The Tribune

By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

A well-known Family Island resort yesterday said it was facing “the perfect storm”, with airlift issues and Value-Added Tax (VAT) now compounded by the proposed fly fishing regulations that have already caused some guest cancellations.

Susan Barcham, corporate affairs director for the Oak Bay Marine Group, operator of Long Island’s Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort, said the “uncertainty and confusion” surrounding the new regulations had prompted some guests - including one who had been visiting consistently for 15 years - to cancel for 2015.

“We’ve already seen cancellations,” Ms Barcham told Tribune Business. “We’ve had someone coming to the lodge for 15 years; he just loves the facilities and the beach.

“He sometimes hires a guide, sometimes fishes on his own, but because of the uncertainty he’s re-thought his plans and is not coming for winter this year. He’s been coming for 15 years.”

Ms Barcham’s disclosures show that the divisions and infighting over the planned changes to the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act and accompanying regulations are now starting to cost the Bahamas high-end, lucrative tourism business.

In an earlier e-mail to Tribune Business, Ms Barcham added: “We own and operate Cape Santa Maria Beach Resort on Long Island, and have had many concerned guests call to inquire as to what is happening with the regulations and some who have actually cancelled due to the uncertainty.

“Many of our guests do hire bonefish guides, but some like to do it themselves. All spend a great deal of money in the Bahamas and, in our case, help to keep 50 Long Islanders employed.”

Speaking to this newspaper yesterday, Ms Barcham added of the situation with the regulations: “It’s just the uncertainty and confusion.

“Any time in the tourism industry when things are complicated, people tend to not bother and say they will do something uncomplicated.

“As beautiful as the Bahamas is, and as wonderful as the people are, if there’s a worry that people will be fined - and some of the fines seem punitive - and people take it upon themselves to stop tourists fishing, they will go somewhere else.

“If people feel uncomfortable and unwelcome, it will have an immediate ripple effect.”

She added: “As every day passes with uncertainty and the abundance of online rhetoric, the reputation of the Bahamas as a friendly, welcoming tourism destination suffers.”

The main criticisms over the new Act and accompanying regulations are that the consultation period has been too short; the fees and processes for obtaining fishing licences are inflexible and overly bureaucratic; that the ‘red tape’ and extra costs will make the Bahamas uncompetitive and send anglers elsewhere; and that while everyone acknowledges the need to conserve this nation’s natural resources and ensure Bahamians get a ‘fair piece of the economic pie’, the reforms appear too protectionist.

At the centre of the controversy is the proposed requirement that all visiting fly fishermen, even experts coming to the Bahamas for decades, have to hire a local guide at a cost of $600 per day, along with stricter definitions for foreigner anglers and foreign-owned bone fishing lodges.

Tourism stakeholders are especially concerned that the planned changes to the Act and accompanying regulations will create more ‘red tape’ and price the Bahamas out of the market.

More problematic for the Bahamas is the pounding its reputation is starting to take on the Internet, with one angling blog suggesting that some local guides were attempting to harass and intimidate visitors wanting to fish on their own.

The June 2015 issue of ‘The Angling Report’, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, alleged: “Some independent guides in the Bahamas are seriously harassing do-it-yourself anglers in a number of places across the Bahamas, including Abaco, Exuma and Long Island.

“The harassment is not just verbal: It has progressed to property damage and personal exchanges that threaten to become physical.”

‘The Angling Report’ cited accounts sent to it or appearing on its blog. One came from a visitor to Abaco, who claimed a Bahamian drove his boat over the flats repeatedly to drive the fish away.

Then there was a group of visitors to Exuma, who claimed that local guides on the island attempted to intimidate them and “threatened to firebomb the house where our party was staying”. The police “stonewalled” when this was reported to them.

Other complaints involved vandalism to vehicles in Abaco and Exuma, plus further confrontations between Bahamian guides and tourist fishermen on Long Island.

Disclosing that fishermen accounted for about 40 per cent of Cape Santa Maria’s business, Ms Barcham said the fly fishing regulations had only added to the “substantial challenges” that Long Island is facing due to insufficient airlift and increased taxation.

“All this stuff is compounded. It’s just too much at once; the perfect storm,” Ms Barcham told Tribune Business.

“These things have to be brought in properly, and you have to have the perception that the welcome mat is still open for tourists, as every country in the world is doing their best to welcome tourists and show they’re valued.

“Airlift is really tough. Our reservations people have to talk people through how it works. It’s very complicated. The Family Islands are really the jewels, but you have to be able to get there.”

Visitors to Long Island usually have to overnight in Nassau flying both ways, adding to costs and inconvenience, while flight timing with interconnection to major US population centres never seemed to work.

Ms Barcham said Cape Santa Maria had written to the Government asking it to reconsider the proposed regulations, and instead model them on those used by other fishing destinations, such as Canada.

Emphasising that the resort and Oak Bay Marine Group backed the Bahamas’ efforts to ensure the sustainability and conservation of its fisheries resources, Ms Barcham said they also supported efforts to introduce an efficient (online), well-understood and easy to use licensing programme for guides.

“We are tremendously in favour of a reasonable licensing programme that is easy to understand, and assists in protecting the resource in perpetuity, without hurting tourism,” she told Tribune Business.

“We urged them [the Government] to set aside the current proposed regulations and consider how a judiciously planned and well-executed licensing program might be of benefit to sustainability, the tourism industry and the country of the Bahamas itself.”