American national fined $3.4 million for damage to reef

Less than a month ago, two foreign vessels sailing around San Pedro Ambergris Caye were moored for several days near delicate patches of reef. The investigation into that incident involving the Dreamer and Imagine is still ongoing but an incident which occurred two years ago has finally been resolved in court. On May second, 2007, the Sun Jam, a catamaran owned by American national, David Lautree, ran aground and damaged the Lighthouse Reef Atoll. Today, Lautree was found guilty of recklessly causing the disaster that resulted in environmental loss.
Magistrate Edd P. Usher fined Lautree three point four million dollars. He ordered Lautree to pay fifty thousand dollars within two months and a total of six hundred and eighty thousand dollars per year over five years until the fine is paid in full. Magistrate Usher ruled that Lautree did not exercise due diligence when his catamaran ran into the reef and destroyed an area measuring one hundred and twenty five feet by seventy five feet because he did not have a pilot or sufficient crew members on the vessel. Only Lautree and another man were on board and that man testified he was only a ‘lookout man’ and not a crew member. The magistrate further stated that Lautree only exercised due diligence when he employed a barge to remove his catamaran from the reef. Lautree was represented in court by attorney Lionel Welch. Crown Council Douglas Carr represented the Department of Environment.