By Neil Hartnell

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian fishermen are voicing fears that a $40m stone crab aquaculture investment is “ill-advised” and a “lose-lose” prospect that could monopolise exports and drive locally-owned businesses out of the market.

The National Fisheries Association (NFA), in a statement to Tribune Business, raised concerns that permitting Florida Stone Crabs Inc’s proposed Grand Bahama project to proceed will “effectively eliminate” Bahamian fishermen and local exporters operating in the same sector due to its production capacity and economies of scale.

While not opposed to aquaculture, the Association argued that the development - proposed for a 1,500-acre site east of Dover Sound on Grand Bahama’s north shore - will not empower Bahamian businesses and also questioned the potential negative environmental impacts if the investment ultimately fails.

Activists yesterday told this newspaper that the Florida Stone Crabs Inc proposal will likely prove an early test of whether the Davis administration will uphold the recent declaration by Chester Cooper, deputy prime minister and minister of tourism, investments and aviation, that only environmentally-sound projects will be approved and given the go-ahead.

Rashema Ingraham, head of the Bonefish & Tarpon Trust’s Bahamas initiative, speaking ahead of the November 11, 2025, public hearing on Florida Stone Crabs Inc’s certificate of environmental clearance (CEC) application, confirmed that “there are definitely concerns” harboured by environmentalists over the project.

The US-based developers are pledging to create 113 full-time jobs, and up to 200-300 spin-off posts, once the project reaches full-scale commercial production of native Bahamian stone crabs for export purposes only - meaning they will not be sold locally.

Florida Stone Crabs Inc is asserting that the project will place this nation “on the forefront” of an aquaculture industry that generates more than 50 percent of the world’s seafood supply, while also creating a new industry and boosting economic diversification.

Carlos Freyre, its principal, told Tribune Business in a recent interview that he will seek ”to provide logical explanations to mitigate” the environmental-related concerns likely to be raised at next Tuesday’s public consultation.

Revealing that he was preparing for concerns and criticisms to be raised, Mr Freyre added that he and Florida Stone Crabs Inc will “try to ameliorate them” and address all issues raised by Grand Bahama residents and others “as much as we possibly can”.

However, the National Fisheries Association (NFA), in its statement, warned: “It is our opinion that while there is little inherently wrong about pursuing aquaculture in general, it is our belief that a project targeting stone crab aquaculture is ill-advised for The Bahamas.”

Citing a supply “glut” in the stone crab export sector globally, and depressed markets and prices, it added: “Aquaculture, while attractive on paper, poses an unnecessary risk to the island of Grand Bahama.” The Association alleged that such projects are “notoriously liable” to fail due to hurricanes and other vulnerabilities, and challenged who would “clean-up” the 1,500-acre site if this occurred and remediate any environmental impact.

“Assuming everything goes as planned, such an enormous scale of export would effectively eliminate local fisherman-operated export businesses that both harvest, process and export their product directly to market,” the Association asserted.

“The question is: Why would we want a business that effectively ‘cuts out the middleman’ of fishing for a non-Bahamian business operator to have economies of scale over what was previously a thriving industry where supply was not the issue?

“This is not empowering local businessmen to succeed, many of whom have made enormous investments into harvest, but even still struggle with the export market’s ups and downs. Again, supply to the international market is not the issue.”

Citing what it termed as “quality concerns”, the Association added: “If the crabs produced by the company are inferior to natural crabs caught by Bahamian fishermen, what protections are there in place to distinguish farmed crabs from natural crabs we export?

“For these reasons and uncertainties, it is our belief that such an operation will not be successful. Further, if the project were to be successful as projected, it would destroy the already sustainable wild-caught fishery we have.

“It is a lose-lose situation that is being seriously considered for the mere promise of export tax income and jobs. We as a country should be encouraging commercial stone crab fishing, not trying to make it monopolised by a foreign company on the export market.”

Environmental activists, too, are voicing misgivings and doubts. “The northern shore is such a sensitive area, especially for the bonefish migration,” Ms Ingraham said. “Grand Bahama would be the only large island that goes from east to west, and that provides a lot of flats on the northern shore” where Florida Stone Crabs Inc plans to locate its project.

“Dover Sound is an ideal location for mangrove restoration,” she added, “because those flats have been grounds for the bonefish population, and not only bonefish but sea turtles and sharks. Even with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) being submitted, there are still some environmental concerns we’d like to submit. We will be at the public consultation.”

Suggesting there will likely be “run-off” from the proposed facility, Ms Ingraham said: “With the public consultation, the first thing is definitely a better understanding of the project and how it was able to move this far in the place it is in. Then whether or not we are going to speak as Bahamians, the Government and affected key stakeholders like the guys in the [bonefish] lodges.

“The declaration made by the deputy prime minister recently that developments without a sustainable or environmentally-sensitive approach will not be approved, we’re hoping this project fits that criteria.”.

Casuarina McKinney-Lambert, executive director of The Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation (BREEF), voiced similar fears to Tribune Business. “People are definitely concerned,” she said. “Near shore aquaculture projects do have a big environmental impact and footprint, and it’s in an area where mangrove restoration activity has been done already, so it doesn’t seem to add up. It just doesn’t seem to add up…

“I wrote to them [Florida Stone Crabs Inc] using the contact information on their website and never got a response back. There’s definitely a lot of concern around the fact people are trying to restore mangroves destroyed by Dorian, so a project that goes in there and potentially does a lot of damage in the construction phase doesn’t make a lot of sense.”

Florida Stone Crabs Inc, though, specifically stated in its EIA that it is partnering with non-profits involved in mangrove restoration activity. Pledging to produce “a very high-end, high quality product”, its EIA said the proposal will involve cutting two canals to Grand Bahama’s north shore “for the exchange of seawater” with the project divided into two separate phases. 

The initial “pilot” stage will cover just 36 acres, and feature a hatchery canal, hatchery and sea water trench system. Some 14 trenches, around 4,000 feet in length and 392 feet wide, will be dug and is intended to produce 168,000 stone crabs over a two-year period.

Should this prove successful, Florida Stone Crabs Inc - a start-up created in 2022 specifically to pursue its Grand Bahama ambitions - will expand to full-scale commercial production with projections for achieving $47m in annual sales revenue in the first year. 

Employment will near-triple from 42 for the “pilot” phase to 113, with Bahamians accounting for 90 or almost 80 percent of the full build-out workforce. The first commercial-scale harvest is forecast to generate 812 metric tons and around 1.8m pounds of claw meat.

“There are many reasons this investment is so attractive,” Mr Freyre argued in a recent interview. “The product is going to be fresh frozen claw. It’s not a product you will get at the restaurant; it will be a product you can buy at Wal-Mart, Publix and Costco. It will be a Bahamian product, but 100 percent exported. We will not be selling it in The Bahamas.”

Asked how much progress Florida Stone Crabs Inc has made in obtaining all the necessary permits and approvals, Mr Freyre replied: “We started with the Port Authority. They have provided approval provided we get approval from DEPP, the Department of Marine Resources and Forestry. 

“We have met with them on numerous occasions. They are all on board subject to the public process on November 11. We couldn’t get this far if they were not on board. I think they see the opportunity here. It’s something that’s unique.

“It will be a trophy for The Bahamas to be honest with you. It doesn’t exist locally. The employment will be significant for Grand Bahama. It’s not a multi-billion dollar business but it will be very interesting to the local community in terms of training, learning, technology transfer and us be a good corporate citizen. All the things you want from someone coming in to develop this kind of business.”

Pointing out that University of Miami aquaculture specialists are involved in designing the stone crab hatchery and overall project, Mr Freyre added: “If we get this off the ground it will be a phenomenal project to be honest with you. The pilot phase should start in the 2026 first quarter assuming we get the CEC.

“That’s what we need. That’s a major hurdle. Once that’s been crossed… it becomes a construction project, building the hatchery and creating trenches and canals. These animals have been grown in captivity but not grown to a scale like this. The aggressiveness of the species has not allowed that to happen.

“We’ll be moving the water in with the tide. It’s a unique system of growth. Water is moved in from the sea and back, and they’ll grow in their natural environment.”