Good day all,

I thought you all would like to see the response we received from the South Florida gang when we tried to explain that it was not alright to take Crawfish from the traps of hard working Bahamian fishermen.
Populations of Crawfish (and other fish as well) are down and still large numbers of Florida boats swarm in and work every Bahamian trap they can find. Leaving nothing for the Bahamian citizen who paid for, and placed the traps in Bahamian waters.
Something must be done to protect Bahamian fishermen, and the Crawfish that belong to all of you.
Fisheries must curtail all taking of Crawfish by non Bahamian boats in order to protect the Crawfish, and the men who make their living from the sea as did their fathers, and fathers father.
It seems that everything will "happen soon" or "will be looked into" but in this matter it must be now!
Many fishermen are near the end. They lost their equipment and a years work in 2004 when the Hurricanes came through and now with Crawfish numbers down, and bad weather they are forced to fight American boats for every Crawfish.
Please use your voice to protect the people, and the Bahamian way of life.

Following are comments from the "Florida Sportsman Forum":

"plus are you telling me these crawfish raiders (Bahamians) are really spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on building these traps you loose all credibility with that ridiculous statement..stolen wood and stolen hurricane shutters is what we are talking about here...get real"

"Be careful what hand you bite, If you think " your" Abaco's would be fine without the serious influx of US Tourism dollars, think again. If you want the islands "the way the used to be", so do we all but why don't you take a step into reality and try not to live in a dream world.
I have little tolerance for self aggrandizing do gooders telling everyone else how to live their lives. Have a nice day."

"BS he is going to profit one way or another by the sale of illegal lobsters. That would be breaking your laws or just going along with your customs."

"Much more of a problem in the Islands than lobster condo poachers is the current governments total disregard for the marine environment in the quest for personal dollars. Guana Cay, Bimini Bay, the list goes on. The fact is, you are selling the islands for the wrong reasons and will do anything to get your hands on the American $$."

"Floridians that visit your islands, actually respect your resources, and in many ways, more than the locals do.
But remeber, without us as tourists, your just another pile of sand with no $$$$."



All of the above are comments from Florida boaters showing the disrespect, and contempt they feel for Bahamians while all along stealing Bahamian Crawfish.
This is great, as Americans they have "little tolerance for being told how to live their lives" and this is in Bahamian water!
Speak out protect your people!

man i wouldnt worry bout them, they are probably just a few crackerjack hicks from south florida..

anyways

Are they in Bahamian Waters?
Are they carrying guns?

If they dont have guns, then just grab them and call the Local Cops. Treat them like you is a New Orleans cop first .. then call the local cops!

If they do have guns, call the DEA or Immigration and tell them they are running drugs or haitians!!

First make 100% certain they actually are in Bahamian waters.

If they are doing business in the Bahamas illegally, then you got my word to do whatever it takes to stop them .. cause our local immigration normally isnt up to the task :cheers:

On a serious note, do some surveillance, get some photos, exact locations, and any other useful information pertaining to the matter, then take it to the local government, and only give them copies. If they do nothing, then come to nassau and raise hell, ill be behind you for one - but i need to see evidence first. Target the newspapers and get support, once people see hard evidence then they arent just going to sit back and let it be.

carrying guns, of course
Bahamian waters yes!
Rory ,visit the forum at tropical sportsman and you will see that this is NOT an isolated problem.
bob

I'm not going to comment much. I don't believe any self-respecting american citizen has the gall to tell someone from the Bahamas that they can come into the Bahamas as they feel and do as they wish.

mikki read the tropical sportsman site and then you will see what R is talking about. Hard to believe

post a link please.

http://outdoorsbest.zeroforum.com/zeromain?id=1

Read to your delight... some interesting comments about the bahamas.

Hmmmm ..

I really dont like fish, but Crawfish I do, but its too expensive so dont eat it much.

Anyway, so im not going to waste my time joining that forum to answer "some" of the general remarks. Im sure some of the crackers will find this thread soon enough.

Sportsfishing does not "support" the Bahamas. It may help some of those islands closer to the US, and provide a small amount of tax for the government, but nothing compared to what the average bahamian pays in tax, and not close to what Cruise Ships and Hotels on New Providence & Paradise Island provide, and in the Past Grand Bahama, not sure whats left there now though.

I can think of a million better things to do than Sports Fishing .. but I guess when you are rich you got a lot of time on your hands.

Even if they made a law for what the crackers were discussing, they would not be enforced anyway, and crackers dont care about laws regardless.

What they fail to realise is things ARE different here, if they visit the Bahamas and not just fish here, they would realise that, and that also means, just because something has to be tagged in the US to leave it alone, regardless of legality, doesnt mean it has to here. PS. we dont have many enforced laws here, so we enforce our own.

As for one of the crackers remarks about being robbed from tax, they dont have to come here, its their choice. But food for thought, if they want to look at it that way, so can we, we dont just get robbed, we bahamians get raped and filtered through a blender to visit the US. And if they wanna bring it up, they are mostly immigrants or decendants of illegal aliens in South Florida anwyay, wont surprise me if half the crackers are not cuban!!!!!!!

Good day all,
I thought you all would like to see the response we received from the South Florida gang when we tried to explain that it was not alright to take Crawfish from the traps of hard working Bahamian fishermen.
Populations of Crawfish (and other fish as well) are down and still large numbers of Florida boats swarm in and work every Bahamian trap they can find. Leaving nothing for the Bahamian citizen who paid for, and placed the traps in Bahamian waters.
Something must be done to protect Bahamian fishermen, and the Crawfish that belong to all of you.


You mean a few millionaire Bahamian crawfishermen. These Bahamians have been ripping off the system for generations and making piles of money that the ordinary Bahamian never sees. My heart doesn't go out to these very wealthy Bahamians who have had it so good for so many years and hoard all their wealth. The majority of Bahamians live on the breadline and need jobs, social welfare and a better quality of life. These fishermen do not contribute in any way to that. I do not cry for them!!

Get real.

In every country the wealthy feed off of the poor. The Bahamas is no different. But for a foreign person, organization, or group to enter a nation and violate that nation's laws is outrageously disgusting. And to add insult to assault they to you to shut up and be happy...

Those are fighting words. The Bahamas may be dependent upon the US for a lot. But the Bahamas is a country of many that supports the power that the US so blatantly flaunts. Its like a tower of building blocks. The block at the top has the most power. The blocks on the bottom have the least. But the minute you start removing blocks from the bottom, the one at the top falls faster and harder.

Being a third world nation, things can't get that much worse for the Bahamas. But for the US, falling from position as the sole super power to a second tier nation would be devastating. Especially when countries like Japan, China and Germany are surpassing the US by leaps and bounds in several areas of industrialization.

Those yankee boys shouldn't be to shortsighted to believe that the US' reign will last forever. Even Crazy Horse predicted that America would fall to its own arrogance.

Please use your voice to protect the people, and the Bahamian way of life.
Following are comments from the "Florida Sportsman Forum":

"plus are you telling me these crawfish raiders (Bahamians) are really spending HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS on building these traps you loose all credibility with that ridiculous statement..stolen wood and stolen hurricane shutters is what we are talking about here...get real"

FYI - I couldn't find any reference on the FSF site to the comments you quoted, but don't doubt that they exist.

I know for a fact that galvAlum and lumber are shipped by the boatload to places like Briland and Sp. Wells. If these idiots think that a 4 x 6 piece of galvalum is a 12 x 8 hurricane shutter, then they need to look again.

How about a bunch of Bahamian fisherman go into US water and start taking their traps, fishing their stock and telling them to get real?

Mikkiforbes: I am not in any way condoning the foreign trawlers and their nets/pots poaching in our waters...just pointing out that maybe a more equitable system of harvesting and distribution is long overdue. The crawfish are God's creatures and so are we.......fishing is a noble occupation but so is fighting inequity in all its shapes and sizes. Licensed Bahamaian crawfishermen have had it too good for too long in a country which needs a more equitable distribution of jobs and wealth creation.

Mikkiforbes: I am not in any way condoning the foreign trawlers and their nets/pots poaching in our waters...just pointing out that maybe a more equitable system of harvesting and distribution is long overdue. The crawfish are God's creatures and so are we.......fishing is a noble occupation but so is fighting inequity in all its shapes and sizes. Licensed Bahamaian crawfishermen have had it too good for too long in a country which needs a more equitable distribution of jobs and wealth creation.



But you pick and choose your fights. Many factors allow you to pick and choose which fight to fight at which times. One of those factors we commonly refer to as "RELEVANCE". Or comparing apples to apples and oranges to oranges. Makes life a whole lot easier.

Convaluting the severity of such blatant disrespect with the broadbased notion of combatting injustice in its entirety -- therefore pointing out the hypocrisy of the victims -- is a little disingenuous, don't you think??

This is like saying lets forget about the rapist for a minute and lets focus on the victim who dressed provocatively. Two entirely distinct issues. I doubt that even if you take away all the injustice imposed on Bahamians by other Bahamians that it would make Americans any more or less respectful of Bahamian law.

Guys, you need to read that forum a little closer, some of the other views are actually kind of legit, like that the "visitors" pay the bahamas government money to be able to catch a certain amount of fish, whetever those fish be.

I think the most relevant issue is, that the government does not have a law that protects the Bahamian who drops a trap, if they do, its not in the book that the "visitors" obtain when they get the license.

Dont hang the messenger, just what I got from reading all the different views. Like I said, only fish I do like is Crawfish, but it costs too much in Nassau for me. If they started eating up all the gas station hot dogs, then boiii id be all over their case!! Ha ha ha.