Paul Allen is a co-founder of Microsoft. He owns sports teams and lots of big things because he is wicked rich. He loves big boats.
Following an inspection by local divers to assess the damage, officials have found that Allen’s 300 ft yacht MV Tatoosh wrecked a high percentage of the coral, which is essential for marine’s life.
It is thought that the accident was caused by a yacht’s chain when it was anchored by the Doc Poulson shipwreck and The Knife dive site.
The boat in question, the Tatoosh, is number 49 on Boat’s top 200 largest yachts—or as I like to call it, the Top 200 signs you cannot fill the hole that’s eating you from the inside out. How much precious coral reef was destroyed?
An anchor chain on the 300-foot mega-yacht, the MV Tatoosh, owned by billionaire Paul Allen, has destroyed almost 14,000 sq.ft of reef in the West Bay replenishment zone, the Department of Environment confirmed following a survey of the area. DoE officials said more than 80% of the coral in the area has been damaged by the luxury boat’s chain. Local divers conducted an in-water survey of the coral reef damage last week and the DoE expects to publish the detail findings next week.
That is terrible. Paul Allen has responded.
In a statement shared with GeekWire on Wednesday, Allen’s Vulcan Inc. said, “Media reports are greatly exaggerated and the investigation by the local authorities is continuing. The local port authority had directed the Tatoosh to anchor in a designated area, and the crew moved the vessel, on its own accord, as soon as it learned from local divers that there might be a problem. The crew is cooperating fully with the local authorities in this matter.”
Whether it is truly the fault of the luxury boat’s crew or the local port authorities, there is one thing that is clear—having egregious, oversized toys, just because you can leads to egregious and over-sized problems for everybody. Grow up, Paul Allen. Throwing money at wildlife causes is all good and well except the environment isn’t something you get to buy when you break it.
