The Tribune

By FAY SIMMONS

Tribune Business Reporter

jsimmons@tribunemedia.net

Bahamian fishermen yesterday voiced frustration that they have largely been cut out of efforts to preserve and sustain this nation's marine environment.

Paul Maillis, the National Fisheries Association’s (NFA) secretary, criticised the establishment of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) without proper consultation with the commercial fishing industry.

Speaking to Tribune Business, he asserted that many existing MPAs are “paper parks” which are not effectively managed or protected. He argued that this has led to continued poaching and illegal fishing activities, while law-abiding fishermen are restricted from accessing important fishing grounds.

“When it comes to the type of marine conservation and the Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) that have been continuously established over the many decades, they’ve tended to be paper parks. They are put into place by the force of law, but they are not properly managed. They are not properly researched and they are almost never opened up,” said Mr Maillis.

“If they are being successful at protecting a certain species of fish or marine resources, then if it’s doing very well, there’s never any provision about whether or not people can start taking certain amounts of fish or seafood from that area, or whether we limit what type of fishing can take place.

“If a park is designed to protect conch, maybe people should be allowed to go and catch other fish from it. The problem that many fishermen have with the way conservation is done today is just this; that there’s these huge blanket parks placed over the best and most productive areas of The Bahamas and then they’re not protected. So, law-abiding fishermen no longer go there but the poachers repeatedly do so.”

The Government recently unveiled a $300m debt-for nature refinancing which is expected to produce $124m in interest savings over the next 15 years to help finance ocean conservation efforts. Supported by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), The Nature Conservancy (TNC)’s nature bonds programme and other partners, it allowed the Government to buy back $300m in external debt via a new loan from Standard Chartered bank.

The Bahamas Protected Areas Fund (BPAF) will manage the conservation funding generated by the deal and an endowment, expected to grow to $20m by 2039, will continue funding marine conservation beyond the project’s 15-year term. The Bahamas National Trust (BNT) said the proceeds generated by the debt-for-nature refinancing will help it and others to better manage the 6.8m-hectare MPAs.

The environmental group, in a statement, said it will be working alongside the Government to monitor MPAs and create a National Mangrove Management Plan to enhance protection of vulnerable areas using some of the $124m savings generated by the transaction.

Mr Maillis, though, yesterday called for better MPA management instead of creating new protected areas. He added that fishermen are waiting with “great attention and scepticism” to see how the programme will be rolled out.

He also called for more transparency and involvement of fishermen in the conservation planning process, adding that in his experience implementing fishing seasons and catch size requirements have led to better results in species conservation than establishing MPAs.

“We’re looking at this with great attention and scepticism as to how it will come into effect. However, if they can involve fishermen in this process, then maybe we will have some confidence that some decisions that have us in mind are being made,” said Mr Maillis.

“We stand against the imposition of more parks that are passed into force without our consultation, without our approval, without proper management schemes, without proper funding, that are sovereignly governed, and we’re not interested in seeing an expansion of this type of conservation until we see its effectiveness.

“As far as we are aware, the most effective regimes have been seasons and size limits, which have helped protect key species, such as the Nassau grouper.” Mr Maillis argued existing MPAs are not being evaluated to ensure they address broader ecological changes, such as the overpopulation of certain species, while successive government administrations have chosen to enforce “low effort” restricted areas.

“There’s no reason for more ‘no take’ zones,” he added. “The ones that are already existing, that are actually established parks, they need proper management. They need to decide what is the goal with this park? Is this park to protect lobster? Is this an umbrella park where every species is protected in it? Well, what if there’s some species in there that are actually problematic when they become too populated?” he questioned.

“Is there any regime? Is there any management plan for how those problematic species would become targeted or culled or managed? We’ve seen none of that. There is no real conservation going on. There’s easy, feel good, low effort implementations of ‘no take’ zones and parks without proper analysis.”

Mr Maillis also called for the Government to establish the National Fishery Stakeholder Forum, as mandated by the Fisheries Act 2020, to ensure the commercial fishing industry has a voice in decisions related to MPAs and fisheries management.