BAHAMAS REGS: Nothing but the facts:

[skindr]

In the current Fl.Sportsman magazine under the title "we don't buy it" some real numbers are seen relating to fish stocks in So.Fl. and, could easily be extrapolated to reflect the Bahamas. Here we find that in 2005,there were"530000lbs of golden tilefish killed by commercial fisherman and 187 lbs by recreational anglers," Snowy groupers, "250000 lbs commercial fisherman and 6100 lbs by recreational anglers" It appears that ,on average, the commercial guys kill over 50 fish for our one. Also, with the cost of a trip by boat to the Bahamas, I'm sure that far fewer recreational anglers visit the Bahamas to fish than so.fl. Yet it appears the regs. single out only the visiting recreational anglers. I hear the message loud and clear, I am not welcome and should leave the fish for the Bahamians- a message I will follow.

[iceteatoo]

Originally Posted by skindr

In the current Fl.Sportsman magazine under the title "we don't buy it" some real numbers are seen relating to fish stocks in So.Fl. and, could easily be extrapolated to reflect the Bahamas. Here we find that in 2005,there were"530000lbs of golden tilefish killed by commercial fisherman and 187 lbs by recreational anglers," Snowy groupers, "250000 lbs commercial fisherman and 6100 lbs by recreational anglers" It appears that ,on average, the commercial guys kill over 50 fish for our one. Also, with the cost of a trip by boat to the Bahamas, I'm sure that far fewer recreational anglers visit the Bahamas to fish than so.fl. Yet it appears the regs. single out only the visiting recreational anglers. I hear the message loud and clear, I am not welcome and should leave the fish for the Bahamians- a message I will follow.

Apparently the Bahamian government has the mistaken opinion that the foreign sportsfishermen are depleting their resources where as you point out nothing could be further from the truth. I will enjoy the great fishing in south Florida.

[B767]

Originally Posted by skindr

In the current Fl.Sportsman magazine under the title "we don't buy it" some real numbers are seen relating to fish stocks in So.Fl. and, could easily be extrapolated to reflect the Bahamas. Here we find that in 2005,there were"530000lbs of golden tilefish killed by commercial fisherman and 187 lbs by recreational anglers," Snowy groupers, "250000 lbs commercial fisherman and 6100 lbs by recreational anglers" It appears that ,on average, the commercial guys kill over 50 fish for our one. Also, with the cost of a trip by boat to the Bahamas, I'm sure that far fewer recreational anglers visit the Bahamas to fish than so.fl. Yet it appears the regs. single out only the visiting recreational anglers. I hear the message loud and clear, I am not welcome and should leave the fish for the Bahamians- a message I will follow.

Well said.. Unfortunately, is all a mute point. They only want the Big Guys w the big greens ($$$$$). Oh well. Stay tuned!

[RiskTaker]

Originally Posted by iceteatoo

Apparently the Bahamian government has the mistaken opinion that the foreign sportsfishermen are depleting their resources where as you point out nothing could be further from the truth. I will enjoy the great fishing in south Florida.

Actually, the Bahamas government is on the mark that foreign entities are exploiting their natural fisheries resources. Unfortunately to say the belt tightening was originally focused on the foreign sportfisherman.

Probably a bit closer to the truth is foreign boats with commercial fishermen aboard, like DR for example take a nice chunk out of the lower Bahamas areas. But there can be no denying that U.S. based anglers are tapping into the resources as well, as a lot of boats take fish, and lots of fish too.

Without some non-trivial level of random inspections, fisheries abusers, the ones that take significantly more than regulated limits allow, will continue to flaunt the regulations, while the more prudent anglers, "us suckers" that follow the regulations, are the ones that are in the spotlight.

So as you know, the regulations have been amended, and the rules are not so bad now, for the recreational interests. Obviously their are still some grievances, like whole fish and the no take on swordfish. But hopefully with some more consistent petitioning and a little bit of help from our Bahamian fishing friends, we may succeed where there are some present deficiencies.

So it is also interesting to note the U.S. Federal regulations for transporting fish over U.S. Federal waters. I will leave it at that for now. But if you are curious to know, read up, then comment away, as one in the know.

In the meantime, we can now catch more fish, than before, retain more crawfish and again retain a few conch. It is not ideal but it is also not that bad either. Unless we could do target practice on illegal foreign commercial fishing vessels, with Bahamas' blessing, now that would be a heyday for some fishing cowboys. Yippie i aaay.

[Broadbill-Pro]

Originally Posted by skindr

[b]Here we find that in 2005,there were"530,000lbs of golden tilefish killed by commercial fisherman and 187 lbs by recreational anglers" Snowy groupers, "250,000 lbs commercial fisherman and [b]6,100 lbs by recreational anglers"[/

And you don't feel that your being mislead?

[kapoc]

Those figures just can't be right i've seen more goldens in the pic's here on the boards than the 187 lbs.....hell we can hit 4 fish up here an beat that somthing just seems tainted

Capt Mike

[miamiangler1]

Originally Posted by kapoc

Those figures just can't be right i've seen more goldens in the pic's here on the boards than the 187 lbs.....hell we can hit 4 fish up here an beat that somthing just seems tainted

Capt Mike

In the southAtlantic coast we are only allowed to keep one golden and one snowie per day while commercials can kill more .. we where screwed by the SAFMC... they dont listen to the scientists just use out dated research and cant do simple math ...

[kapoc]

I got ya we have a limit of combined bluelines and goldens of 7 total but everyone that fishes usally limits each angler to a self imposed of 1 per angler or 3 per boat because we get the larger fish and they grow slow. As far as the grouper we have a limit of 1 per person to include wreckfish. But i am biased anyway i get to see the sampling that noaa does for striped bass. They go one direction and troll no course changes no chasing fish kinda inaccurate oh well

[miamiangler1]

In the south east we cant keep wreckfish

[kapoc]

Originally Posted by miamiangler1

In the south east we cant keep wreckfish

That is wild !!!! here their rather pluntyfull if your willing to head out that far to get them .......or risk catching a 100lb+ conger eel LOL

Sorry didn't mean to hijack the thread