Dominican poachers are not only depleting Bahamian fishing resources, but also threatening local fishermen in the process, according to reports. On one occasion, Kendall Carroll of the fishing vessel, “My Patricia”, told the Guardian recently, a 70- to 80-foot vessel, identified as “Mamchao”, tried to ram his boat.
The Royal Bahamas Defence Force has so far provided little assistance, Mr. Carroll complained, advising that most of the illegal activity takes place in the area of the Great Bahama Bank.
He showed the Guardian a copy of a letter which he said he wrote to the RBDF in April 2002, complaining about being attacked by crewmen of a Dominican fishing vessel.
The attack has left him uneasy and in “fear,” because nothing has been done, he said.
Director of Fisheries, Michael Braynen, said that the department has received other complaints about Dominican fishermen, similar to those reported by Mr. Carroll.
“The problem is as he has stated,” he confirmed. “We get reports, they are passed on to law enforcement agencies, but we have no capability to police those parts of The Bahamas.”
All reports are passed on to the Defence Force, Mr. Braynen said, and, “The action that they take is whatever they are able to do.”
He agreed that regulations needed to be enforced and the poachers removed.
Fisherman Carroll told the Guardian also that earlier this year his cousin was fishing in the area of Santo Domingo Cay, but, “My cousin was run from the area.”
Nowadays, he said, he goes fishing with two or three boats, or two or three persons onboard his boat, and keeps in contact with persons ashore. “If they could do this, what they could do, when we sleeping?” he queried.
After the attempted ramming by the “Mamchao”, Mr. Carroll said, the U.S. Coast Guard was notified and came to the area to ensure that everything was all right.
He said that although the crawfish season, which runs from August to March, is presently closed, Dominican poachers are not only harvesting the crustaceans, but everything else in the area as well.
“They go to the bottom, and they break out the conch from the shell at the bottom of the ocean and it is destroying the area,” Carroll said, adding that he had personally witnessed the illegal activity.
By the time the Defence Force arrived, the vessels were gone, he said, but found it “rather strange” that they returned after the Defence Force officers had left.
“About two weeks ago, four of those vessels were seen by the motor vessels, “Freedom” and the “Caribbean Lady,” he said. “Each boat, had about 25 to 30 dinghies, being over 100 feet in length.
“These boats would be in the area, we could hear them on the VHF (Very High Frequency) radio; they anchor on the Bank, but as soon as we notify the Defence Force to come in the area, they can’t find them. But if we stay in the area for about four or five days, they return to the area fishing, diving, and doing everything they want,” he said.
He also questioned how often the Defence Force had arrested persons for poaching. “Every month you go out there, you could see three to four boats out there and they can’t catch them. It’s puzzling,” he said.
Bahamian fishermen are regulated in terms of the season, but nothing is done to regulate the poachers. “Their seasons never close,” he said.
Usually, he continued, when they are diving for crawfish around the Great Bahama Bank there is not much fishing going on; so when the season closes, they expect to have a good catch.
Carroll said the area is able to replenish itself, during the time they dive. “But when they come in and rape the ground, when we go into that area to fish after the season closes, there is nothing,” he said. The fisherman said that for a while he noticed a slowdown in the catch, but he had just realized the reason why.
“Something has to be done,” he stressed, noting that the area around the Bank is usually “a good fishing ground, but not anymore because they have it killed out.”
The catch is no longer of a “good size and the catch were slow,” he said. “They are raping the area, taking everything, they don’t size their catch.”
He said that it was also being advocated that grouper fishing be prohibited during the spawning season, but if the poachers are not dealt with, the groupers could be depleted as well.
“Right now all the Bahamian boats are in, because we only do pot fishing,” he said, but “Who will stop them from doing it.”
Samuel Carroll, captain of the commercial fishing vessel ‘Caribbean Lady,’ said he had also been attacked by Dominican poachers.
“While most Bahamian fishermen are busy preserving the industry, inconsiderate poachers are taking advantage,” while Bahamian fishermen spend “time with their families,” and allow the areas they fish to be replenished, he said.
If the poachers are not stopped, he stated, Bahamian seafood resources would be diminished, as in the waters around Haiti and the Dominican Republic, which are just about depleted.
“A lot has to be addressed,” he said.
By Jimenita Swain, The Nassau Guardian
