OK, I don’t seem to have any sound on this, but, it is still awesome.

Andros South. I miss this place very, very badly.

So, it is Shark Week.  In honor of Shark Week, I thought I’d post up something about my good friend from South Andros, the Lemon Shark.  I hung out with a lot of Lemons in Andros.  They were everywhere.

Bastard of the flats... the Lemon.

I'm pretty sure this one was a Lemon too, although this was Grand Bahama, a year earlier.

Overview – Lemon sharks may dive up to 1,300 feet when searching for food, but usually they are found near shore areas at depths closer to 295 feet. Their unusual coloration sets them apart from most other sharks. “Lemon” refers to their light brown, yellow-tinged skin. It provides good camouflage for the sharks, which like to rest over the sandy bottoms of shallow water regions. From a distance, it is hard to tell where the sand ends and the shark begins. One clue might be the presence of small reef fishes, such as wrasses, which gather around this shark to pick off parasites from its gills and skin. This species is most commonly found in the Caribbean, but it also exists in the western and eastern Atlantic and eastern Pacific from southern Baja California to Ecuador.

The Port Department this week met with New Providence jet ski operators to outline policies to “deal with the nuisance” their craft cause, with Exuma-based bonefishing guides warning that efforts to establish similar businesses on their island could jeopardise the $13 million earnings they have generated over the last 15 years.

via The Tribune.

Seems some folks in the Bahamas are none too keen on Jet Skis mucking up the bonefishing business. I can’t say I blame them.

I don’t get the point of a jet ski. They are loud, stir up the bottom and generally annoy anyone who isn’t riding one at the time.

Hitler liked Jet Skis… just say’n.

POLICE across the Bahamas are being called on to stop the illegal netting and selling of bonefish in the Family Islands to protect the country’s multi-million dollar industry.

via Read the whole story at The Tribune.

Got to think it is hard for those Family Island/Out Island police to arrest folks for netting when they are probably related to each other and have grown up together.

Still… it makes good sense to clamp down on this sort of activity.

Aaron. The fish is in the water. That's good.

It doesn’t take long, as you look at Google Earth, to get an idea of how close the Bahamas have come, and will come, to utter ruin.

Empty promises peddled by developer after developer after developer from island to island are visible in empty plot after empty plot. All these roads to nowhere and empty lots represent a small fraction of the efforts to parcel up and sell of the Bahamas.  Luckily, there aren’t enough buyers. At least for now.

I hope the next time someone comes to some little local government division there in the Bahamas and promises to make their little bit of paradise into the next South Beach, they look at this post and then go on to look at Google Earth and they decide not to sell.

Can you imagine if all those empty lots actually had houses on them?  What if all those houses had people in them?  What if all those people needed power and sewage and shopping?  Can you imagine if all those broken promises were actually kept?  It would utterly destroy the nature of the place, the ecology, the character, the beauty. I hope that it never, ever comes to pass.

(it would probably totally destroy the bonefishing too)

Here’s a glance at Grand Bahama…

GBI

Abaco…

Abaco

Exuma…

Exuma

Eleuthera…

Eleuthera

New Providence…

New Providence

Andros…

Andros

Thank god it is a lot harder to execute than it is to imagine.

Nice bone there!

Good job Glenn.

It isn’t a big place… but at $160K, it probably shouldn’t be.

Modest... very modest.

It sounds a bit tempting, really.

Just say’n.

Check this one out from Black Fly Outfitter…

I like it.

Oh Kalik, I could never be mad at you.

Yeah, I could have guessed that part, really.  I’d put it down as “Obvious” that bonefishing is important to the Bahamas… the number, $140M, is a pretty important part of the Bahamian economy, with a GDP of $7.23B US.

“…the Coastal Awareness Committee continues to stress the need for Bonefish protection in The Bahamas, pointing out that Bonefishing contributes more approximately $140 million to the economy.”

via thebahamasweekly.com – Bonefishing Important to the Bahamian Economy.

Bonefishing is important… that’s good folks are paying attention to that so they can keep the Bahamas beautiful for generations to come.

Bahamas... I miss you.

OK… not everyone fly fishes… I get that… so, if you have to go do some spin fishing, there are much, much worse places to do it than Andros Island.