By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A prominent Bimini resort’s marina business plunged by 50 percent compared to normal July 4 weekends after the enactment of revised boating fees that the Government expects to triple its revenues.

Robbie Smith, Bimini Big Game Club’s veteran dockmaster of 36 years, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas needs to “go back to the drawing board right away” and revise the new cruising permit fees, as well as the new anchorage and fishing permit fees, “across the board” given the negative impact suffered by his employer and other marinas and hotels to-date.

He described the way that the fees have been implemented, with zero industry consultation or period for boaters to adjust, as “a slap in the face” for visitors and warned that if the decline in business persisted Bimini Big Game will have to “cut back on staff” even though the summer boating season is when employees “really make their money”.

Mr Smith’s disclosures about the boating fees fall-out came as research by this newspaper reveals that the Government is forecasting the reforms will more than triple annual revenues generated by this earnings stream compared to the old fee structure.

The 2025-2026 Budget estimates disclose that cruising permit fees generated a combined $6.223m in the 2023-2024 fiscal year, and were forecast - under the old structure and levies - to produce $5.518m in the just-closed 2024-2025 Budget period.

That represented a year-over-over decline of 11.3 percent, although $4.064m or 73.7 percent of the 2024-2025 full-year target had been collected during the first nine months of the last fiscal year through March 2025.

However, with the addition of the two-year frequent digital cruising card (FDCC) and new anchorage fees in particular, the Ministry of Finance is forecasting that the Public Treasury during the current 2025-2026 fiscal year will generate a total $17.868m from cruising permits and related levies.

This represents a 224 percent increase upon, or more than tripling of, the $5.518m cruising permit revenues projected for the 2025-2025 fiscal full-year. The Ministry of Finance is forecasting that the FDCC, which permits vessels “unlimited entry” for a period of two years upon payment of a fee ranging from $1,500 to $8,000, which is linked to vessel size, will generate $9m alone during 2025-2026.

And the new anchorage fees, ranging from $200 to $1,500 “for foreign pleasure vessels not mooring at a marina”, and again linked to vessel size, are projected to deliver $2.8m in new revenues. Together, the FDCC and anchorage fees are predicted to produce $11.8m for the Public Treasury, with the new “temporary” 12-month permit for boats below 50-feet forecast to produce $4.417m

And the Ministry of Finance, despite all the dire predictions and warnings, is clearly anticipating that The Bahamas’ boating and yachting market will continue to expand as it is forecasting steady growth in the FDCC, anchorage fees and temporary cruising permit revenues through the next two Budget cycles to the close of the 2027-2028 fiscal year.

In particular, FDCC income is forecast to rise from $9m this fiscal year to $10m in 2026-2027, and then to $11.65m in 2027-2028, while anchorage fees are also projected to move from $2.8m to $3.08m and $3.452m over the same timeframe.

Peter Maury, the Association of Bahamas Marinas (ABM) president, branded these forecasts “wishful thinking” based on the cancellations, and reports of booking cancellations, he is both seeing and receiving from other marina members. Others were more cautious, responding only that “time will tell” and “we’ll see who’s right” - the Ministry of Finance or boaters and the private sector that serves them.

Bimini Big Game’s Mr Smith said that while mega yachts and other vessels more than 100 feet in length are unlikely to be impacted as much, particularly those that charge between $10,000 to $20,000 per day to charter, that is not the market that his property and those on the islands closer to Florida - Bimini, West End, Abaco and the Berry Islands - serve.

He explained that the core clientele for his resort, and others on Bimini, are the smaller centre consoles, sports fishing vessels and Boston Whalers that like to make frequent - and often spontaneous - trips to The Bahamas. They are now faced with having to pay higher fees, with the former three-month cruising permit having been ended, and restricted to entering only twice within 30 days on the same permit.

The ‘temporary’ 12-month cruising permit fee for a vessel below 50 feet in length has risen from $300 to $500, a two-thirds or 66.67 percent rise, with those between 50 feet and 100 feet seeing an increase of similar magnitude from $600 to $1,000.

None of those voicing concern about the revised boating fees and their impact are disputing that The Bahamas has a sovereign right to determine and set these levies at the level it deems appropriate, or that visiting boaters should pay their fair share in taxes and fees in return for commercial exploitation of this nation’s waters and environment.

Instead, the main issue has been the zero consultation with boaters and industry, coupled with the lack of notice and time to adjust, as well as the scale and breadth of the changes and how they have been implemented in practice. This has led to significant uncertainty and confusion, with The Bahamas not providing a timely or coherent message to its visitors.

Mr Smith, telling Tribune Business the reforms appeared to have been “pushed down the throat”, acknowledged that the FDCC does appear to be generating interest and gaining traction among potential boating visitors.

However, his concerns align with those voiced by others in the marina business. For while the Customs Management (Amendment) Regulations 2025 stipulate that the anchorage fees are “for foreign pleasure vessels not mooring at a marina”, he added that this has been levied on visitors docking at Big Game’s facility.

“Since they implemented the new boating fees, we have had a drop off - quite a bit of a drop off - and that’s including on dockage and rooms,” Mr Smith, also a former Bimini chief councillor for seven-and-a-half years, revealed. “The small boats are the ones that get the hotel rooms and come every weekend; the larger ones, they live on the boats and cook on the boats.

“Bimini is only 50 miles from Florida; it’s quicker to get here than to the [Florida] Cays. July 4 was a drop off for us, we were not full. The small boaters are the ones that bring the money to the island.” The July 4 US independence holiday weekend is typically one of the busiest periods in the peak summer boating season for Bahamian resorts and marinas.

However, Mr Smith, disclosing that his property normally enjoys “a full house” during such holidays and the US labour day and Memorial weekends, added of July 4: “We had a big drop-off. Marina wise we were running at 50 percent. We normally run at 100 percent on the weekends; almost every weekend.

“We had these fees slapped on people right away without giving them adequate notice that it was going up. It was really a slap in the face for those guests coming from Florida. The fees, in my opinion, were not strategised and should not have been slapped on people. 

“This was pushed down the throat. It was not done the right way it should have been. I feel it. What’s going to happen is we’re going to have to start cutting back on staff at Big Game as we’re not going to have full occupancy, and that’s going to hurt the employees. Summer time is really when they make their money,” Mr Smith added.

“It’s really drastic what’s been put on us, it’s really been jammed on us, and should have been strategised more before it was put on the public.” He reiterated that the authorities should have properly consulted with all Bimini-based resorts and marinas on the proposed changes before they became law and were implemented on July 1.

Asked what should happen now, Mr Smith replied: “I don’t know who made that decision, but I feel they need to go back to the drawing board and, if they’re going to revise it, revise it across the board. It’s too much. I hope they go back to the drawing board and understand, we are so close to Florida, that when say they are going to boycott [The Bahamas] we surely saw that on July 4.

“We took the hurt on that. We had a lot of cancellations. People were calling. I figure they are going to have to do something with that. They are going to have to go back to the drawing board right away. Bimini puts a lot of money into the Treasury because of how many boats come here.”

One Bimini second homeowner, speaking on condition of anonymity, said he has never suffered a summer like 2025 after enduring three rental cancellations for his property. One blamed the revised boating fees for pulling out, and with “zero” new inquiries he is now contemplating “putting the shutters up” and not returning until November.

“I have no reservations left for this summer; not one. I’ve never had that, and no inquiries. I’ve never had that this time of year,” they said. “It could be stuff going on with the economy in the US. I don’t know. I doubt it.

“It costs $20,000 a year to maintain our place with homeowners association fees, light and water. We’re never seeking to make a profit, only break even. This year is going to be a loss. I’ll give it a couple more weeks. If there’s nothing I will put the shutters up, turn the water off and come back in November.”

And Mr Maury, speaking to the Government’s forecast revenue increases, told Tribune Business: “I just don’t agree with that. If you look at the numbers right now in the Out Islands, talking to everyone right after the holiday, they’ve pretty much left. I don’t see how they are going to make that.

“Talking to the people I’m talking to, they’re talking about dropping rates so there will be less dockage fees and electricity usage. I think that’s [the Budget estimates] wishful thinking. The consumption all around for products and services has gone down in the last three years. I can tell you in this small sector there’s no way it’s going to be $18m. I’d be surprised if they got even half of that.

“We’ve already seen boats rebooking their 2026 season for South America,” Mr Maury said. “They’re forcing more people out of the country. I can tell you that, in the Out Islands, transportation, fuel stores and restaurants and the Bahamian people will feel a real pinch. 

“In COVID, it was this industry that re-opened The Bahamas. We led everybody in the Caribbean. These guys ignored that and are trying to take advantage and, as a result, we’re losing it. It’s going down and it’s going to get steadily worse. I don’t believe they’ll get anywhere close to that $18m. Unfortunately, the rest of us won’t be eating; well be starving.”