Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources

[Nassau Frank]

Min. Leslie Miller M.P. of Min of Agriculture and Marine resources is to speak at our Rotary meeting tommorow on New Sport Fishing laws. I'd be interested to see what questions you may have for the Minister. I'll check about 11:30 Wednesday for the last time.
We've got too many S. Florida people, Dominican Republic folk et al
coming in and loading up undersized scalefish, lobsters and other of the resources. Most Bonefish go back in but too many other sport fish are slaughtered. Bahamians do it ,too, but they are their fish. These fish are valuable from what they can add to the economies of the islands.
Not to go into what has been discussed but for Min Miller:
Guide only flats any or all islands
Certification for guides (fishing knowledge, equipment, first aid etc)
Thoughts?

[Swalt]

Frank,
Is the practice of netting bonefish still common on some of the Out Islands. In Inagua last fall I saw bonefish being netted, a few minutes from the center of Matthew Town, around 4 in the afternoon. We rode right by them and there was no attempt to hide the fish, just waves. One 6 or 7 year old was standing on what looked like a double digit fish to keep it from flopping away. Its hard to be angry at people netting fish for food but I thought there were laws against netting bonefhish. I was going to write the Minister of Fisheries but never did. Do you have an address for him?

[Mark Dougherty]

Frank,
I read the Abaconian article on this issue. Reduced limits were discussed...I agree, but personally, I support catch and release for all non-bahamians.
Enforcement is the tough nut to crack. Would I pay a fee to fish bones, if the fees actually went towards enforcement ? You bet !! I would support a ban on crayfishing for non-bahamians.....I know a lot of folks in Cherokee, that depend on this resource to survive. Penalties should be stiff with a zero-tolerance policy. If something is not done, this last of just a handfull of prime fishing areas, will be no better than Florida. They need to understand fish is their prime resource, not unlike oil is to the UAE.

[Nassau Frank]

The regulations read " the capture of bonefish by nets is prohibited." Nor can they be sold or purchased. The address is :
Dept of Fisheries
East bay St
P.O. Box N 3028
Nassau
242 393 1777 fax 242 393 0238
email: Fisheries@bahamas.gov.bs
and, yes, enforcement is always a problem here.
Regarding guides, the Miister said that the intent is not to require guides but to eliminate the use of foreign guides. You and I could go fishing by ourselves, but shouldn't "hire" a foreign guide. Try to expalin that one - when is it a guide or when are you just two buddies fishing.