40 Dominicans held by Defence Force

As of Monday, February 10, 2014

By SANCHESKA BROWN

Tribune Staff Reporter

sbrown@tribunemedia.net

DEFENCE Force officers arrested 40 Dominicans, who are suspected of poaching off the coast of Andros on Saturday.

According to reports, the Dominicans, as well as their fishing vessel, was apprehended by Her Majesty’s Bahamian Ship for illegally fishing in Bahamian waters.

In a press release Defence Force officials say while on routine patrol, HMBS Nassau received information concerning Dominican fishing vessels on the Great Bahama Bank and was directed to proceed to the area of the sighting.

Later that day while in the area Guinchos Cays, HMBS Nassau apprehended a 70 ft Dominican fishing vessel with about 40 persons onboard.

The Dominican vessel was intercepted approximately 75 nautical miles south of Andros with an undetermined amount of fish on board.

The vessel and occupants were detained by Defence Force marines and will be brought to New Providence where they will be handed over to the appropriate authorities for further processing.

In January, nearly $100,000 in fines were collected from the captain and crew of a Dominican vessel which was arrested for illegally fishing in Bahamian waters in December.

During that apprehension, 17 Dominicans were caught, but 33 others evaded capture after the group of 50 were spotted poaching near Cay Lobos just off the Great Bahama Bank.

But according to Royal Bahamas Defence Force (RBDF) officials in a press statement , six charges were brought against the captain and crew of the Dominican fishing vessel for poaching 10,750 lbs of seafood. The captain was fined $50,000 and each crew member $1,000.

Two crew members, found to be repeat offenders, were fined an additional $5,000. Altogether, the courts collected from the group a total of $96,000.

Among the goods confiscated from the group’s 70ft boat called the “Rubi 1” were 4,374 lbs of legal sized whole crawfish and 1,337 lbs of under-sized crawfish.

Two pounds of egg bearing crawfish were confiscated. RBDF officers also found 687 lbs of legal sized Nassau Grouper and 233 lbs of the under sized fish. Mixed fish weighed 4,125 lbs.

The Commander Defence Force Commodore Roderick Bowe thanked the public for providing the information leading to the successful arrest of the foreign fishermen.

B_I_D___ 10 years, 2 months ago

Do not give them their boat back!! Sell it at auction. 100% guarantee that if you give them their boat back, they will pay the fines regroup and be back in our waters poaching in no time flat. KEEP THE BOAT AS PART OF THE PENALTY!!

jt 10 years, 2 months ago

Good job Defence Force!

sheeprunner12 10 years, 2 months ago

GOOD JOB MY FOOT!?!!

Can you imagine how many calls the RBDF gets each week about Dominican, Cuban, American, Honduran etc boats poaching in our waters????????????

And they catch one boat out of couple hundred??????????

Ask the Segillian and Long Island fishermen if you dont want to believe me.

TYPICAL BAHAMIAN GOVMENT PRODUCTIVITY

ThisIsOurs 10 years, 2 months ago

If you have 4 boats (just throwing out a number), two aren't working, one is being serviced and it takes you one day to get from point A to point B on the one boat you do have, if you then get a call that another poacher is at point C what do you do? I seriously doubt that they get a call and say we eehn gat time to check that out. We need more modern equipment, tracking people down by go-slow boat just doesn't cut it, but equipment costs money, we don't have that either. The US just donated some boats the other day but we need more, not more boats, better solutions, they have the technology. They can help us be more efficient and effective in manning our waters. They have a vested interest here too with all the drugs and human smuggling targeted at their borders. US assistance is our only option we can't fund the massive effort needed to man our waters.

concernedcitizen 10 years, 2 months ago

We have about a 1000 BRDF Officers ,as w/ BEC etc we rather pay people and pension and tax the sh@2t out of everybody then have new efficient equipment

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jt 10 years, 2 months ago

@sheeprunner12, I am familiar with the Defence Force's ignorance of reports of Dominican poachers. My cousin works on a boat out of Spanish Wells. I have heard horror stories about Defence Force officers laughing at the notion of intervening. That didn't happen here. I am merely applauding what I hope will be the start of a trend towards action and protection of our marine resources. I hope we see more of it, and I'll say it again, good job.

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