The opposition is calling for an investigation into poacher’s collaboration with Bahamians as one fisherman accuses the government of selling passports and “our sovereignty”, further encouraging poaching.

Chuck Pinder, a commercial fisherman of 43 years, stands firm on his belief that poaching is on the rise again and accused the government of selling and issuing passports, especially to Dominicans who have been known to participate in the illegal activity in Bahamian waters. 

Mr Pinder said he and other fishermen during the reign of the Free National Movement (FNM), “fought tooth and nail” to end “corruption.”

He claims they were successful in almost completely curing The Bahamas of its poaching problem by pushing for the current legislation that states only Bahamian citizens and residents can fish commercially within the country. Mr Pinder added: “There could be no foreigners on any fishing boat in this country.”

“The now Prime Minister got up when he was campaigning in Long Island stated that commercial fishing would remain for Bahamians only,” Mr Pinder said. 

“So that means the only way that anyone could fish on a companion commercial fishing boat would be if they were Bahamian or held a Bahamian passport. 

“So  this is the next step now in crookedness and cronyism and whatever you want to call it in our country to where we bringing in foreigners, issuing them a Bahamian passport that’s within the system. So when they’re boarded and the Defence Force checks them out, they have a Bahamian passport, and everything seems to be legit, but yet they show no proof of being married to nobody. They show no proof of how long they’ve been in this country, for however long the passport states. 

“The fact of the matter is, it’s all a ring of corruption that’s taking place to get the foreigners back aboard the Bahamian commercial vessels that we have to compete with within our own country because of a bunch of crooked Bahamian people that have invested in fishing boats because of the the noise in the marketplace, so to speak, that the Bahamian fishing grounds are so successful now that they want a piece of the pie. So they don’t want to play fair, they want to hire all these Dominicans to work on these boats. But the only way they could do it is with the Bahamian passport. 

“So that is, that’s what’s going on now in our country. We actually selling our sovereignty to people to hire them for hire, to go out and take the living from hard working Bahamian fishermen that deserve to be living in this country, that deserve to earn and earn a living, to put food on the table for their families, and this is what we facing right now.”

Mr Pinder is seeking confirmation that over 63 Dominicans are fishing commercially with over 21 of them having arrived in June and obtaining passports. Tribune Business was unable to confirm with the Depart of Immigration or the Passport Office. However, Coalition of Independents (COI) Chairman, Charlotte Green, responded to a Facebook post made by Mr Pinder regarding the alleged sighting of Dominican poachers in the Old Bahama Channel between Cuba and The Bahamas witnessed by a Bahamian fisherman while on a cruise. Ms Green commented: “Truth is, both PLP and FNM playing the same game.”

“One side handing out fake work permits, and passports like candy, the other side is silent on the frontline, and we are the ones losing everything,” Ms Green added. “No accountability, no protection, just pure sellout.”

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs shot back at Ms Green’s allegations adding: “The Permanent Secretary has written to the Commissioner of Police to make the police aware of the allegations and cause an investigation to begin.

“Perhaps Ms Green will exercise her patriotic duty and share any evidence she has in her possession to support her claim. If she cannot, the country will know that the allegations are bogus.”

The FNM in a press statement put out by opposition leader Michael Pintard yesterday, detailed measures put in place when it was in power to safeguard the fishing industry.

“We outlawed the use of scuba hoses by Dominican divers, barred them from working on Bahamian fishing boats, and resisted every attempt to roll back the longline ban,” it read. “We made clear that while fish processing could involve non-Bahamian investment, commercial fishing must remain the birthright of Bohemian citizens. Those measures were tough but necessary and they helped rebuild our stocks and protect crawfish for Bohemian fishermen.

“We also invested in enforcement. Between 2019 and 2021, the FNM acquired four additional patrol vessels and imposed tougher penalties on poachers, including heavier fines and prison sentences. The investment was made to protect Bahamian fishermen and secure the future of our marine economy.”

Mr Pintard said the PLP has “reversed course” and has “failed” to close loopholes. He called for an investigation as it was revealed “arrests of Dominican fishers during this period revealed that multiple fishers had Bahamian numbers stored in their phones.”

“In Parliament, we warned that some Dominicans were pursuing citizenship through marriages of convenience and using spousal permits as a back door into our commercial industry. Instead of closing loopholes, the PLP allowed the very safeguards we put in place to be dismantled. Arrests of Dominican fishers during this period revealed that multiple fishers had Bahamian numbers stored in their phones. A thorough investigation into who these poachers are collaborating with inside the country to devastate our fishing stocks is urgently needed. We must also work through diplomatic channels to ensure the business persons in the Dominican Republic, The Bahamas, or the United States are not in any way cooperating in the sale of marine resources stolen from Bohemian waters.”

Mr Pinder noted that the COI has pledged that the sale and issuance of passports to Dominicans would not be an issue under their governance but fishermen will fight with whichever political parties support and engage in such activity.

Before they “cleaned everything up” Mr Pinder said conch has a great chance of becoming extinct due to poachers diving with compressors and “cracking out conch on the bottom.” He said they were killing big, small and spawning crawfish. Keeping up with the number of  foreigners that obtain compressor permits, he said six were granted last year to those who had become Bahamian citizens. He noted that there are currently 17 which “means the people that are not Bahamian, that have become Bahamian citizens have grown from six to 17.”

“The Dominicans have poached the southern banks to death this whole summer long,” Mr Pinder added. “The fishermen anywhere along the southern edge of the Southern banks, everything was wiped out. It made no difference if it was condos, the banks, as far as the bars, the shoals and the reefs, everything the Dominicans had wiped out along the southern edge of the Southern banks, of the Bahama banks. So, we need to get back to where we were with our patrols and the southern banks, we need to secure our borders, and we need to clean up the mess that’s going on within our commercial fishing industry.”

Mr Pinder said he has shared this information with the Commodore, the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, the director of fisheries and other government officials “ao, it has not gone on deaf ears, but they have done nothing to address this problem.” Mr Pintard and Mr Pinder both warn, if the poaching persists, The Bahamas risks losing its Master Stewardship Certificate.

“Our country is now certified under the Master Stewardship Council to where our seafood is certified that we have a sustainable industry in our country that we ship and give to the whole entire world, our seafood and our seafood products, whatever they may be,” Mr Pinder said. “If this keeps up, and the poaching is allowed to continue, these Dominicans are allowed to kill out all our conch and all our seafood in this country, we are going to lose our Master Stewardship Certificate. 

“That means that every country in the world will look at The Bahamas as if we don’t have a sustainable industry, which is very possible that may happen if it keeps up, because we fought the same fight seven and eight years ago to get this done. And from then until now, we have seen everything come to light. Places on the banks where the Dominicans had killed out, now they look like an aquarium. It looked like a lively area once again, and now we’re having to fight the same fight all over again that we fought seven and eight years ago. It’s a shame. We’re selling our sovereignty. We’re selling out our country. And it’s time that all those that are doing it are brought to justice, taken care of, and we don’t need to worry about this anymore. We need to get this done.”