Caribbean Reef Shark: photo by Stuart Cove
Why is the proposed ban on the commercial harvest of sharks so important for the Bahamas? What pressures make the situation so urgent?
The following announcement from the Bahamas National trust explains the problem and proposes a realistic solution.
Bahamas Shark Campaign
• The demand for shark fins, meat, and other products has depleted numerous shark populations. 30% of shark and ray species are now threatened or near threatened with extinction.
• The growing demand for the Asian delicacy, shark fin soup, has led to the killing of up to 73 million sharks a year. Most fishermen remove the fins and discard the carcass while still alive.
• Slow growth, late maturation and production of few offspring, make sharks vulnerable to overfishing and slow to recover from decline.
• Because of a ban on longline fishing gear in the 1990s, The Bahamas has relatively healthy and diverse shark populations.
• As apex predators sharks are important to maintaining a healthy balance in marine ecosystems.
• Divers and film crews visit The Bahamas, known as “the Shark Diving Capital of the World,” to see sharks in the wild, and they contribute tens of millions of dollars to the Bahamian economy every year.
• The objective of the campaign is to amend the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act (Chapter 244) to include shark specific protections as follows:
o Prohibit the commercial fishing of sharks throughout the entirety of The Bahamas exclusive fishery zone;
o Prohibit the import and export of shark products in The Bahamas;
o Prohibit the sale of shark products within The Bahamas;
o Allow recreational catch and release of sharks;
o Allow the incidental, artisanal catch of sharks by citizens of The Bahamas, assuming the subsequent shark or shark products are not sold.
Chinese companies are now applying for permits to fish for or purchase shark products in the Bahamas. A small fishery has already developed in Andros. The Chinese have broken ground on the new Baha Mar hotel project on Cable Beach in Nassau, and the Bahamian government has issued 8,000 work permits for Chinese workers who will work on the project. That is at least 8,000 reasons to act before the market for shark fin soup explodes.
The Bahamas National Trust in cooperation with the Pew Environmental Group, the Nature Conservancy, BREEF, and others is proposing the new shark regulations to Government and is trying to educate the Bahamian population on the reasons for the legislation. Those interested should go to www.bnt.bs for more information. Our readers may also want to read about the Shark Conservation Act signed by President Obama on January 4th to control shark finning.
OUR TRIP:
Emerald and Foxy Lady ran down together from Black Point to Lee Stocking Island to stay for a week and tag turtles in the Brigantines and Barra Terre. We saw southern sting rays mating on the sandy bottom a few hundred yards south of the anchorage and tagged green and hawksbill turtles in the Brigantines and Barra Terre with the Rosens, Allen, and Tori Redinger from the Perry Institute.
Rescue of the Connie Ann
18 February 2011
I still leave the VHF on channel 16 at night in the out-islands. At 0430 Barbara and I were woken by a Mayday, and the boat in trouble sounded close.
Like any sailor moored comfortably in a good lee, I rolled over and prayed someone else would respond to the emergency. No such luck. Barbara and I forced ourselves out of the rack to answer the call. The skipper of the Connie Ann said he was unable to start his engine and gave us his position. His boat was a 27’ Bahamian commercial fishing boat being delivered from Grand Bahama to Exuma. When I plotted his position I knew why he and his crew were not happy campers. He was drifting at about 1 knot and was a mile from the rocks on the windward side of Lee Stocking. It was any mariner’s nightmare – drifting onto a lee shore in strong winds and breaking waves.
I called BASRA, the Bahamas Defense Force, and Marcus Mitchell only to learn that they could not help, and we were on our own.
At 0615 I picked up Eric Mueller at the Institute and Allan White from Emerald and ran our 20’ Spanish Wells speed boat out Adderly Cut in 6-9’ seas. The wind was 18-22 knots, and the seas outside were 6-8’ and starting to break. Towing in the seas was going to be questionable, but in less than half an hour Connie Ann would be too close to the rocks for us to pick up the tow.
Connie Ann threw us the end of their anchor rode, and Allan got a bowline around our bridle and we started to tow NW up the coast and a little further offshore, but as we approached Adderly Cay I could see it would be too dangerous to tow Connie Ann down wind through the cut.
I asked Erich if there was another way into the lee at a better angle. He suggested the north side of Adderly where he knew there was enough water with the high tide. We towed north of Adderly, and luckily the angle of the seas was not bad and the wind had subsided a bit. Within 20 minutes we were in the lee and heading into Lee Stocking.
So the boys on the Connie Ann got lucky. We had left our radio on; Erich Mueller had local knowledge; and the seas were just small enough for us tow. If any of that had been different the Connie Ann would have struck the rocks on the ocean side of Lee Stocking Island and three fishermen might have drowned.
The wind was forecast to stay up all day. We knew our friends, Tony and Eusie Zane, had arrived in Georgetown, so Barbara and I hooked a ride with Catherine Booker and had a wonderful day with Tony and Eusie and their friend, Pem Hutchinson, who has had a house in George Town forever.
Saturday morning the Rosens departed for Staniel Cay, and we ran the 60 miles south and east on the bank to Long Island, so we could leave the boat in the Stella Maris marina while we flew out to Nassau to meet up with Shelley Cant and Kerrilynn Miller at the Bahamas National Trust and travel to Spanish Wells to promote the shark campaign and have people sign the petition that will be submitted to Government to prove that Bahamians are informed and in favor of the new shark legislation.
Taking a fisheries campaign to Spanish Wells may sound like going into the lion’s den to sell vegetables, but in reality Spanish Wells people are smart, reasonable citizens. Rachel Ricks helped us at the school Book Fair, and we spent the rest of our time giving presentations to the primary students and walking the streets promoting the ban.
Outside the Gap restaurant we met “A1 Broadshad”, a pilot and fishing guide. I introduced Shelley, and she stepped right up and proposed the ban. During the conversation Shelley mentioned that her grandfather was Dr. Cant.
“Dr. Cant!” said A1 showing Shelley his right palm, “See this scar? I cut myself with a knife from there to there and was bleeding like a pig. Dr. Cant stitched me up. That was forty years ago.”
Shelley had instant credibility, and A1 signed the petition as did several other fishermen who listened carefully while Shelley explained the need. Shelley left Spanish Wells with 70 signatures.
Back in Stella Maris, Barbara and I tagged 14 green turtles on the bonefish flat north of the marina with CC Schneider, a young girl from another boat in the marina. Last year we caught 8 in the same flat. The population is growing.
On our way back from Long Island to the Exumas Barbara and I stopped at Rocky Point on the south side of Barra Terre. For us Rocky Point provides a near perfect anchorage in easterly winds. The holding is excellent in a good lee within 50 yards of the cays. There is seldom another boat, and we are only a mile and half from the turtle grounds.
The mangroves creeks on the south side of Barra Terre, Exuma, and Little Exuma rival those of Andros. The creek system in Barra Terre opens onto seven miles of the coast and consists of hundreds of acres of flats and a maze of mangrove waterways that provide an amazing habitat for wildlife. We had one of our best days ever, working alone in a remote area tagging large hawksbill and greens and marveling at the egrets, herons, puppy blacktip sharks, large nurse and lemon sharks, bonefish, and gray snapper. It was a privilege to be there and it hurt to leave.
In Samson Cay we met our friends, Taz and Sue Stafford, who were staying ashore on the cay. We enjoyed ourselves like tourists – laughing, snorkeling, having supper with the Rosens, and eating the big hamburgers at Compass Cay. But we also made another trip to the Exuma Park with students from Black Point. The Staffords and Roberta McKenzie, the school Principal, went with Allan in the Rosen’s boat. Four years as principal in Black Point and Roberta had never been to the Park.
Most of the week I had been sick, so late on Saturday I put myself on antibiotics. Monday morning Barbara insisted that I call my doctor, Bob Carrellas, and go to the clinic in Black Point. The nurse “sounded me” and by chance Bob called back right after she had had a good listen. Together they determined that I was taking the right antibiotics and would live, resting and drinking orange juice.
When we left Black Point we ran in the lee of Bitter Guana Cay and flew by what I thought was a huge turtle. I made a hard left turn back into our wake.
“Barbara, you want to catch this thing?”
“You’re the one who has to catch it.”
So, like a kid out of sight of his mother, I suited up and went overboard. The turtle didn’t swim fast, but it sure wanted to head for the bottom. Just before I ran out of air, I managed to pull its head up and reach the surface.
Then the Staffords helped us struggle the 200 pound dinosaur into the boat and hold it down for 15 minutes while we tagged it and took skin samples for DNA analysis. When we got it back overboard I was wiped out, but I felt justified. The lab needs DNA samples from loggerheads, and the Staffords got to see a big turtle.
March 11th, Barbara and I departed again for Long Island to meet Shelley for more campaigning. The wind was almost due north, and we had an extra day, so we anchored south of Little Exuma and turtled off the Ferry Settlement and in McPhee’s Creek. With the help of a couple of local boys, Kenyadah and Kenton Dames, we tagged five turtles in Ferry Creek. Then we moved on to McPhee’s which we had never seen. The creek is drop-dead beautiful with white sand beaches, coral, grass, and no humans. We saw three greens in the late afternoon and tagged one.
The schedule in Long Island included presentations in every school and a public meeting at the Community Center in Clarence Town.
Three days later we had made presentations in five schools and Shelley Cant and Nikara Pratt from the Trust had met with 50 people at the public meeting at the Community Center in Clarence Town.
The crowd included the head of Local Government, fishermen, teachers, business men and women, and 12 students from NGM Majors High School. It was an exciting evening with plenty of passion and hard questions. Most people signed the shark petition and 20 signed up as members of the Trust. The BNT now has over 4500 Bahamian signatures on the petition.
We are now moored at the Flying Fish Marina in Clarence Town. Tuesday we fly home for a week and then return to tag all the turtles in Clarence Town harbour before we sail for Crooked Island and Acklins.
