The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

The Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance’s (BCFA) president yesterday acknowledged that while some fishermen did not want to see a closed season for the Nassau Grouper, “it is something we have to live with”.

Speaking with Tribune Business, Adrian LaRoda said: “We were consulted for input on the revised Fisheries Bill, and in that there were fixed dates established for closed seasons on certain marine products, which we did not have a difficulty with even through a lot of our fishermen were initially not in favour of the closed season being what it is.

“From a conservation standpoint we understood it, and eventually the Government  made a decision to do it.

“There is doubt that the Nassau Grouper is threatened and we want to see this fish product remains a part of the Bahamian culture.”

    He added: “Having fixed dates, the guesswork over whether or not the Government is going to close the season is over.

“We see the positives in a lot of these initiatives.

“While some didn’t want to see it, the closed season is something we have to live with. It’s done with and there is no reason trying to revisit that.

“We accept it. We were hoping it would have just been enshrined in policy, which it has always been, so that if the Government ever needs to come back and change the dates again there wouldn’t be much difficulty.”

The Government has now legislated a closed season for the Nassau Grouper with the signing into law of the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) (Amendment) Regulations 2015, and tabling of the new law in the House of Assembly on Wednesday.

The regulation establishes as a matter of law that between December 1 and February 28, “no person shall take, land, process, sell or offer for sale any fish commonly known as ‘the Nassau Grouper’ during the closed season, except where such taking or landing is carried out with the written approval of the director of fisheries for scientific research purposes”.