New Bahamas Fishing Reg's 2007

[captadamr]

Very few wahoo over here as well Needs to cool the water temps some more

[Captn Hank]

Well, here is the official word, from the Bahamas Government website:

Press Release


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------



AMENDMENT TO THE SPORTSFISHING REGULATIONS


Bahamas Iiformation Services

01/12/2007



The Department of Marine Resources wishes to advise the general public that the several amendments to the Regulations governing sportsfishing have been made and that these changes came into force on 1st January, 2007. The amendments which have been made to Regulation 48 of the Fisheries Regulations (Ch. 244 – Subsidiary Legislation of The Bahamas – 2000) have the effect of curtailing the amount of marine resources which can legally be harvested by foreign boaters visiting the Bahamas.
The general public is informed that Regulation 48 now reads:

48. (1) In sportsfishing the following rules apply-
a. A person shall fish by the traditional method of angling with a hook or lure attached to a line held in the hand or attached to a pole, rod or reel;

b. A person, unless otherwise authorized by the respective permit, shall not use a spear, a fish trap, or a net other than a landing net;

c. Each vessel shall use not more than six (6) rods or reels unless the operator is in possession of a permit authorizing the use of more rods or reels;

d. Any migratory fishery resource that is caught shall not in total consist of more than six (6) Kingfish, Dolphin, Tuna or Wahoo per vessel and any resource not intended to be used shall not be injured unnecessarily but be returned to the sea alive;

e. No vessel shall have on board any conch, turtle or more than twenty pounds of any demersal fishery resources (groupers, snappers, etc.) per vessel at any time and excluding not more than six crawfish per vessel.

(2) The limitations specified in (1)(d) and (e) shall also apply to a Bahamian vessel engaged in fishing for purposes other than commercial by persons who are not Bahamians;
3.Subject to paragraph (1) no vessel shall have on board any fish unless its head and tail is intact.

The general public is advised that the Queen Conch (conch) is considered to be an endangered species throughout much of its range within the wider Caribbean area, including The Bahamas. The Government, in an effort to ensure the continued sustainability of local conch stocks, has decided to prohibit the harvesting of the species by foreign boaters.

The general public is further informed that the changes to the Sportsfishing Rules may be found in the Gazette SI 79 of 2006 dated 28 December 2006.

[Fishalways]

That definately kills any plans for a run to the islands for me.

The 6 rod limit is a nice touch.

[islandshark633]

6 rod thing has been there for years, for what that's worth. Not much now, huh? Dumbass government.

[Gaitor]

Keys, Here I come!
G'Luck Fellers.

[The BEAST]

First question is... are these daily limits or posession limits?

(2) The limitations specified in (1)(d) and (e) shall also apply to a Bahamian vessel engaged in fishing for purposes other than commercial by persons who are not Bahamians;

I guess Capt. Adam was wrong. It will affect him with many of his charters, too! Has Capt. Adam now become part of the immigrations department also? Sounds like he will be checking passports also, so he can insure compliance with the law.

Big bucks to go fishing for 1 fish per person on a 6 man charter! What is a charter Captain to do if he has a split charter with Bahamians and foreign fisherman? You 2 guys can keep all you want but you 4 who are paying the bulk of the trip can only keep 6fish/20#. Talk about F'd up. Is it considered a 6 total foreign charter and the Bahamian guys fall under that law on that trip or is it considered a Bahamian trip and the foreign fisherman can keep all they want? What if you are a property owner in the Bahamas but you and your boat are US citizens? Does this mean you are paying yearly residence taxes, etc. over there and are still bound by these 6 fish/20# laws?

I'd bet you will be seeing a drop in many of the Miami charter captains who offer Bimini trips to their customers,too. Hardly worth the Captains time and effort in organizing these trips, now. Most definitely not worth the customers money.

Doesn't sound like much time or intelligent thinking went into their law making process.

It appears more likely than not that many US dollars will be staying home from now on and that is not a bad thing, for us.

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

[islandshark633]

hey Capt Jim, you need to re-read that.....it is referring to fishing OTHER THAN COMMERCIAL ie recreational. Does not affect Capt Adam one wit. He can go about is business as he always has.

It referrs to foreigners fishing on Bahamian registered vessels, be it their own or belonging to a Bahamian and I think is aimed at the same crowd that comes over here to load up on way more fish than any of us would ever think of taking. In other words its closing a possible loop hole.

BTW way, why a) do you seem to have it in for Capt Adam who is in the same business as you? b) why are you still so interested in this situation as you have declared you have no intention to maybe ever visit these islands again?

(PS I respect your inability not to remain silent)

[The BEAST]

Originally Posted by islandshark633

hey Capt Jim, you need to re-read that.....it is referring to fishing OTHER THAN COMMERCIAL ie recreational. Does not affect Capt Adam one wit. He can go about is business as he always has.

It referrs to foreigners fishing on Bahamian registered vessels, be it their own or belonging to a Bahamian and I think is aimed at the same crowd that comes over here to load up on way more fish than any of us would ever think of taking. In other words its closing a possible loop hole.

BTW way, why a) do you seem to have it in for Capt Adam who is in the same business as you? b) why are you still so interested in this situation as you have declared you have no intention to maybe ever visit these islands again?

(PS I respect your inability not to remain silent)

I'm not going to go in depth with this because I believe even you guys truly think portions of these new laws are ludicrous with little thought in their inception. Our country has some stupid laws too. The difference is that I will agree with you rather than try to defend the rediculous.

I didn't read it that way. So that means if I come over there and charter Bahamian registered Capt. Anybody or Anyone, I can keep as many Dolphin, Wahoo, or Yellowfin as I want? That's a cheaper and easier deal than running my own boat over there. Doesn't sound right to me! Does it to you? I guess the authorities will decide if and when the time comes up. Here we are considered commercial (technically) as a boat for hire, but our anglers are seperate from that and must be licensed and follow recreational laws and limits. Makes sense.

a) I don't have it in for Capt. Adam other than he and I were going round about it. I KNOW that he is a Charter man, so who better to direct my comments to in regards to that portion of the law? Just because we are both charter captains doesn't make us family or fraternity brothers. Birds of a feather don't always flock together!

b)Maybe just because I felt like it! Maybe because I am a crotchety old fart! Maybe because I like stirring the pot! Maybe because this is a forum and personal opinions are a free expression! Maybe its because I come from a land where all are treated equal and a foreign vessel doesn't have different trip limits than a national vessel! Take your pick!!!!

I will continue to follow this to see how long it takes to rescind this silliness like others in the Bahamian past. Most of your nations "new" fishing laws become more sensible and palatable "revised" laws, once the initial economic impact hits your ministry in the pockets. We'll just have to wait and see!

Capt. Jim
The BEAST

[Sea-Ya]

This is why I'm glad my boss doesn't care to fish the Bahamas anymore. He would rather send the boat to St. Thomas for a couple month's than waste our time and money there.. And I know everyone doesn't have that kind of disposable income, so please.. Fishing is getting poor there anyway.

[captadamr]

Originally Posted by Sea-Ya

.. Fishing is getting poor there anyway.

that makes me laugh.... perhaps its the fisherman and not the fish

[Sea-Ya]

I'm not gonna get in a pissing match with you, believe what you want.. Later..

[reefling]

fishing is far from poor over there belive what you want. either way the new regs are BULLSH#t.

[CaptKen]

A SAD day in 1973 when the British gave them independence.

[RiskTaker]

It appears that these proposals are now rules.

http://www.breef.org/BREEF/Portals/0...J an%2007.pdf

It is certainly very beneficial to hear the Bahamian's perspective of how they see things.

I can concur will tighter restrictions if the resources are being depleted but I am also dissapointed with the new regulations.

If it were me writing the rules:

I would still allow spear fishing.

I would still allow a half-dozen conch. (and Discard the shells on the shore not on the water.)

I would allow a 20 lb. scalefish limit per person up to 40 lbs. per boat. (There would certainly be a provision for a large scalefish over 20 lbs. )

Islandshark mentioned an example of an abuse with the Tunas being flown back to U.S. Under these new rulings it seems like that could still happen: ship 6 tunas per day. Catch a new 6 limit boat load the next, etc.

The tourists will still come. But now they will be doing more gambling and less fishing.

[CaptKen]

Originally Posted by RiskTaker

The tourists will still come. But now they will be doing more gambling and less fishing.

With the Seminoles and the Miccosukees putting a casino on every corner, and every dog and horse track now jumping on the band wagon, Dania Jai
Li about to become a big casino you think there will still be a need to jump a plane or an overloaded cattle boat over there ? You could still jump on sea escape and be home by 1am and get rid of that gambling fix.

I guess time will tell, I would think its gonna hurt though

[billspilingup]

I've heard people say that the revenue from large developments will offset the loss of revenue from the marinas and hotels but they fail to see that if I'm going to get hassled for 21lbs of snapper or 7 wahoo, I'm not going to spend the money to buy a condo or home over there. I'm sure there are people who are going to be willing to buy a place so they can drink Kaliks a few times each year on property they own but who are those owners going to rent out to if the fishermen won't come? I know a number of people who have homes in South Bimini for their use while FISHING. When they aren't over there, they'll send friends or family over to use it while they are FISHING.