Published On:Tuesday, January 17, 2012

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

THE Bahamian economy sector could receive a $500 billion annual injection should the country move towards establishing a mariculture industry, an accountant and author telling Tribune Business that this nation is perhaps the world's most conducive to grow fish.

Speaking on his recent book, Yes You Can: A Bahamian Plan, veteran accountant Milford Lockhart told Tribune Business that with the demand for seafood rising, the Bahamas must move towards capitalising on this lucrative industry.

According to the United Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), demand for seafood will double by 2040, with much of the supply to likely come from farmed seafood. While the Bahamas is among the world's major exporters of spiny lobster (crawfish), Mr Lockhart said that was a 'drop in the bucket' to the potential benefits to be attained from the mariculture industry.

Mr Lockhart told Tribune Business: "If you look at the current coming from Africa, it's the north Atlantic lateral current that flows into our current. This is the Antilles current and sort of wraps itself around the Bahamas east and west, left to right.

"It provides the Bahamas with a natural flushing system. This current, the Antilles current that flows around the Bahamas, makes us unique because it moves at the speed of just over six miles per hour. When you look at the Bahamas with its geographical location, it means that we not only have the ideal climatic condition, but we have this third force, so to speak, beyond the flow of tide that makes us the most conducive place in the world to grow fish."

In terms of monetary benefits, Mr Lockhart said the Bahamas could reap $500 billion annually. He said the industry could provide five million jobs and an average salary of $40,000 a year, along with another $250 million in indirect activity.

"This is important because the world is drastically short of fish. The world only produces 40 per cent of its fish needs or its marine needs. Each year the world produces 2 per cent less than it produced before. It is projected that in the year 2040 the fish on your plate will be farm grown," Mr Lockhart said.

He added that the Bahamas' waters being pollution free, due largely to the lack of industrial activities as well as mangrove swaps, which provide a natural habitat for conch, spiny lobster and native fish, are other factors which make mariculture attractive.

Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources, Larry Cartwright, told Tribune Business: "It's something I think we are far behind in and we are so well suited for it. We live in a climate where it's never too hot and never too cold. We have salt water readily available and there are no worries about over heating or freezing."

He added: "It's something that most definitely can be sustainable. There's quite an overwhelming market for seafood. If you're going to use the sea bed, you have to lease it from the Government and you would qualify for all the exemptions. You would get as many benefits as you get anywhere else. The only hang up is you may need a little bit of time to get the Government to lease the sea bed, but if you're going to work inland using tanks there's no problem at all.

"The Government will allow you to bring in everything duty free, and for processing purposes if you are going to export you would need to make sure your establishment is certified by the Food and Technology Division."