Proposed New Bahamas Fishing Regulations ?

[GordMay]

The Bahamian government is discussing more restrictive sport fishing regulations that might go into effect Jan. 1.




PROPOSED
Lobster or Crawfish: Six tails per vessel. Minimum 3 3/8-inch carapace length or 6-inch tail length. Egg-bearing females protected. Season closes April 1 to July 31.
Conch: Harvesting and possession of all conch prohibited.
Pelagic fish: Six per boat, any combination.
Demersal fish (grouper, snapper): 20 pounds per boat
CURRENT/PROPOSED BAHAMIAN BAG LIMITS
CURRENT
Lobster or Crawfish: Six tails per person. Minimum 3 3/8-inch carapace length or 6-inch tail length. Egg-bearing females protected. Season closes April 1 to July 31.
Conch: Harvesting and possession without a well-formed lip prohibited. Bag limit is 10 per person.
Wahoo/Dolphin/Kingfish: Six per person, any combination.
All fish caught and retained must be kept with head and tail intact while aboard vessel or transported by air.
Source: Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Department of Fisheries

[ssullivan]

Sounds good to me!

[dana-tenacity]

That's more than I could eat.

[AnchorageGuy]

For those of us that have been to the Bahamas many times I have to wonder who might be inforcing these new regulations. Probably the Bahamian Navy or perhaps the Air Force or the US DEA.

[exposure]

Are these per day, per visit, per year?

Are Conch threatened in the Bahamas? Cutting back ot zero is pretty restrictive.

[Fishspearit]

Those are daily proposed limits. While it won't affect the average cruising boat, I think it will have a big effect on places like Bimini and the weekend traffic from south Florida. There are a lot of fishing boats that spend a lot of coin on fuel to run twin engines to get there and fish. One good sized grouper would be illegal, over 20#. Imagine a sportfishing boat with 4 people aboard, one fish and they're done for the day. It won't affect the southern islands but those close to FL will probably suffer. The hotels, restaraunts, etc that the fisherman are spending money on would see a drop. Commercial fishing and poachers are what truly affects the fisheries, not recreational catch. The conch thing, well, you'll still be able to buy them from Bahamians, so generating income for the locals is probably the motivation for that one, not a lack of conch.
New Catch Limits For Sports Fishermen

[CSY Man]

For those of us that have been to the Bahamas many times I have to wonder who might be inforcing these new regulations. Probably the Bahamian Navy or perhaps the Air Force or the US DEA.
__________________

Been there many time, but never been boarded or inspected, not even on check-in with Customs or Immigration.

IF local Bahamian "Coast Guard" inspects yer vessel and finds a freezer full of lobster, they could conficate your boat, or so I have heard.

Not an issue for me anyway as we spend most of our time in the Exuma Park where any kind of fishing or harvesting is prohibited.

[Jentine]

Originally Posted by GordMay

Wahoo/Dolphin/Kingfish: Six per person, any combination.
All fish caught and retained must be kept with head and tail intact while aboard vessel or transported by air.
Source: Bahamas Ministry of Tourism and Department of Fisheries

Makes it tough to eat the fish. What is the purpose of catching the fish if they must be kept intact. Is it supposed that the fish can be fileted, the meat eaten or frozen and the head and tail retained on board?

[boatbum13]

So, how do these new regulations affect cruisers? All of the info that I see regards sport fishermen. Can a cruiser who will be in the Bahamas for a few months take no conch at all? This would be such a bummer as I love fresh conch.
~Jen

[Vasco]

Some cruisers go too far and fill their dedicated freezers (for fish only) with lobster and fish and boast about how many tails they have. These should be stopped. As far as conch goes it seems that they're being cleaned out by the locals that walk along the bottom with hookas. I get a few lobsters each season and some conch and if I'm lucky a couple of dolphins. From what I've experienced there's little or no enforcement.

I'll second the question of keeping some in the freezer or frig. You catch a decent sized fish and fillet it. You eat half and store the other half. How do you comply with the attached head and tail rule?

[Zach]

Originally Posted by xort

I'll second the question of keeping some in the freezer or frig. You catch a decent sized fish and fillet it. You eat half and store the other half. How do you comply with the attached head and tail rule?

Suddenly becomes a fillet of flounder from back home...

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Vasco

Some cruisers go too far and fill their dedicated freezers (for fish only) with lobster and fish and boast about how many tails they have. These should be stopped. As far as conch goes it seems that they're being cleaned out by the locals that walk along the bottom with hookas. I get a few lobsters each season and some conch and if I'm lucky a couple of dolphins. From what I've experienced there's little or no enforcement.

Over a decade, I NEVER saw a Bahamian that owned (or needed) a hooka.

[Sunspot Baby]

The new rules will be enforced the same way the old ones were, poorly. They will be obeyed by the vast majority of cruisers who recognize that we are guests in their country and respect their regulations.

The abusers will continue to abuse.

This change is driven by local fishermen who feel cruisers and especially sport fishers are taking their livelihood. In the Abacos I talked to local fishermen who were convinced cruisers were raiding their lobster pots. Could happen but I didn’t meet a cruiser that I felt was doing that.

My prejudice is that the meat killer, gung-ho, sport fishers from FL are the primary abusers. Those of us who catch and eat a few fish, lobster, and conch aren’t the target of the new rules.

At the risk of irritating some other member of this forum, I wish the sport fishers and their big wakes would disappear from the oceans I sail.

George

[Fishspearit]

Gord, I'm surprised you never saw any hookas being used, I saw them frequently when I was there in the late 90's. The mother ship would roll in towing 4 or 5 whalers, each going out for the day with 2 guys and a hookah rig. Pretty common in the Jumentos. These were the lobsterman though, the conch gatherers I knew always freedove.
Unfortunately, we are the target of these regulations. They came out with even stricter laws last week, even going so far as to make freediving with a polespear illegal now. In the article I linked to in my post above they talk about one illegal commercial poacher taking 25,000 pounds of fish in 5 days. All of the cruisers in the Bahamas combined don't take that much fish in a month. The near-sighted government of the Bahamas has decided to further restrict the law abiding visitors rather than enforce existing legislation to stop the illegal poaching by Haitian and D.R. commercial fishing boats.
Besides being one of the more expensive places to clear in, I now can't even jump in the water and get a fish for dinner anymore. They're really moving themselves down the list of desirable cruising destinations, but that may be just what they want, less boats.