The Tribune

By NATARIO McKENZIE

Tribune Business Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN fisherman have still not fully recovered from the impact of Hurricane Irma, with one industry representative telling Tribune Business: "Only the strong will survive."

Keith Carroll, vice-president of the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA), told Tribune Business the sector would feel the impact of the VAT increase "like everyone else", acknowledging that fuel prices were a major concern.

"It's mostly fuel price that concerns us," he explained. "It will affect us but there's nothing we can do but roll with the punches. It will affect us just like everyone else. The way I look at it if you want the Defence Force to patrol, taxes have to be paid and the government needs money to run the country.

"Fuel is the biggest cost of our operation. Most times when my boats go out to sea, I'm putting in 2,000 gallons of diesel. That's almost $9,000. If you have two boats, that $18,000. That's money you spend not knowing if you will make it back. If you don't catch anything you don't make any money," said Mr Carroll.

He added that many fishermen are still trying to recover from Irma's impact in 2017. "We're just taking it one day at a time. We haven't caught ourselves yet from Hurricane Irma. I lost 4,000 traps. I'm probably back halfway now; I got 2,000 back and I'm trying to get another 2,000 before September," Mr Carroll said.

"The boat is only a part of the business if you have no traps to work with. Without traps it's like you have a big empty building with no stock to sell. It's hard to make it with no traps. It put us back a lot, I can tell you that. Some boats got no traps back. I would say about 40-50 percent of the fishermen still haven't gotten their traps back. They may go out to fish but don't have traps."