The courts are here to protect criminals NOT the innocent and certainly not the environment. The courts always look at the criminal to find any excuse to be lenient. They NEVER look at the victims like a family member and think about the harm inflicted on them.
What if these fisherman happened to rupture the hull of the defense force boat and it sank and sailors died. Just because it didn't happen doesn't mean that the poachers didn't wish it to happen so that they could get away.
It's like someone being charged with attempted murder after shooting someone. The sentence should be as harsh as murder because the fellow tried to kill the other person.

They can give the gangs more bullets so that we can get rid of more of them. Whoever's left gets hung for murder. Bam! No more gangs.

Any funds raised will just slip out the back door. I can't justify giving government anymore money than they already get.
Government first needs to plug the holes in their consolidated fund bucket and then get rid of the +10 thousand staff that don't even show up for work let alone put in a full days' labour.
Then, and only then, could I think about giving government any more money.

I don't really care anymore. Sad!

I take your point and I agree that some Bahamians do it when going to the out islands. I try to take only things that I 'probably' won't find - like good scotch. Other than that my family always goes to the local supermarket. Additionally, we tend not to cook when we have island getaways as we consider them vacations. If we can't afford a vacation we simply don't go on vacation.

*"They come in, bring their food and there is very little economic impact left for the community where vacation rentals exist."*

This is just a lie. I have never heard of tourists flying in with their food for a family of 4 for a whole week. Ridiculous statement for what might be a tiny fragment of the VRBO rental market. Also, these renters are more likely to rent a car and visit attractions than any hotel guest would. And where almost all of the money spent by VRBO guest go to private individuals and family business this is a far cry from hotel guest revenue where almost every penny goes into the pockets of one large offshore corporation.

Silly argument. Crown land is for all Bahamians not just those few who choose to burn it down, farm on it or live on it. It's for ***everyone***... which means no individual or group of individuals can claim it.

Imagine if all 400 thousand of us decide to go to the same tract of crown land and start building... it would be a blood bath.

Lincoln... you must do better.

I can see if the IDB suggested that amount of investment to make us food secure. But then again they wouldn't do that because that would make us less dependent on important and less desperate to borrow money we can't afford.

The police know all of this but there's obviously political connections and money involved so nothing will be done.

I wish the police would say if the people dying are gang members or related to gang members. Why the secrecy?