BEACHES OUT FRONT IN ACCESS DISPUTES

It’s an issue that ebbs and flows like the everlasting waves that wash Caribbean shorelines. Permanently documented and indelibly etched in the Caribbean psyche from Barbados to the Cayman Islands and islands in between, playing in song and still playing out in Jamaica; that beach is mine!

The issue championed by that 1982 calypso (soca) by Gabby remains widely unresolved 44 years later.

Among the most recent flare-ups is in Jamaica, where beach access has gone before the court for a legal ruling that is hoped will once and for all define whether beach access is part of the national public domain patrimony or if private ownership prevails.

A case brought by the Jamaica Beach Birthright Environmental Movement (JABBEM) is one of five cases seeking legal and constitutional clarity on the contentious issue.

While the cases are specific to Jamaica, it is clear that they will be closely watched elsewhere in the region where the issue has never gone away. Protests, public policy, scholarly dissertations on the history and community rights versus development(especially tourism) are the hallmarks of these disputes.

In Jamaica, some beaches are operated by the government with unfettered public access, but others are considered ‘private’ for guests linked to hotels and other beachfront properties.

Weighing in on the matter given its direct tourism industry implications, the Jamaica Hotel and Tourism Association(JHTA) has aimed for a middle ground without proverbially ‘drawing a line in the sand’.

JHTA president, Christopher Jarrett, has said: “The question before Jamaica is not whether Jamaicans and visitors alike should access our beaches. They absolutely should. The question is how we enable access in a manner that protects our people, our visitors, and our coastlines…We must create a positive and safe experience for everyone, while we continue to support and build the local businesses that rely on a successful and safe tourism industry.”

One comment that’s echoing through the current disputes over beach access in Jamaica goes back to a 2024 remark attributed to Prime Minister Andrew Holness: “Every Jamaican must have access to its beaches,” he has been quoted as saying. However, speaking in 2025, he appeared more circumspect in his comments, saying: “The public beach access issue is a topical one…There is a Beach Policy that we have developed.”

The country’s tourism minister, Ed Bartlett, has noted that while there are some specific matters being addressed regarding access to beaches, it’s not a reflection of the general state of affairs.

“We may have issues with an area. [However], we must not make the world define Jamaica as a country that denies its population… access, because… it’s not true,” he has been reported as saying.

But the controversy surrounding the matter is still far from resolved, especially politically. Speaking recently in the Jamaica Parliament, Omar Newell, the opposition People’s National Party(PNP) spokesman on the Environment and Climate Resilience, said the government’s Beach Access and Management Policy fell short of addressing the substantive issue.

“A beach cannot merely belong to those who can afford a room key or day pass. Our coastline is part of our national inheritance,” he declared.