Dear Editor,

Please allow me space in your esteemed publication to present an open letter to the relevant responsible authority.

Dear Minister Cartwright,

I am shocked and dismayed to hear that Bahamian fishing regulations are being amended without public input, adequate fisheries patrols, and worse without baseline data on the status of our fisheries resources.

These amendments are not coming from a sustainable scientific position, they are being driven by pressure from marina operators, tourism officials, and Floridian fishermen.

While I understand the immediate economic gratification of reopening our fisheries to tourism, marina operators and foreign fishermen we need to make sure that the immediate gratification does not adversely affect our children's ability to benefit from this resource in the long term.

Tourism does not own fisheries, neither do fishermen, and for that matter neither do the marina operators. Fisheries are a shared resource that belong to all Bahamians, and as a nation we are obliged to protect them for future generations.

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/editorial/362565824594028.php

Have they changed the regulations? I have not heard a peep about this! I truely beleive the minister should listen to the "people" and let them have their say. If he goes and changes these reguletions will it really make a difference as from what i gather since we have no ENFORCMENT the forgeners do as they please. Is it not a waste of time to have regulations that are NOT ENFORCED?

Wideye,

Here is another story in the Guardian about it. It seems they want to put in the changes before some big boat show. I can't find the new numbers they want to change to.

Activist calls for fish stock study:

An environmental activist is calling on the government to undertake an exhaustive survey of the country's fish stocks before finalizing amendments to regulations blamed for hurting the marina industry.

"Before we do anything, the government should conduct a proper fish census to determine what the state of the (fisheries) are," said Sam Duncombe, a long-time Bahamian activist. "If tourists want to come over here and catch a fish or two that's fine, but they can't be allowed to come and rape our waters." Hoteliers and marina operators are looking to the government to announce the exact nature of amendments to rules on catch limits for tourists. They are to replace strict regulations brought in by the last government, being blamed for as much as a 25-percent decline in boaters coming to the Out Islands. Those catering to them are looking for a decision ahead of next month's Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show.

http://www.thenassauguardian.com/bixex/18558195247724.php