New Bahamian Fishing Regulations Penalize US Fisherman

Ben Brownlee and Topher Wightman (right) prepare to release a sailfish aboard the new Everglades 350 off of Islamorada, Florida.

The Bahamian government recently approved new fishing regulations for foreign boats (see page 14 for the complete list) that drastically limit the amount of fish, conch, and lobster we can retain while visiting the islands. In essence, the Bahamians took the existing "per person" limits on finfishand changed them into "per vessel" limits. That's a huge change.

So instead of six pelagics (dolphin,wahoo, tuna, etc.) per person (the old rules), you can now keep six pelagics per vessel. That's a large reduction, but most US fishermen will probably manage to live with that one without too much heartburn.

The rules for bottomfish (snappers and groupers) will be much more problematic.The old regulations limited foreign anglers to 20 pounds of bottomfish per person, but the new law says 20 pounds per vessel. That means that if you catch one 25-pound grouper, you have to throw it back. The new regulations also state that fish onboard your boat must have their heads and fins intact.

Does that mean we're not allowed to have filleted fish onboard at any time? Lobster possession will be limited to six per vessel instead of the previous six per person, but the most drastic change concerns the rules for conch— the old rules allowed ten conch per person, but the new rules totally ban possession of conch by foreign boats. It's no secret that conch have become increasingly scarce in the Bahamas, and Bahamian lobster fishermen have experienced several years of low yield, but those problems have little to do with harvest from foreign boats.

We fully support appropriate conservation measures, but these new rules reek of politics, not conservation. It's always easy to blame outsiders for problems created within, but the intense pressure on conch in the Bahamas comes from the commercial harvest engaged in by the Bahamians themselves, and has little to do with harvest by Americans. And the bottomfish limits essentially eliminate our ability to catch snapper and grouper.

This will only hurt the many small Bahamian businesses that cater to American boaters. Many of those boaters have vowed not to travel to the islands unless these measures are rescinded, and how much of a drop in revenues can these small businesses afford? A 20 percent decrease in the numbers of boats making the trip could be devastating, and that's a real possibility. These rules also apply to charter boats, even if they are Bahamian-owned.

We all know Americans who have abused the resources of the Bahamas, some of them blatantly and for years. But those people are the minority— the vast majority of Americans who travel to the Bahamas respect Bahamian laws and only want to be able to take a few fish for the table, and maybe a conch or two. This new regulation may convince a lot of boaters that it's simply not worth making the trip.

The fishery resources of the Bahamas face real threats, as do fisheries worldwide, but these rules will do little or nothing to solve those problems and will only serve to alienate a significant source of income for the average Bahamian—the average American family boater. I hope the Bahamian government will reconsider these overly restrictive new rules. Better enforcement of the previous rules would accomplish more, and would not unduly penalize law-abiding American boaters.

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