The Tribune

By RIEL MAJOR

Tribune Staff Reporter

rmajor@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMAS National Trust executive director Eric Carey wants government to move “very, very cautiously” with plans to amend shark protection legislation. 

Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Michael Pintard on Monday spoke on the issues related to chumming, and consideration to amend legislation to allow for the killing of sharks in the event someone feels their life is threatened. 

In an interview with The Tribune yesterday, Mr Carey said: “You know shark feeding; it’s been around for so long in the Bahamas. It’s an important part of the tourism product so it’s going to be interesting to see how that plays out with respect to how government moves to regulate it.  

“With respect to the second point of allowing the killing of sharks. We certainly respect that there are people that still have a fear of sharks. But we certainly would want the minister to be very cautious not to open up a loophole that becomes a giant loophole where every shark that someone sees someone makes the determination that they were afraid and so they killed the shark.”

He continued: “I don’t think that the Bahamas should regress to that. I would look at that as a giant step backward. The BNT would certainly (give) recommendations to government, to the minister specifically as he looks to find a way to accommodate what he seems to be seeking. (Which) is someone really in fear of their life and they kill a shark (and) not be criminalized.”

Mr Carey said sharks are a critical part of our ecosystem and without sharks our ecosystem will collapse. 

He said: “The entire fishery collapses when you take out large predators. The Bahamas is fortunate to have intact ecosystems that include these large predators. And, we should not take lightly the value that these sharks provide for us.

“Hopefully the minister would move very, very cautiously. I’m sure he will seek our advice like he always does, and our advice is going to be trying to help him navigate through this so that we could avoid something we as a country would regret.” 

Mr Carey added: “The Bahamas is known internationally for its marine ocean conservation, leadership and shark conservation is an important part of that. We do not want to go backwards. We do not want to lose the $115M industry of shark diving. A lot of Bahamians depend on that so everything gets wrapped up in these decisions and hopefully the minister will give us the opportunity to provide him some guidance and advice on that. “