Kristen Gyles | Beaches are free ... almost everywhere else in the Caribbean

Right now, at the beach behind one of Jamaica’s most prominent hotels, a hotel guest is about to bump into the floating boundary marker in the water, put there to prevent them from straying on to the ‘property’ of a neighbouring hotel. By property, I’m referring to the water because, well, the hoteliers will probably tell you that, by virtue of the hotel having its physical property on the beachfront, it has more of a right over the water, the coastline, and perhaps even the seabed in front of the physical property than you or I do.

It is this view that has prompted the debate around public beach access in Jamaica. Although it is natural to expect that the country’s coastline would be accessible to the public to allow everyone access to natural water resources, some have found ways to argue in favour of the increased privatisation of Jamaican beaches. Let me hasten to say that this conversation is non-existent in several other countries in our region.

While, in Jamaica, public access to the coastline is not a right under the law, it is in many other jurisdictions.

Section 3(4) of the Beach Control Act states explicitly:

“No person shall be deemed to have any rights in or over the foreshore of this Island or the floor of the sea save such as are derived from… this Act”.

Instead, all rights in or over the foreshore of the island are vested in the Crown, subject to pre-existing and statutory rights.

Section 52 of the same act also says that where any beach is used by the public for fishing, bathing or recreation, upon payment of a fee, the Beach Control Authority may (after consulting the owner) declare the beach to be a public recreational beach and that thereafter the beach will continue to be open to the public upon payment of a fee fixed by the Authority. A fee being imposed for admission to a public beach makes it clear that public access is more of a regulated privilege than an unconditional right.

A general reading of this outdated 1956 piece of legislation reveals that public access to the coastline is simply not automatic. It expressly regulates licences for use of the foreshore and floor of the sea, making access to some parts of the coastline contingent on the dictates of private owners.

Recently, the government released a list of 60 public beaches that Jamaicans can access. The suitability of some of these 60 beaches for swimming is still being widely discussed but, either way, this number is significant.

The Cayman Islands, which are 56 times smaller than Jamaica, have a similar number of public beaches. In fact, a news article in the Cayman Compass dated October 15, 2025 states that there are 57 free beaches in Grand Cayman. Grand Cayman has a coastline measuring 160 km while Jamaica has a coastline measuring 1,022 km.

Why would an island as small as Grand Cayman have a similar number of public beaches? Well, because every beach in the Cayman Islands is essentially a public beach. This is so because Section 26 of the Public Lands Act, which governs the way public land is utilised by Caymanian citizens, makes it clear that:

“No person shall, without lawful authority, obstruct or interfere with the right of a member of the public under this Act to have access to public land, to use public land or to exercise a public right of way over private land.”

The act defines public land in a way that includes the seabed and territorial waters.

In other words, members of the public are free to access any part of the coastline up to the high watermark. (The high watermark is the furthest line left on the shore by coastal waves during normal tide.) Only the property beyond the high watermark can be owned privately. So, at no point can a citizen be prevented from swimming on any beach, except in marine park zones where restrictions apply. It is illegal for private owners of beachfront properties to charge Caymanians to use or access the beach.

It is the same in Barbados. Beaches are publicly accessible and are free. As long as a citizen does not trespass on private property to get to the coastline, which again is public property, he or she is free to use any beach.

I could go on and on listing countries across the Caribbean where this contention over public beach access is a non-issue, but neither space nor time permits.

The point is that our outdated legislation is undoubtedly the problem here. Even where similar legislation in other jurisdictions states that the coastline is the property of the state, it often states as well that said property is held in trust for the people of the country. The citizens of an island state should not be landlocked and prevented from freely and easily accessing the natural water that surrounds the island.

Nothing would be wrong with the government collecting a voluntary contribution upon entry to some of our beaches, since we can all agree that it is nice when beaches are retrofitted with changing facilities and/or bathrooms, all of which are maintained at a cost. However, such a contribution should really not be mandatory for access to any beach.

And, if it feels like a denial for a hotel or villa to be denied free rein to obstruct citizens from freely accessing beach water, maybe hotels should be recognised as having control over not only the water in front of their properties but the air too. And if we’re going down that line, I believe it is only fair that we prevent airplanes, helicopters and other aircraft from ‘encroaching’ on the air belonging to or controlled by these major hotel chains. Maybe, when we start doing that, we will see how ridiculous the entire argument favouring coastline privatisation really is.

Kristen Gyles is a free-thinking public affairs opinionator. Send feedback to kristengyles@gmail.com and columns@gleanerjm.com.