates under and the things coming up now are partically their fault. I would suggest: come clean, get it out, be honest and lets start back all together for the benefit of our island and the product that we sell most. The island and its people deserve better and the Marine Park and all what was achived in the past too. Don’t destroy it, it would be a crying shame.
Please keep positive thinking.
The hyperbaric chamber has been donated to SABA !!!
Please SCF, Saba Health Care, Government, Divers: find a solution together!
It is a pity for those volunteers that the reputation of the SCF is questioned or even worse. Again I would like to stress that all stakeholders should be involved in finding a fast solution.
With a view to this, it is a pity that in the letter of the SCF facts are denied. Where people are working people make mistakes. In order to find a solution in a short term, my advice to the board of the SCF is that facts about mistakes are not denied but aknowledged in public. Yes it is true that Jack Buchanan has been asked quite some time ago to participate in finding a solution. But already one year ago, I have been informed that the SCF likes to use the space of the chamber for something else. Problems with covering the costs for the repair / backward maintenance was apparently not really the argument for keeping the hyperbaric chamber working. I am quite sure that these costs could not have been the real argument.
I have accidentally come across this article, and thought it might be of benefit to the current discussion for people to read. It outlines the duties for the future National Parks Manager, This advertisement appeared in 2009, so the present incumbent, would be responsible for the management,organization, staff, and its function,outlined in this advert, and the salary would be commensurate with these responsibilities.
Link below.
http://www.blueplanetdivers.org/archives/2009/05/national_parks.php
According to a calculation by Reimers Systems Inc., the update of the hyperbaric chamber would have costed $ 49.819,–. From well informed sources I have heard that it would have very well been possible to do the repair and upgrading by local technicians for a far less amount than that.
But actually it became obvious that money was not the problem. In a financial report from the SCF itself we found the following figures:
Income: hyperbaric fees from January 2007 to February 2011: $ 84.915,00
Grants from DOEN: $ 37.041,37
Treatments from 2003 to 2009: $ 68.046,12
Reimbursed income from DAN Sponsorship: $ 2.982,40
Equipment sales: $ 40,00
TOTAL INCOME OF THE HYPERBARI CHAMBER : $ 193.025,25
TOTAL COSTS for travel and training, depreciation expenses, maintenance and hardware
$ 33.465,37
Conclusion: costs and finances were not the problem.
Very good investigative reporting Rene,also very troubling figures.
Wolfgang noted a meeting was called for the dive operators, did that happen? Why are they so quite about this are they covering something up as well?
We heard over the last few days hospital staff were unaware of the chamber closure, apparantly a dive instructor was thought to be slightly bent about the time of the closure and hospital staff were clueless there was no chamber available, but we can’t confirm who it was or if they are still on island. Would be interesting to talk to them and see what they knew.
The answer is: No there was no meeting yet. A meeting is set for next week. I wonder what will come out of this. But frankly guys, can’t you come out now and let us know who you are??? What is the reason to keep yourself anonymous? You are entitled to your opinion and to ask questions. No big deal. If you prefer to keep it the way it is and you have good reasons for it, fine with me, just thought it would be more transperant and if you request this from the SCF you should be able to do the same. Nevertheless anonymous or not, since you started this, things have moved, which they didn’t do before. Maybe we even get our chamber back. If that happens you did the right thing in the first place.
The SCF board presented in a ppt-presentation other figures than those that I had received from an annual report. This has happened in a meeting with the diving organisations. However they had to revise their own presentation even within a couple of minutes of the discussion. If not before long there will be provided complete transparancy by publishing the official annual reports and the reports of the auditors, it looks as if it is a questionable case indeed. On the other hand it might be time that those still unknown Reef Guardians are coming into the open and are reporting possible fraud to the police. If they don’t do that, I would like that they will withdraw their accusations.
We still await the findings of the government investigation as promised by the Lt. Governor as stated in the Dialy Herald as well as on this board.
What investigation? You think they will do an investigation? Certainly not without pressure from the community.
In the meeting with the board I and others said that we think the board should resign and that we have no trust in the board to handle and invest their financials. Of course they won’t do that voluntary and will just wait and hope it will all go away.
That’s just bthe arrogance of this organization, they don’t beleive they have to answer to anyone.With hold all marine park and nature fees and put pressure on them.
Governor Johnson would look like he blows hot air if there wasn’t an investigation, he said it in 2 publications.
If the statements of Reef Guardians are correct, then it is not just a task of the government to investigate but also a task for the ministry of Justice and therefor of the police. Personally I don’ t like to blame the whole organisation of Saba Conservation Foundation, because in principle this is an organisation that deserves all respect for everything that has been done and achieved in the past. Actually I would like very much that all negative news about this organisation can be either proved to be not true or to be caused by some individuals within that organisation. The organisation as such is of undeniable value for Saba and for the nature of Saba.
Apart from the fact that the Reef Guardians are not making themselves known, it is quite strange that the board of the Saba Conservation Foundation is not giving any insight in their annual reports either. According to the regulations for organisations that get funds from government the figures and the official annual reports with the comments from an auditor need to be given to the government anyway and actually it is normal to send these reports to the Chamber of Commerce as well. Working with public money obligates you to be open and transparant about how you did spent that money. Hiding these reports for even stakeholders such as the dive-shops raises questions to say the least. Not communicating plans for making the hyperbaric chamber functioning again makes things even more questionnable.
The dive operators are still working on solutions and had several meetings. There are also plans to meet with government asap to discuss matters. I agree with you Rene that the board acts strange about their finances and all I have seen so far is quite puzzling to me. The way they presented things and how they worked the numbers, I doubt that this is the way it should be done. I’m not an accountant neither, I only can say for my business I wouldn’t do it that way, especially when I’m public funded. We didn’t agree to publish a common press release since there was to much spin in the wording they send us. I don’t know why they didn’t publish their own if they feel like publishing one. Since there are many parties involved and things are still in progress I can’t say much more right now but I hope that additional information will be available asap.
Why do we need to make our identity known? I still ask why the dive operators meet with a board they claim they don’t trust and they claim they asked to resign but didn’t.
The fact that the board, the dive operators have been all to quite about this which raises even more questions.
Bottom line the SCF has no plans to reopen the chamber if they did why did they close it in the first place.
Come on guy(s), “we, I”, who, what, where and when??? By now I don’t mind you/we/I keeping your identity for yourself. When it makes you happy, so be it. Fact is these things take its time, and not to meet brings us nowhere. Since you/we/I prefer others to do the job and don’t do things yourself about issues you claim to have knowledge of (for example get an investigation going), is unfair. There are several parties involved and not all dive centers have the same approach etc. You/we/I have ever heard about compromisses that have to be made? So it is neccesary to meet all parties, trust or not, to find a workable solution. Since not all meetings are held, carnival approching and people also have to run a business it takes time to sort things out. Quote: Think about what you can do for your country (the process) and not what the country (the others) can do for you. Lets work together so we get the results we want and need: the reopening of the recompression chamber and the sustainable running of it..
Lets be honest Wolfgang. everything the SCF does is underhanded. Why would anyone want them involved period.
The fact that the board refuses to resign speaks loudly, if they resign and someone else takes over the corruption can’t be covered up.
When an accident happens, and given enough time it will, who will have blood on their hands?
Go ahead and DO something guys if you feel its important. I do my share and work as much as possoble on the issue to achieve a solution, so do others. But I do it my way, means the way I feel its right. I try a realistic approach and I have to take several realities into account. You can do what ever you want but DO it.