By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas is facing “a full-out assault” from illegal fishing charters and poachers that it must “fight with full force”, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) secretary warned yesterday.

Paul Maillis, hailing last week’s arrest of a suspected illegal foreign charter through ‘ Operation Red Dawn Two’, told Tribune Business that The Bahamas must further strengthen its maritime law enforcement capabilities by dedicating the fines and penalties imposed on Fisheries Act violators to financing improved marine resource protection.

And, echoing Mike Cenci, the senior WildAid law enforcement advisor who played a key role in the latest apprehension, he called for the Director of Public Prosecutions’ office to assign an experienced full-time criminal prosecutor to deal solely with fisheries and environment-related violations.

Pointing to the near-$200,000 in fines, penalties and bond payment imposed on Highly Migratory and its crew, the first vessel suspected of illegal charter fishing that was arrested in January 2025, Mr Maillis told this newspaper that cracking down on such violators will - in effect - pay for itself. Last week’s apprehension in the Berry Islands marked the second vessel seizure for the year.

Asserting that “there’s hundreds” of illegal fishing charters operating in The Bahamas in violation of this nation’s laws, the NFA secretary argued that the present “free-for-all system” is too lax in terms of the number of vessels and commercial operations allowed to enter this nation’s territorial waters at any one time.

Suggesting that these numbers exceed The Bahamas’ ability to properly regulate the industry, Mr Maillis called for a “rethink” that involved reducing daily catch limits he believes are still “too high”. The present situation, he added, is “inviting an endless supply of competition” for Bahamian charter operators and fishermen while also threatening the sustainability of this nation’s natural resources.

“The NFA supports initiatives such as Red Dawn 2, and the participation of the Marine Action Partnership (MAP), including WildAid, Customs, the Royal Bahamas Police Force and the Defence Force, all learning to work in tandem with one another to finally bring prosecutions under the Fisheries Act,” Mr Maillis said.

“Red Dawn One and Two are the first prosecutions under the new Act for these foreign illegal fishing charters. We are pleased these actions are taking place, and many Bahamian fishermen have been feeding tips to law enforcement to help them break up these illegal charter operations.

“Many fishermen, including members of the NFA, have been feeding or providing information to the MAP about well-known and some lesser-known foreign charter operations. The reality is there’s hundreds of these operations going on.”

Mr Maillis echoed Mr Cenci’s concern, voiced in Tribune Business yesterday, that it can be very hard to prove an illegal fishing charter as those involved will frequently assert that those guests on board are merely their personal friends who are helping to cover the trip’s costs such as fuel and accommodation expenses. Many perpetrators also enter The Bahamas on cruising and sports fishing permits/

“Right now, it’s very hard to manage them,” the NFA secretary added. “We have a free-for-all system where anyone can come with funds and, if they pay a certain level, they can get it. We have no limits on how many vessels, how many operators, enter the country at any one time.

“We are facilitating an endless supply of competition for local Bahamian charter operators, commercial fishermen, recreational fishermen and residents. The daily catch limits are still too high.” Mr Maillis said vessels are permitted to catch up to ten crawfish; six conch; and 18 pelagic fish per day. The latter can be 18 100-pound wahoo or 18 200-pound tuna.

“There’s no end to how much a person, a vessel can fish in a day and have on their vessel at any one time,” Mr Maillis added. “If they are illegal commercial fishermen operating in disguise or whatever, they can offload their catch every day at a shore base and go back out the same day.

“If boarded and below their per vessel limit, technically they have committed nothing wrong in the eyes of law enforcement. We have very little traceability and accountability in the eyes of law enforcement. We have thousands of fishing operations in Bahamian waters at any one time, many legal and some not legal.”

Mr Maillis argued that the presence of illegal foreign fishing charters means “tens of thousands of pounds of seafood are being taken by people not paying a Business Licence fee, VAT, National Insurance Board (NIB) contributions” and other fees and taxes that legitimate Bahamian operators must pay.

“Let’s just do the math,” he said. “It’s seafood taken from local charter fishermen, commercial fishermen and local communities. It’s unacceptable to have this scale of unfettered harvest in the belief we have a never-ending resource. We don’t. The hotbeds are Bimini, Grand Bahama and the Berry Islands. They are being hit the hardest.

“We have a better relationship now with the Americans, and can use their Lacey Act to bring complaints. It’s up to us on the policy and legislative side to combat this here. The numbers of people we are allowing in vastly exceeds our ability to regulate this. We need to rethink our approach, especially with foreign charters.

“Foreign recognised charters pay for a foreign charter licence, $10,000, and charge $6,000 a head per day to fill the boat. The math is not adding up. They bring their own supplies, and do not benefit the local economy in the fantastic way the Ministry of Tourism thinks they do.” Only marinas benefit, Mr Maillis argued.

“The Bahamas can regulate how much fish we allow people to catch without impacting why they come here,” the NFA secretary said. “We have to be concerned with the greater Bahamian economy and future of our fisheries industry.... We are being full-out assaulted as a nation. Our fisheries sector is under assault. If we don’t have operations like Red Dawn Two.....” 

Mr Maillis asserted that many US fishermen are “looking to The Bahamas to recover their income” because their industry’s condition is not good. “They are doing it through fishing charters, and most of them are illegal. We can’t allow it to happen. We are not their sugar daddy,” he told Tribune Business.

“The Bahamas is for Bahamians and those involved in lawful operations. Many of my fishermen want these exact sentiments shared. They are tired. Nobody is talking about the issues.” Mr Maillis also urged the Government to provide an update on the status of the regulations supposed to accompany the Fisheries Act, adding that “it’s been a long time now” and the industry is being kept in the dark.

Calling for a further strengthening of maritime law enforcement, Mr Maillis urged: “What we need to do to crack down on these illegal operations is to continue to support these arrests. It should not be that these operations are partially funded out of the pockets of the officers and the agencies running raids to apprehend violators in this country.

“We have to get more money for these apprehensions. We saw in Red Dawn One (the Highly Migratory) in excess of $200,000-plus in fines and penalties. We have to get those funds out of the Consolidated Fund and dedicated to fisheries law enforcement efforts.

“We also need a full-time fisheries prosecutor from the Director of Public Prosecutions’ Office who deals with high-level financial and fisheries actions,” Mr Maillis added. “Some of these exceed $100,000, and are not suited for the Magistrate’s Court; they are for the Supreme Court..

“Right now, the director of public prosecutions has an excellent prosecutor in place for these fisheries violators, but they have other criminal cases, too. We need someone full-time. Many of these operators have deep pockets and can tie-up the legal system for a long-time. We have to fight them with full force.”