BAHAMAS SPORT FISHING
At a presentation made to local bonefishing guides and bonefish lodge owners
at the Anglican church hall in Marsh Harbour on 1st May, the newly-formed
Bahamas Sport Fishing & Conservation Association claimed that millions
of dollars were being lost to Bahamian entrepreneurs in the sport fish industry
and that the industry was not being best served by those within it and by
government.
The local guides and lodge owners were shown the same presentation which
the the Cabinet had seen in January of this year. The information took over
three and a half years to compile and mostly concerned fly fishing in the
Out Islands.
Prescott Smith, president of the association, noted that bonefish occurred
in shallow waters at around 30 degrees north of the equator. The main markets
competing with The Bahamas are the Florida Keys, Mexico, Cuba, Turks and Caicos
islands, Belize, Venezuela, Christmas Island and the Seychelles. The Bahamas
has the largest bonefishing grounds in the world and the largest nursery
system.
Fly fishing started in Britain where fly rods were used for landing trout
and salmon by the upper classes. The average fly fisherman today is about
50 years old and earns $200,000 a year. He not only likes to catch bonefish,
he also casts for tarpon and permit.
Prescott Smith reported that some $500 million dollars a year was spent
on bonefishing but that only 3% of that went to Bahamians; that is $15 million
for Bahamians and $485 million for foreigners. The main reason for this imbalance
is the use of foreign mother ships or floating fishing lodges which effectively
isolated visiting fishermen from the Bahamian economy. There were also many
non-Bahamian lodges.
What can be done to redress matters? Smith suggests the following:
i) Better advertising is needed to counter the perception of the Bahamian
fishing guide as a part-time uneducated person with poor equipment who can
act only as a guide for bonefish, not other sport fish.
ii) All guides should be be certified.
iii) Government should issue licences for fly fishing as well as for game
fishing, and there should also be cruising permits.
iv) Legislation should be passed to prevent the hauling of tarpon and permit.
v) Legislation is needed to regulate the mother ships.
vi) There should be a department in the Ministry of Tourism just for fly
fishing concerns.
vii) A larger contribution should be made to the industry by government.
In the government’s present budget only 0.7% of capital development funds
goes to the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries.