New guidelines for foreign fishermen will be implemented in the first week of August according to Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Mr Leslie Miller.
“As it stands now, the boats that come into our country use a catch system that is expressed by the amount of persons on their vessel,” he said. “We want to dramatically change that to only a certain amount per vessel per day.
“I find it asinine the way fishermen are taking advantage of our system,” he said. “For this reason, we are going from six. conchs per person a day to three conchs per vessel per day.”
Mr Miller said the government hopes to eliminate the poaching of conch as soon as possible.
“For decimal fish (for example groupers and snappers) we are going from 20 pounds per person per day to 20 pounds per vessel per day,” he said. “For dolphins (mahi-mahi), we will revert from six per person per day to six per vessel per day.”
Mr Miller added that fishermen found catching undersized lobsters in the Bahamas will be warned only once, and that further offence will result in more serious measures.
“Starting in August we are going to require that each hotel and docking facility in the Bahamas posts the new rules and regulations,” he added.
Mr Miller said that this way, all tourists coming to the country for sports or leisurely fishing will be aware of the new guidelines.
“No Bahamian can drop their line to fish on the shores of Florida or elsewhere – therefore, we should protect what we’ve got in the same way,” Mr Miller said.
By REUBEN SHEARER, The Tribune
