Currently crawfish season begins on August 1 and lasts until March 31. If the recommendations are implemented next year, the season would begin in September and end at the end of February.
Minister Miller said that this initiative comes after complaints from local fishermen that four months is not enough time for the crawfish species to reproduce.
“All the major fishing operators in The Bahamas are more than happy to see that the government will be taking the lead in closing the season for six months,” he said.
The Minister indicated the depletion of crawfish comes from hurricanes and overfishing. However, he said that most of the overfishing is not being done by Bahamians but foreign sport fishermen.
“The over harvesting of foreign fishermen has played a detrimental and negative role in the fishing industry in our country,” he said. “In four years there has been a 50 per cent decrease in the number of catches of crawfish in our waters.”
According to the Deputy Director of Marine Resources, Edison Deleveaux, 6.8 million pounds of crawfish tails and 25,000 pounds of full crawfish were caught in total in 2005.
“You must keep in mind that our figures only show what is taken commercially, it doesnﾒt show what he is being caught for recreational means nor does it show if it was being taken by tourists,” he explained.
Minister Miller explained that foreign fishermen who come as tourists are allowed to fish by the number of persons onboard their vessels. He said that each person on the vessel is allowed to catch up to 20 pounds of fish.
“A yacht that may have ten persons onboard including children, each one is entitled to catch six crawfish per day, six conchs per day, and six bigger fish per day,” he said. “It is now by the person, but we are changing it to by the boat. We want to dramatically cut that.”
Because of the scarcity of conch, the Ministry is also proposing that foreign vessels will not be able to fish for conch at all within the next two to three years.
Minister Miller also said that he believes that foreigners who are coming to The Bahamas to fish should not be considered as tourists.
“Foreigners who come into our waters and call themselves sport fishermen and have to live off the resources of the sea beds of The Bahamas are not in my opinion tourists,” he said. “I see them as commercial fishers who are coming here to earn a living.”
Minister Miller said that he is calling on hotel and marina owners to post the new rules and regulations of fishing in The Bahamas – once implemented ﾖ on their premises so that foreigners will be educated on the amount of fish that can be caught in Bahamian waters.
He said that fish in Bahamian waters are endangered.
“We have to revisit this situation and arrest it because believe it or not Bahamian [fishes] can become extinct,” Minister Miller said. “We may not believe it but it could happen.”
By: Kendea Jones, The Bahama Journal
