Poachers are killing the fishing industry

FISHING was once a lucrative business for our local fishermen. But no more. Foreigners — mainly from the Dominican Republic with a handful of Americans thrown in — are raiding the fishermen’s traps, both in and out of season. Bahamian fishermen are pleading for help. However, there is no help in sight.

So intent are they on capturing Haitian boat people that the Defence Force has no time to deal with illegal poachers. And so the fishermen suffer. Not only do they suffer, but as a result they are tempted to take the law into their own hands.

In October last year, a delegation, headed by Foreign Affairs Minister Fred Mitchell, met in the Dominican Republic with Dominican officials specifically on the issue of their citizens fishing illegally in our waters.

On his return to Nassau, Mr Mitchell said that the Bahamas government believed that it had “an obligation to ensure that we used diplomacy as the first line of defence.” He said that Dominican Republic President Denilo Medina had pledged that the Bahamas’ poaching problems would be addressed.

President Medina, said Mr Mitchell, “gave specific instructions to the naval forces in the Dominican Republic to begin a series of measures which the navy has predicted will result in a drastic decline in poaching in Bahamian waters.” Mr Mitchell was “cautiously optimistic therefore that we will see some improvement in this area.”

Not so, said Bahamian fishermen this week. Two months short of a year after the Dominican talks our fishermen claim that the situation is getting worse.

“Every meeting is the same thing – talk, talk, talk,” said one fisherman this week. “This is the only industry Bahamians own, but the government is not protecting it. I saw poachers in April, in May, in June and I heard them on the radio. You know how bad it feels when the season closes for you and they out there fishing?”

When he returned last October from the “diplomatic” talks with the Dominicans, Mr Mitchell said that a $200 million investment would have to be made to better equip the Defence Force to patrol our borders. Also Minister V Alfred Gray, who was a part of last year’s delegation, said they would “look for” the Attorney General to amend the Fisheries Act to increase the penalties for poaching from $5,000 to $250,000 and 25 years in prison.

Not only did the Dominican government pledge to assist in upholding our laws, but they promised to also punish their fishermen for their transgressions.

When The Tribune reporter asked Mr Mitchell this week to comment on the fishermen’s complaints, he said, “I would think in terms of enforcement, the issue is really resources. What happened is the agreement between the Dominican Republic and ourselves is largely finished; one or two things the lawyers have to do. In any event, fishermen should contact the Defence Force, they are responsible for guarding the waters and if they see poachers call the Defence Force and they’ll go out and guard the waters.”

Obviously, despite what Mr Mitchell told fishermen on his delegation’s return from the Dominican Republic last year, the Defence Force has not been equipped with the necessary tools to do the job. According to our fishermen, the Defence Force when called for poachers are reluctant to respond and when they do they “conduct poor investigations”.

“Poachers are not their priority,” said one fisherman, “Haitians are.”

One fisherman pointed out that when the Defence Force officers go to the bank they can collect their cheques, “but when these poachers out there catching fish all through the year, I can’t make no money. We need to see Dominican boats tied up at Potters Cay dock or tied up by the Defence Force.

“Everything boils down to enforcement,” said a fisherman. “There’s no police and no Defence Force out there to enforce the laws. I tried to contact the Defence Force on Thursday and no one answered the phone and when you call them it’s like they screening you for drugs. They ask you a million questions. I saw four boats out there recently and I don’t know where to report it to.

“If they could keep these Dominicans off the bank a lot of revenue could be coming because this is a serious situation. They have no respect. They fish groupers, crawfish, anything all year round. It’s only the Bahamians suffering.”

Abaco fishermen also have many complaints, but theirs is mainly against Americans. Apparently tourism is booming in Abaco, but it is also a yachtsman’s paradise. Many visitors arrive in their own boats, get their cruising permits, but fish over the permitted limit. A small number of them, said one Abaconian– “but enough to make a difference” – come specifically for the fish. No laws are enforced, he said. There is one well known American who makes regular trips to fill his tanks with a variety of fish, including crawfish, to keep his South Florida restaurant supplied with fresh sea food from the Bahamas.

“The whole situation is getting out of hand, and the fishing industry is suffering,” he said over the weekend. Apparently, stealing from the locals’ fishing condos has also become a sport for some Americans.

Last week, a couple of Abaconians went to check their condos only to find four or five rental boats in the area and several Americans lifting crawfish from their condos into their boats. Asked what they thought they were doing, they played dumb. Then one bright spark remarked: “Oh, it’s a sport, the locals put them there for us to fish them out!”

They soon changed their tune and fled when the Abaconians gave them a raw bit of their tongue.

But, thanks to these outsiders from the US, Abaco’s main industry is being destroyed. The fishermen have written the Defence Force off as ineffective and reluctant to give assistance.

Some are now suggesting that as the Defence Force is unable to give protection, Abaconians themselves should be given permission to organise a patrol to protect their own fishing grounds.

Obviously, the “diplomatic” trips to the Dominican Republic failed. The Defence Force obviously still does not have the equipment to do the job and the poaching laws have not been stiffened.

As the fishermen say, so far it has been empty promises and talk, talk, talk. They now want action from their government.

Comments

concernedcitizen says...

the defence force is a bunch of inner city guys given jobs for votes ,,they come down the exuma cays under land going port to port ..there are over 1000 marines and about 4 boats ,,About every 10 yrs the U/S gives us boat that for lack of proper maintinance wind up as scrap in coral harbuor T here are also studies showning the RBDF is in cahoots w/ the domincans and involved in commercial fishing .I AM A CAPTAIN AND WAS A FISHERMAN EVERY YEAR I GET LESS AND LESS HOPEFUL ABOUT OUR COUNTRY ,,

Posted 21 August 2013, 6:48 p.m. Suggest removal

clawdad says...

this story is a joke.how can the defence force do anything when the domincans boats are owned by some big shot bahamian calling no names. plus 90percent of problem is done by the local fisherman,like fishing out of season,killing of the small fish.how can things get any better

Posted 21 August 2013, 10:28 p.m. Suggest removal

concernedcitizen says...

your right about big shots in cahoots w/ dominicans and us fishing out of season

Posted 22 August 2013, 1:54 p.m. Suggest removal

VDSheep says...

Most of the problem is ours - apart from "we" fishing out of season, ourselves. Unfortunately our politicians are still in a post-colonial mode with hat in hand and cannot take control to run the country. They continue to outsource our security to foreigners. NATO and the US has DRONES and other surveillance apparatuses in the Bahamas air and sea. Yet, we don’t know when a Haitian boat or a poacher is in our waters. We can afford to buy and operate our own drones - they are cheaper and more efficient to operate in protecting our country across the board. But first, our politicians must get out of the house boy mentality and rely on
Bahamians first in practice! Give Bahamians the technology to get the job done!


Posted 6 October 2013, 10:06 p.m. Suggest removal

SWfish says...

They say we cant take the law into our own hands but they leave us no choice. The Dominicans are now threatening us. We will fight to save the fishing industries. If it means we have to use lethal force then so be it. If the Defence force wont come and catch them when we call then we have no choice but to fight. We captured Dominican poachers and handed them over to the defence force and they charged them a small fine and let them go. We seen the very same boat 1 year later. So we have to destroy the boats so they cant fish any more. I am a Spanish Wells fisherman and I say all Bahamian fisherman need to fight to keep the Dominicans out of our waters. Let them know this is our fishing ground and we will use all we have to run them out and keep them out.

Posted 4 November 2013, 6:19 p.m. Suggest removal

leonardo85 says...

They need to impose strict rules and regulations to keep the situation under control. The fishermen should be given every facility they need to thrive. However, these days one can find fishing supplies online. At places like <a href="http://alariobros.com/crabbingsupplies.…">AlarioBros</a>, you can even find crabbing supplies at a very reasonable price.

Posted 23 April 2014, 4:56 a.m. Suggest removal

Marc says...

Perhaps if the coast guard would have more boats and spend more time on patrol, the poachers would be discouraged. Even the fishermen could organize themselves to protect their waters, they could use <a href="http://www.mmimarine.com/mmi/index.php?…">discount marine parts</a> to repair old boats so more people would stand on guard.

Posted 2 October 2014, 1:12 p.m. Suggest removal

Tommy77 says...

This needs to be stopped. <img src="http://s04.flagcounter.com/mini/kfoW/bg…" style="display:none">

Posted 2 October 2014, 1:41 p.m. Suggest removal

dana says...

The government should take immediate steps to help these poor fishermen. It should also offer all the assistance they need, it could provide them with <a href="http://www.dixonsmarine.com/">custom fishing boats</a> and modern fishing equipments.

Posted 19 December 2014, 6:20 a.m. Suggest removal

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