Didn't we go through this some twenty years ago, and join the rest of the free world in banning the finning of sharks for the Japanese delicacy, shark fin soup? Well, the Spanish Wells fishermen are up to their old tricks again, and this time their boats are out in the middle of a grouper spawning hole off of Harbour Island (hello? spawn means birthing, which means you ain't legally in there no how) and trapping sharks.
They hook the sharks, hoist them to a styrofoam bubble so that they can't sound down through the water, get all tired out ... and then the fishermen slice the shark fin right OFF of the fish, and leave the shark there to die.

Can the government PLEASE figure out a way to develop a more effective fisheries patrol? We keep writing letters to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, but without even the courtesy of a reply.

Forewarned:
The last time these people pulled the same stunt back in the 1970s, pissed-off Brilanders shot the outboard engines off of the back of their boats so that they had to float home. If government can't protect its own best tourism asset, the ocean, what future do we Bahamians have left?

Didn't we go through this some twenty years ago, and join the rest of the free world in banning the finning of sharks for the Japanese delicacy, shark fin soup? Well, the Spanish Wells fishermen are up to their old tricks again, and this time their boats are out in the middle of a grouper spawning hole off of Harbour Island (hello? spawn means birthing, which means you ain't legally in there no how) and trapping sharks.
They hook the sharks, hoist them to a styrofoam bubble so that they can't sound down through the water, get all tired out ... and then the fishermen slice the shark fin right OFF of the fish, and leave the shark there to die.

Can the government PLEASE figure out a way to develop a more effective fisheries patrol? We keep writing letters to Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, but without even the courtesy of a reply.

Forewarned:
The last time these people pulled the same stunt back in the 1970s, pissed-off Brilanders shot the outboard engines off of the back of their boats so that they had to float home. If government can't protect its own best tourism asset, the ocean, what future do we Bahamians have left?

You have put your finger on the problem - policing! We have law after law. The House, made up mostly of lawyers, passes new ones all the time, but we don't have the man power to enforce them, and where there is the man power there is no will to enforce them as they should. Laws are broken with impunity. There is no point to a law if there is no one there to enforce it.

Should we take the law into our own hands (i.e. shoot out there engines?) It is very bad that we even have to ask such a question! It shows how powerless our laws, and law enforcers really are.

We need fewer laws, or more enforcers. Anything else makes of the law, a joke.

Well, got a suggestion on the forum.ibahamian board that perhaps private citizens should be deputized, handed a tin badge and a .22 rifle, and given the authority to deal with these poachers as they come across them. We are not talking about Cubans or Dominicans taking from our waters, we are talking about our own Bahamian neighbours spitting in the ocean here.

I say we shoot the outboards off of their boats and make them drift back home :cheers: ...

call the DEA and tell them they are transporting drugs, let them shoot out their engines :shaky:

Well, got a suggestion on the forum.ibahamian board that perhaps private citizens should be deputized, handed a tin badge and a .22 rifle, and given the authority to deal with these poachers as they come across them. We are not talking about Cubans or Dominicans taking from our waters, we are talking about our own Bahamian neighbours spitting in the ocean here.

I say we shoot the outboards off of their boats and make them drift back home :cheers: ...
What if they don't drift home and they are lost at sea. What happens if the bullet bounces of the engine and kills someone?

I say better to have a video camera. Catch them in the act get their faces and their boat numbers.

Then let the law deals with them.

If they are taking the whole shark then its cool lots of good meat. But if they are just fining that is out right cruelty.

What if they don't drift home and they are lost at sea. What happens if the bullet bounces of the engine and kills someone?

I say better to have a video camera. Catch them in the act get their faces and their boat numbers.

Then let the law deals with them.

If they are taking the whole shark then its cool lots of good meat. But if they are just fining that is out right cruelty.

You are right on there. If we rebelled against everyone that did something we didnt like, then it would be chaos. Call the authorities, but get it on camera first. Set up some spy cams for them when they arrive back at the dock with the fish/fins, record it, if you know someone with internet near there, get wireless LAN connected, and you can hide them somewhere, and even watch it from home and record it there.

Or just take a video camera on the boat with you. If you want to go a cheap rout get disposable cameras and take pix of the people cutting the shark fins. Not that hard to do if you are close enough to see it you can snap a bunch of pix.

:sailing: Man You Talking About Enforcing The Law?? A Police Officer Was Transferred From Spanish Wells Because He Gone Lock Up One Dude In Spanish Wells For Catching Grouper During The Closed Season, And I Mean After Warning Him Twice..... So There Is One Law For Me And You But None For The Spanish Wells Fishermen. So Sometimes You Do Your Job And End Up Getting Screwed