The Tribune

EDITOR, The Tribune.

I read on a boating Website (www.thehulltruth.com) that the individuals, who were suspected of poaching by The Bahamas Defence Force in the 38ft Jupiter around Great Isaac Cay are back home. Apparently, there was some misunderstanding regarding their use of scuba tanks while spearfishing.

This 38ft Jupiter is owned by a company called Reefhunter Safaris out of Riviera Beach, Florida. Check it out for yourself on the web, but this boat appears to visit our waters about twice a week. Spearfishing customers can charter the whole boat or just pay for a single space. Their itinerary shows them leaving South Florida at 5:00 a.m. and spending all day spearfishing in The Bahamas and returning to Florida that very same evening.

Take a minute to look at some of the photos and posts. This outfit seems pretty efficient at harvesting our marine resources, I hope The Bahamas Defence Force makes a habit of pulling these guys over, to ensure they are not running afoul of our fisheries rules.

In one of their online pictures you can clearly see scuba tanks in the boat. It is no wonder The Defence Force questioned them.

In addition, a standard model 38ft Jupiter holds 330 gallons of fuel, giving this boat considerable range, so I am willing to bet none of our marinas are making a dime off this business. So, in sum, what we have here is a foreign company operating all day in The Bahamas, with foreign nationals who are harvesting our resources, which are then taken back to Florida.

What do we, the people of The Bahamas, get in return? Possibly a cruising permit fee (assuming they actually take the time during their action packed day of killing our fish to clear Bahamas Customs and Immigration)?

We are being exploited. Plain and simple.

A CONCERNED

BAHAMIAN

Nassau,

September 15, 2015.