News out of the Bahamas, according to the Tribune, is that the fishing regulations have been officially suspended. This comes as the math starts to look like a 20-40% decline in bookings in the wake of the BFFIA’s push for regulations on flats fishing.
Abaco Bonefish
I mean… yeah… of course.
Suspended is not “totally scrapped” and really, they were suspended anyway (although I had heard some rogue guides/individuals in Andros had been trying to police the regs anyway). Maybe it will come back. Maybe it will be better. It could certainly have been worse, as the original proposals were.
The PLP is playing it according to the script, saying the govt. is abandoning the flats and creating an open season on their fishery. It was their hard work which was responsible for the 20-40% decline (and that’s bookings, not DIY, which I’d guess was down even more). I guess if they want fewer people coming to the Bahamas to fish, that does, in some way, lead to less pressure on the fishery, kind of in the same way the Chernobyl accident helped create a defacto nature preserve.
Time will tell. This is a marathon, not a sprint.
Myself? I’m looking forward to heading back to Grand Bahama, the island where I caught my first bonefish, and fishing out of East End Lodge this July (yes, it will be hot, but there will be cold beer and likely a strong breeze).
- If you liked the story above, check out these stories below
- Bahamas Regulations, Episode 834 (1.000)
- All the news that's fit to print, and some that isn't. Reaction to new regs. (1.000)
- What to do about the Bahamas (1.000)
Tags: Bahamas, Bahamas Regulations
A comment from Victor that ended up on the wrong page.
The decicion was actually made a while back and they were ‘unofficially’ suspended because the Minister of Agriculture was a bit worried about blowback. But he made an announcement on a radio show a few days ago and let the cat out of the bag. South Abaco MP James Albury was really the force behind getting this done, helped by the Ministry of Tourism and all those in the industry who opposed it. You won’t see these come back under the FNM. There may be an effort to get some commonsense regs passed (like a license you can actually get easily) if people can be made to compromise, but given some of the personalities involved, this looks to be an uphill idea.