The Tribune

BY ANNELIA NIXON

TRIBUNE Business Reporter

anixon@tribunemedia.net

THE BAHAMAS’ crawfish industry could face significant economic losses if a major hurricane hits the fishing banks, with fishermen yesterday warning a severe storm could wipe out an entire season’s income, destroy costly equipment and damage marine habitats for years.

While fishermen said the remnants of Dolly are not currently expected to pose a major threat to their operations, they stressed the industry remains highly vulnerable to severe weather, particularly in communities where fishing remains a primary source of employment and income.

Lance Pinder, a Spanish Wells fisherman, said the financial impact of a major storm can be immediate and devastating, with fishermen potentially losing an entire season of earnings.

“Zero,” Mr Pinder said. “It’s 100 percent impact. It’s real tough. That whole season is just about wrote off. You barely get by on that season. You start to do better the next season and they’ll pick up from there on. But when you have a bad storm, the first season, that’s a total mess.”

The economic damage, however, does not end when fishermen return to shore. Mr Pinder said powerful hurricanes can destroy the fishing banks themselves, leaving fishermen with reduced catches long after the storm has passed.

“It completely wipes out the whole banks,” Mr Pinder said. “I’ve seen a couple of years back. We had a big hurricane go north over the northern part of the banks, and then we had a big hurricane go over the southern part of the banks. It took us like four to five years to catch back up.”

He said the force of a hurricane can reshape the underwater terrain, damaging the shoals and feeding grounds that support crawfish and other marine life.

“It’s so powerful it actually rolls over big heads like heads on shoals, and it tears the shoals up,” Mr Pinder said. “It does a lot of damage out there. People don’t realise it takes the bank a long time to catch itself back. It comes back. It’s just takes a long time.”

Chuck Pinder said the effects of hurricanes on marine ecosystems can include shifting the ocean floor, burying grass beds and covering feeding grounds that marine life depends on. He pointed to Hurricane Irma’s impact on the southern Bahamas as an example of how a storm can leave fishing areas struggling to recover.

For an industry dependent on both the health of the fishing grounds and the ability of fishermen to get to them, such damage can translate into a prolonged loss of income. Chuck Pinder said Spanish Wells has roughly 400 fishermen who leave the community to earn a living, with some fishing locally and others spending three or four weeks at sea. He said fishermen also face losses on their physical investments when storms cross the banks.

“Condo fishing is a major aspect, along with the trappers that actually fish the crawfish and the crawfish traps with the buoys,” Chuck Pinder said. “It could be a lot of loss of income with that. A lot of damage takes place. That results in a loss of income and a loss of investment.”

Chuck Pinder said fishermen who suffer damage are generally left to rebuild gradually, placing additional pressure on an already-vulnerable industry.

Emile Knowles, a Long Island fisherman, said the economic consequences are particularly significant for the southern islands where fishing remains a critical source of employment.

“Everything comes to a stop,” he said. “The only thing keeping these southern islands going is fishing. We don’t need any storms, to tell you the truth, because that’s only destruction and devastation. The Bahamas don’t need that right now. Fishing is the backbone of Long Island. Eighty-five percent of the men depend on fishing to make a living.”

Mr Knowles also said storms can affect the availability of crawfish by damaging the underwater feeding grounds. He said Hurricane Melissa appeared to have damaged parts of the southern Bahamas, destroying some of the bottom and reducing the amount of feed available for crawfish.

“What it tends to do when you have a strong storm, it tends to tear up the bottom and kill the little crawfish,” Mr Knowles said. “You can imagine if a bad storm goes through? The same damage it do on top, it do underneath.”

Despite the threat, fishermen said the remnants of Dolly are not causing significant concern at this stage. Mr Knowles said that, based on the system’s current track, he expects the southern Bahamas to see mainly rain and limited impacts unless the system redevelops or changes course. Lance Pinder similarly said the expected weather should not be strong enough to shift traps or cause significant damage, adding that some movement of the ocean floor could even bring feed upward.

Orson Nixon, chief meteorologist, said The Bahamas’ current El Niño conditions can reduce the overall number of named storms but do not eliminate the possibility of the formation of a dangerous hurricane.

“It reduces the number of named storms,” Mr Nixon said. “The thing with El Nino is during El Nino years, although you have less number of storms, any storm that develops has the potential to rapidly intensify.”

He added that warmer conditions and sea surface temperatures can create an environment capable of supporting very intense storms. That leaves fishermen monitoring every system closely, as the difference between a storm passing harmlessly offshore and a major hurricane crossing the fishing banks could amount to months or years of lost income and investment.

Chuck Pinder said fishermen have been carefully monitoring the weather and positioning vessels so they can reach safe harbour if necessary. “When hurricanes move through, fishermen suffer,” he said, adding that the industry is therefore hoping the remainder of the hurricane season remains quiet.