By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas has lost 25 percent of the certified guides that are critical to maintaining its status as the world's "premier warm water fly fishing destination", it was revealed yesterday.

Joel Moxey, a sustainable tourism consultant, told the Andros Business Outlook conference that the sector's ability to grow beyond its last projected $150m annual economic impact is being hindered by the loss of one-quarter of its trained, experienced guides since the turn of the century.

Noting that a significant training investment is required to produce qualified, certified guides, he also warned independent practitioners as well as the fishing lodges themselves that they had "better have your tax compliance certificate" and other business affairs in order because "the Government is coming after you" to make sure it is collecting its fair share of taxes.

"We recognise the basis of the industry, and a successful fly fishing lodge, is the guiding," Mr Moxey, a former fishing lodge manager himself, said. "You have to have well-trained, successful guides or else you will fail. And training guides is not an easy process.

"Guides matriculate over 10, 15, 20 years. The Bahamas is known primarily for outstanding guides across the world, world class guides by far.... They are beyond world class. They can practice every single day from January to December if they wanted to. The trouble is we have lost a lot of our guides. [They've] passed on, just passed.

"We did a study. From 2000 to 2025, we lost probably 25 percent of our guides who just passed. Bimini, the gateway to guiding, the first place where bonefishing is, can you guess how many guides we have there now? One. That's right Senator, you are from Bimini. You know we have one outstanding guide who is 20 years-old."

Mr Moxey said a "first-class" guide training programme has been created at the Bahamas Agricultural Marine Science Institute (BAMSI), which is now into its third batch of trainees. "We have to have good guides who can build a rapport and communicate, but also have the technical skills," he added.

"The business is growing. The Bahamas is known as the premier warm water fly fishing destination in the world by far. Everyone wants to be here, but the problem is we can only grow by as much as we have qualified guides, so we require that and are working very, very hard to train our guides."

Noting that guides can be independent practitioners, as well as work for a specific fishing lodge, Mr Moxey warned the former: "When you run a business the Government is coming after you. You'd better have a tax compliance certificate, you'd better pay your National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions, you'd better pay your Business Licence fees because otherwise you're going to get shut down.

"Not that the Government wants to put you out of business, but the Government wants these things because there are programmes the Government provides that it needs funding for. You have to have your Tax Compliance Certificate to be able to get grants. You cannot get them if you are not paying your Business Licence fee."

Mr Moxey said fishing guides are being trained "to separate their business away from themselves", and keep business records away from their personal ones. And he urged fishing guides and lodges to promote themselves to the market by attending at least some of the six US annual trade shows - Boston, Atlanta, New Jersey, Seattle, Denver and California.

Pointing out that this was critical to "drive business", and achieve sustainability and profitability, Mr Moxey said: "If you're depending on booking agents, booking agents want 20 percent of your business before it gets to you. You cannot run a profitable business like that.

"When I was running a lodge, and a ran a lodge for 15 years in Mangrove Cay, I can tell you that if you do not have repeat business or drive your own clients to you, you will fail because the costs of running a lodge are too high."

Elizabeth Bain, Mangrove Cay Club's manager, who has been in business for 25 years, countered that she initially had to rely on booking agents when she started "to get out there through marketing and needing to create a reputation".

Pointing out that lodges have to either do the marketing themselves, or hire a third-party to conduct it for them, she added: "There's no way you can escape - you're going to have to pay that money. When we started we relied very heavily on booking agents.

"As time went on, and we grew our reputation, we were able to gather referral business that came to us directly.... You have got to start somewhere and build your reputation. You just don't put yourself out there as a fishing lodge and they fall out of the sky. You have got to earn the right for those guests to come."

And, while acknowledging the critical role played by guides, Ms Bain said "all other aspects of the business have to be firing on all cylinders" such as the quality of the accommodation, food and drinks and customer service. She described the industry as a "hands-on business" that requires focused attention on the guests at all times.