Bahamas waters, Bahamas sovereignty. Cooperation always has a cost.
Are we paying fuel, maintenance & crew cost? NO.
With out this co-op, we would be back to the days of miami vice, where smuggling was a common dangerous cottage industry.
Our choice...

It is an amazing common-sense phenomenon, when you kill all the sexually active adults, you will run out. Dead chicken can't make egg.

The taking of flared & thick lip conch is the death of that resource. The immature conch is a 'roller', no flare. When it becomes sexually active they develop a flare for propagation purposes. The thickness of the shell in the flared area indicates the age of the conch, the thicker the shell the older the animal, they can only add nacra (shell) on the inside of shell by the meat, the outside is worn off by movement & parasitic fouling/boring growths.

The mature female conch continues to lay multiple egg-masses in a season with several thousand eggs per mass... of these tide-floating larvae, only one (1) will reach sexual maturity. If she cannot find a male she cannot propagate. Hence thick lipped conchs need to be allowed to survive and maintain the population.

Go to any conch boat, all you see are thick lipped shells. Growing up in northern islands, the locals knew not to take thick lipped conch, the meat was tough as hell, grey & unappealing from years of dragging that shell through sand, grass and reef. This was an unintentional management of the local resource. No More, Today, if it has meat, it's mine!

If you won't allow controls via a lip thickness measuring devise, then no-take zones or MPA areas will need to be established, managed & enforced. Given Space & Time populations can come back.
Rules with no enforcement are hallucinations.

Who in their right mind would put 40 people on a boat less than 60 feet in length? This time it was an outboard powered 25ft X 8ft vessel! (Little more than 1/2ft per person for a 70mile crossing). Obviously, there is desperation in the illegal person needing to get to Florida, as there is in those crossing the Med from Africa. Like the Med, the Gulf Stream is unpredictable.

The real crime is in the low-life organized scum who make tremendous amounts of money from this desperation. 40 persons at $5,000 to $10,000 per head is no small money, steal a boat in the out islands, convince a fool to run the boat westward... who's neighbor is in such a despicable lucrative endeavor? We are a small population; everyone knows everyone's business.

Like those on the African coast today, such opportunistic indifference to human life is similar to slave traders of yesteryear, the difference is that the traveling livestock is by individual choice. Emigration from Physical, Economic & Political Hardships is a strong motivator, being treated as modern livestock is wrong.

Who in their right mind would put 40 people on a boat less than 60 feet in length? This time it was an outboard powered 30ft vessel!
Obviously there is desperation in the illegal person needing to get to the Florida, as there is in those crossing the Med from Africa.
The real crime is in the low-life organized scum who make tremendous amounts of money from this desperation. 40 persons at $5,000 to $10,000 per head is no small money, steal a boat in the out islands, convince a fool to run the boat westward... who's neighbor is in such a despicable lucrative endeavor? We are a small population, everyone knows everyone's business.
Like those on the African coast today, such opportunistic indifference to human life is similar to slave traders of yesteryear, the difference is that the traveling livestock is by individual choice.
Emigration from Physical, Economic & Political Hardships is a strong motivator, being treated as modern livestock is wrong.

Let's do a tally on how many have gone thru this type of situations over the years.
From the famous Hollywood stars to wealthy industrialist to many a common man on any family island street.
Acceptable maybe in the horse n buggy days of remote history where each island took care in the best they could with what they have at the time. no more... Today we have internet/satellite communications, computer for managing materials & services, even TeleMedicine to diagnose & instruct!
What we do not have is common sence... To review the circumstances & make decisions in the interest of expediting the situation to the benefit of the injured... not in the interest of paper pushers. There will be time afterward for those.
My condolences to all.

Quickly fix the dock in Abaco, dock it there as a Hospital/Govt Office/Temporary Housing/food Bank. Has the equipment, only needs the personnel & supplies.

All the comments should be added to the concept, develop it all into a workable plan & stick to it. Plan for 10 years, not 5 yrs, get rid of the 'While My Party In' temporary mindset.

I understand from a flying fish, there is a way to make any street light into an internet hotspot, eliminating any excuse for lack of homework! They all have cell phones do they not?

Those educated abroad, need to return & provide a return on the investment... contracted 6 months work for each year of education provided, in public service, industry or education.

In either political party in government, while in office, the first question to ask is Are the minister in charge on the millionair parlimentarian roster and seek their financial statement at begining of term. Then ask same at end of term.

What use are greenhouses in the tropics? For those one or two cold fronts during the winter? Possibly to hide under during a rainstorm?
Another useless gift with long strings attached... all the way to Beijing. Navy bases next.

No need to reinvent the wheel in the name of sovereignty. Dade & Monroe County Codes & standards can be the updating guidelines, as environmental conditions are identical.
What is critical is the education & enforcement of said codes.

South Florida had to learn a tough lesson in ramifications from lack of enforcement with hurricane David, with Dorian doing the same for Northeastern Bahamas.
Education, apprenticeships & code enforcement within a reasonable period to update existing structures is warranted. Another set of extraneous codes with no application, is not convenient, it's costly! As reflected in today's insurance premiums.