The Tribune

EARTHCARE/Save The Bays Saturday Environmental Education Programme tackled the complicated issue of sustainable fisheries in the Bahamas over the weekend.

Gail Woon, founder of Earthcare and a director of Save The Bays, gave the students a historical video presentation on “the Long-line Fishing Battle of 1993”.

She said: “The industrial method of long-line fishing was being proposed in 1993. Over 20 long-line vessels were slated to start fishing Bahamian waters.

“Using news stories from ZNS, our students were shown, in chronological order how the story unfolded.

“The story began showing Pericles Maillis, then President of the Bahamas National Trust announcing the formation of a Coalition to Stop Long-lining.

“More organisations joined the Coalition, such as the Grand Bahama Human Rights Association, EARTHCARE, reEarth, Ocean Watch and the Freeport Fisherman’s Association, in calling for the destructive method of fishing to be made illegal.

“The video presentation showed a vessel with a long-line reel that was 60 miles long and had two teaser lines, each four miles long. Hooks were snapped on at 10-foot intervals. Sharks were being targeted for their high-priced fins to be sold at the Asian Fish Market.

“ZNS aired a story on a group of Canadian divers who travelled from Canada to dive with sharks only to witness a long-line vessel hauling the sharks in to have their fins cut off and the sharks thrown back into the water to die a slow death. Following this incident, the news stories covered three days of sustained demonstrations in Rawson Square. The students watched with interest as the then Prime Minister announced to the concerned Bahamian demonstrators that he would be reading legislation in the House of Assembly that would ban long-line fishing in the Bahamas. Our students were enthralled by seeing the historic moments that affected Bahamian fisheries before they were born”.

David Rose, commercial hardhat diver and veteran fisherman of 45 years, then spoke to the group about his experiences of becoming a commercial fisherman in his teens. David explained the various methods of fishing used in the Bahamas, and explained when the compressor/hookah rigs were made legal. He outlined how the vessels that were to be used in 1993, for long-line fishing using hooks were retrofitted to become fish trap boats instead. These traps are still in use today, and if not tended properly or if lost can continue “ghost fishing”.

The bait attracts new fish that eventually starve to death effectively rebaiting the trap. These ghost traps, they said continue fishing for years.

Mr Rose shared that in his many years of fishing he has witnessed the decline of Bahamian fisheries.

“Judging by my observation as a spearfisherman and underwater observer, I think there is possibly less than 10 per cent of the grouper population that existed in the 1960’s. That could be a conservative estimate, in my opinion. I used to be able to shoot 40 groupers in a few hours and now I rarely see a grouper at all. I can’t remember the last time I saw a Nassau Grouper,” explained Mr Rose.

Joseph Darville, director of education for Save The Bays, said: “The presentation to our Youth Environmental Ambassadors, by both Gail and her uncle, the renowned diver and fisherman, David Rose, gave those young and aspiring environmentalists a powerful and memorable perspective, historically and temporally on the state of fishing in our Bahamian waters. From the almost government sanctioned long-line fishing in the early nineties to the present day sanctioned long-line trapping with fish pots, they graphically demonstrated the ongoing and rapid depletion of our marine resources, due to over fishing.

“David decried the indiscriminate trapping, where for weeks pots can be left unchecked, creating a starving, dying and cannibalistic scenario (ghost fishing), resulting in the loss of tens of thousands of pounds of marine life every year in our ocean.”

Following the presentation, the young attendees were treated to an two-hour trip over coral reefs and sea beds in a glass-bottom boat. For nearly all of them, it was a first time experience that will be remembered forever.

During the glass bottom boat cruise, Captain Henrick fed Caribbean reef sharks.

One enthusiastic student exclaimed: “I feel like I am watching SyFy!”

“It’s amazing how beautiful this underwater ecosystem is when we take the time to learn about it and explore it. It can all be gone very quickly if we overfish, damage reefs and nursery beds without care for the future,” added Javan Hunt, Youth Environmental Ambassador Facilitator.