By DANA SMITH
Tribune Staff Reporter
dsmith@tribunemedia.net
A VETERAN Bahamian fisherman claims foreign poachers could put him out of business.
Kendal Carroll, who has worked in the industry for 30 years, called on the Royal Bahamas Defence Force to do more to stop poaching.
He told The Tribune although they report poacher sightings to the RBDF, he and fellow fishermen consistently see Dominican Republic boats, fishing in Bahamian waters.
Earlier this week, Mr Carroll had voiced his concerned by way of social media.
“It looks like I might be forced to give up what I was doing for the last 30 years, fishing, came from a three week fishing trip saw four Dominican fishing boats yesterday... they reaping while we sit home an season is close [sic],” he said on Facebook.
He explained further to The Tribune, yesterday.
“I was in the Cay Lobos area about Saturday, about 3pm, and I spotted one there – a Dominican boat,” he said. “We’ve seen them for the past, at least 10 or 15 years in that area.
“You can tell them from Bahamian boats – they are distinctively different from Bahamian boats.
“They fish for anything they can carry home. The season is closed for us; you don’t have no Bahamian boats in that area, so they go out there and have a field day.”
Mr Carroll said as he approached New Providence, he spotted two more boats near the southern cays of Andros.
He said he reported the incidents to the RBDF and although admitting he never followed-up to see if the RBDF went to the location to investigate, Mr Carroll explained he believes more can be done.
“What the fishermen are really concerned about is, we can go out there everyday and see these boats,” he said. “They (RBDF) could go out there and patrol and can’t see them…The number of boats we see out there, when we go out there, every month, and they can’t catch one – that’s what really concerns me.”
He said fishing is one of the top industries in the country and officials should do all they can to assist.
“We’re not getting help right now,” he said, calling on more action to be taken against poachers.
Calls to the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, proved unsuccessful; RBDF Operations directed The Tribune’s calls to RBDF Headquarters where the lines were out of service.
Comments
bismark 10 years, 10 months ago
Tell the government to invest money in the R.B.D.F. this has been a problem for years,the money the govt. takes and bullskate with,could have been invested in proper running vessels,successive commodores have been lobbying for proper equipment over the years,only to be thrown on the backburner again,the govt recently announced that they were going to aqquire nine vessels,we will wait and see.........................................
concernedcitizen 10 years, 10 months ago
the RBDF is a joke ,we have about 1000 marines and 3 to 4 vessels that can spend any time at see ..its about jobs for political support ,,i,m a fisherman , half a million in salary and fuel ,food for a year and two 60 foot boats me and my boys could catch 20 times as many domminicans ,,,,too many times the RBDF takes fish and crawfish to sell from the Domminicans and lets them go ,,its a joke ,,,,,we don,t care enough about our own to be honest
Stapedius 10 years, 10 months ago
You're correct the RBDF is a joke. But what is proper equipment if we don't have the man power? The RBDF is simply too small a force to effectively do the job. We need more qualified recruits to join the ranks. Our waters are vast and its easy to penetrate our porous borders. Strategy, technology and more recruits. New vessels and equipment are expensive but its an investment we need to make. Perhaps we can do long term agreements with US contractors to get vessels and equipment on an ongoing basis at low interest. We seriously need to look into an extensive helicopter program where we have units on these islands that can patrol and respond to disturbances within our borders.
concernedcitizen 10 years, 10 months ago
we have too many marines and not enough boats ,,thats where the money is going ,,and most are inner city guys that get on the boats and go port to port down the exuma cays under land ,,,they no more want to spend 3 weeks on the bank then they want a hole in their head ,,,if we have 40 sea going vessel you would only need 10 per boat ,,,,thats 400 ,,i think we are up to 1200 now protecting coral harbour ,,plus and this is the worst part, they are in cahoots w/ the Domminicans ,,getting fish and crawfish fish to sell for big money to turn a blind eye ..sh333t give me four 60 ft boats i million a year for salaries and fuel and i,ll crew them and catch 20 times the D/R and hatians ,,they come basically the same route every time ,,corrupt can,t police our waters ,,,,
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