We have cruised the Bahama for the past 9 years, spending about 5-7 months/year in your lovely country. We, like most of our cruising friends, are in boats 29-49 feet. We love anchoring and the majority are very vigilant in where we anchor avoiding coral and seagrass where ever possible.
When we see proposals for Govt mooring fields we get concerned. Mooring fields are expensive to install, and also require annual expense for Maintenance and salary for those collecting funds. This is not easy, and the govt installed mooring field in Hatchet Bay, Eleuthra demonstrates this as it was condemned two years ago.
Where moorings are viable, I think private operators have already established them. Examples include Hopetown, ManAWar, Spanish Wells. As well, the Land and Sea Park has established viable mooring fields under the umbrella of BNT. Perhaps they can provide data on the amount of work and funds needed to run a mooring field to Govt planners.
A large number of small boat cruisers flock to the Bahamas every winter (paying $300 annually) and love your country, both the scenery and the people. While most are not rich, they do bring in dollars into many of the smaller settlements. It would be a shame if the revenue to these small settlements gets sent away from an effort to extract more money from the cruising community for Nassau's coffers.
Most of us cruisers are not so bold as to tell the Bahamian Government what to do. All we hope for is they canvas all sides that this ruling could impact so that they proceed from a knowlegable position.