The Tribune

By KEILE CAMPBELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kcampbell@tribunemedia.net

AGRICULTURE and Marine Resources Minister Jomo Campbell said the government will wait for its own fisheries survey before deciding how to respond to a peer-reviewed study warning that several commercially important marine species in The Bahamas are overfished.

Mr Campbell told reporters during a community farming event that his ministry had read the Perry Institute for Marine Science report, which found that 11 of 12 assessed species were overfished to some degree. Nassau grouper and yellowfin grouper were classified as “grossly overfished”.

“I can say that the Department of Marine Resources, under the leadership of Acting Director Dr Gittens, we are also conducting our own survey, and so once we find out that we have that report, and we can juxtapose both against each other with the input of persons from the industry, then we will be moving forward with an action plan.”

He said the ministry would respond to the findings “in short order”.

The study, released this week by the Perry Institute for Marine Science, reconstructed 73 years of catch data from 1950 to 2022 and concluded that queen conch, Caribbean spiny lobster, black grouper, Nassau grouper and other species were overfished.

Researchers found yellowfin grouper was at 40 percent of the biomass needed to support sustainable harvest levels, while Nassau grouper stood at 49 percent.

Despite those findings, Mr Campbell stopped short of accepting the report’s conclusions. Asked whether there was concern future generations may no longer be able to enjoy some traditional Bahamian seafood species, he said: “Well, that was one report.”

“What we first have to establish based on our findings is in fact whether there is overfishing and in what sectors, as you know, it related to both the spiny lobster, conch and also fish Nassau grouper in particular, and so we want to get all the data, so we can have science-based driven facts to put to the nation,” he said.

The PIMS study warned that declining grouper and snapper populations threaten domestic food security and local seafood supply chains, describing the species as the “backbone” of the country’s seafood market.

The organisation also said it intended to share its findings with the Department of Marine Resources and fisheries management working groups as the government reviews revisions to national fisheries regulations.

Asked about the Golden Yolk initiative, Mr Campbell said another media tour of the project was expected within weeks.