A luxury yacht is anchored on the reef right in front of San Pedro
Town tonight and the owner – a man from Cancun is detained by San Pedro
Police. The vessel which flies a Bermudan flag was first seen this morning and
authorities responded quickly including the San Pedro Police, Hol Chan Marine
Reserve and the Department of Environment. The boat captain forty nine year
old Salvador Villerias Eckart who is a resident of Acapulco, Mexico but has
been living in Cancun. According to authorities the boat captain is being detained
by DOE following their investigation and an assessment of the damage on the
reef.
We spoke with Miguel Alamilla, a Fisheries Officer and the Manager
of Hol Chan Marine Reserve. The photos of the vessel were provided by the San
Pedro Sun newspaper.
Miguel Alamilla, Hol Chan Marine Reserve
“We need to quantify the damage, the extent of the damage, and then
the court is going to decide from there on what is going to happen.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
And what you say is the initial reports coming from divers, what have they actually
seen underwater?
Miguel Alamilla,
“They reported extensive damage because it has a metal chain, from
the anchor there is a metal chain going all the way to the boat and the metal 
chain is dragging on the bottom of the coral reef and there is a strong north
wind and the boat is swaying back and forth and the anchor keeps dragging on
the reef.”
Jacqueline Godwin,
And no doubt because this is a popular dive spot, this is of concern to you
guys.
Miguel Alamilla,
“Well the entire reef is of concern and the entire four reefs in front
of Ambergris Caye are dive sites I would say, that whole area is used by scuba
divers to dive there; several dive sites all along the reef in front of Ambergris
Caye.
I hope this doesn’t occur again. We work very closely with the tour operators,
tour guides here on the island and they were the ones who notified us very early
that this has happened and this is a foreign vessel and we don’t have
much outreach out to the foreign navigation but it is not something that occurs
very frequently. I think the last one we had was several years ago. Just to
clarify, this did not happen inside the marine reserve. This is in front of
San Pedro Town. The nearest reserve which is Hol Chan is about three miles away.”
And while the Department of Environment continues to investigate,
it is not certain when the vessel will be removed in a manner which will prevent
further damage to the reef. Salvador Villerias Eckart reportedly told police
he had to drop his anchor in the reef after a rope got tangled in one of the
propellers and so basically he had to use the anchor as a brake to avoid running
over the reef. As we understand while the rope was freed from the propeller
the boat remained anchored at the location. According to the police the boat
captain told them that he arrived very early this morning and was not aware
of any damage to the reef.
Following the relevant assessment and investigation it is expected
that the boat captain will be charged. Just how much? Well that depends on the
severity of the damage done to the reef.
Channel 7
AmbergrisCaye.com 
