Bahamas Forbids Unloading of Garbage From Barge

LARGO, Fla. —  Bahamian police were put on alert to turn back New York’s wandering garbage barge Thursday after a developer said he wanted to unload it on a tiny uninhabited island to help build a tropical playground.

Tony Gallina of Largo said he planned to use the 3,100 tons of refuse as fill on which to lay foundations for a resort on Little San Salvador, a spit of land 250 miles southeast of Miami in the Bahamas’ Out Islands.

But Norman Gay, health minister in the capital city of Nassau, promptly ruled out that idea.

‘Can Only Be Harmful’

“There will be no dumping of waste in the Bahamas on land or sea,” Gay said. “Nobody has any permission to dump anything. We in the Bahamas have no interest in this sort of thing. . . . It can only be harmful.”

The Bahamas became the third foreign country to reject the refuse from Islip, N.Y., which has been at sea for nearly seven weeks on a 5,000-mile journey in search of a dump site. It also has been turned down by six states.

The Bahamian government said the island is a nesting ground for sea birds and a popular sport area for fishing. Defense, police, customs and immigration forces were put on alert to prevent the barge from unloading its cargo.

Gallina acknowledged that he had not contacted government officials before his plan was made public. He said getting clearance or necessary permits would be up to the Alabama middleman, Lowell Harrelson, who contracted with Islip to get rid of the town’s commercial refuse after the city’s own landfills ran out of room.

The barge, which set out from Islip on March 22, remained anchored seven miles off Key West.