For the love of all that is holy and good… I want this to end. But, the forces of darkness (or, in this case, the force of darkness, singular) never seem to sleep.
Happy in the Bahamas, a scene not likely to be repeated.
There is a new draft (that link should take you there) of the regulations as a result of back-door dealing from he-who-must-not-be-named.
Here are the take-aways, as far as I can see them.
- Oh Bahamians… look out. This idea that the Shell Man from Andros now has to pay $40 to fish the waters his father and his father’s father fished for free… that idea is back and it comes with the possibility of a $2,000 fine AND/OR 6 weeks in jail. Really, I think the average Bahamian has zero clue this is coming.
- BIIIIIIG Middle finger to second home owners and ex-pats. You can’t fish out of a boat with more than one person without a guide. So… if you’ve lived in the Bahamas for 30 years, you can’t take your wife out fishing. All those guys who spend the money to build or buy a house out there and pay the huge fees involved with getting a boat out there… all that is wasted money if this passes. I have to think the economic impact of second home owners and ex-pats is just nowhere on the radar of the segment of the government that is pushing this stuff.
- Enshrined, but not named. The BFFIA is pretty well installed as the decider of most things in this, all without being named. This sets H-W-M-N-B-N as the king-maker, without it being clearly stated that is what is going on. Of course, not like he’s not a vindictive, grudge-carrying, score-settling asshole of the highest magnitude, right? I mean… what could go wrong?
I, along with just about everyone else, thought this stuff was put to bed. It isn’t. At this point I’m not sure where it goes now or what the next steps are. I understood this was in the cabinet, and maybe it is. It isn’t law yet, I know that. But exactly where it is in process… man, I’ve lost the thread.
An interesting aside is that Minister Gray seems to be pushing a massive investment by the Chinese in Andros, all at the same time he’s pushing taking away the rights of the average Bahamian to fish their own waters for free. People are really not a fan of this latest Minister Gray ploy.
Just to be a little bit of a conspiracy freak here… who is building a fuel station in Andros? Could it be our old pal Prescott? Think he knew about this secret deal being in the works with the Chinese and his patron, Minister Gray? Doesn’t seem so far fetched, does it? The guardian of the bonefish, strips out a bunch of mangroves to put in a fueling station in Andros to service the soon-to-arrive Chinese fleets? I hope not.
- If you liked the story above, check out these stories below
- 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)
- Bahamas Regs - FFS Edition (1.000)
Tags: Bahamas, Bahamas Regulations
I think they are real assholes if He meaning the minister who know shit about fishing only when fish is in his plate, let them try all of this shit in Andros and screw it up dont come to abaco and Grand Bahama and do it because it will cost a big big problem if he wants to sell out let him sell out andros this is my five cents
A. Why can’t you name Prescott Smith?
2. I don’t give a shit anyway. I am going to Mexico and Belize this year instead. I am already tired of the high lodging rates and vat tax in the Bahamas to begin with.
Thought you would like to know that the legislation passed. This is a great day for the Bahamas with better days to come.
Well… no… it hasn’t. It has to go through two readings once it is through the Cabinet and that hasn’t happened, so, no… it hasn’t passed. That’s why it is called “draft” legislation.
I don’t name him because it bothers him.
Here we go again Bjorn. Like you, thought we were passed this. After iCAST I was convinced this was going to be put to bed in a positive manner. Then tiny little messages were leaking out that “it may not yet be over.” And here we are once again with DRAFT legislation that doesn’t look at all like what I had expected. But as you quite rightly point out, it is not passed. This back and forth is getting “old” and making it difficult to keep up the enthusiastic rhetoric. A roller coaster ride to say the least. For my part I had gotten back on the Bahamian bandwagon and recommended to anglers once again places to go and stay. My favourite haunts, favourite guides, favourite lodges. And it was my understanding that bookings were starting out fairly well. With the winter fishing season approaching the timing for this most recent DRAFT could be unsettling.
Bjorn, this is subsidiary legislation which doesn’t go through precisely the same formalities as the typical bills and hence the reason it was called “Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) (Flats Fishing) Regulations, 2016”.
Yeah, I was hearing that other places. This is a disaster for the Bahamas. That you don’t see that… well… I can’t help you there. Gray… he just has his eye on what is best for
the Bahamian peoplehis cronies. Sell off the rights to the Bahamian fisheries to the Chinese and limit the fishing tourists and locals can do. What a mess.I have been in Long Island for just over a week on vacation and hoping to do a bit of bonefishing. The guides don’t respond to emails, and when you phone them to book a days guided flyfishing they don’t seem that interested. When I have ventured out onto the flats, I heven’t seen anyone else bonefishing. The fishing hasn’t been great with cloud and wind dominating, but the flats I have fished have not held many bonefish, even when I did manage to contact a guide who was prepared to take me out. More worrying, there has been rumours of harvesting. The restaurants here seem empty and there is a distinct lack of anglers here. It is a shame, but this is the first time in several bonefishing trips from the UK to the Bahamas that I have felt like a stranger in this lovely part of the world.