Encounter at Cay Sal Reveals Poachers in the Bahamas - Mission Blue

August 4, 2014

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By Joseph Ierna Jr. / Ocean CREST Alliance

The Bahamas Reefs Hope Spot with its 700 islands and cays represents one of the most vast shallow water ecosystems in the world. The expansive and productive fishing grounds known as The Great Bahama Bank and The Little Bahama Bank comprise 180,000 square miles. This rich biodiversity directly supports the country’s third largest economy, fisheries that bring in about $100 million annually. What’s happening in these waters is out of control and a danger to those who wish to enjoy the area through diving,  legal fishing and tourism. Bahamian waters are being pillaged daily by Illegal Unauthorized and Unregulated (IUU) fishing activities.

Globally, IUU’s are stealing billions of dollars in revenue from local communities and from the ocean itself. IUU fishing undermines the sustainable practices of legitimate fishing operations, including those in the Bahamas. Their actions can devastate local fish stocks and destroy sensitive, productive marine habitats with the use of harmful fishing gear and practices; threatening food security and the socio-economic stability in many parts of the world.

IUU Mother Ship
Photo: Courtesy of the President of the Bahamas Fishery Union

Recently during a cruise with three couples to the Cay Sal Bank and Key West, we had an unsettling encounter at sea with hundreds of IUU fishing vessels from the Dominican Republic.

In the early evening of July 1, we approached Anguilla Cays, an island chain off the southeast end of Cay Sal Bank, uninhabited Bahamian territory lying between Key West and Cuba.  As we anchored for the evening, we could see a large vessel (150′ to 175′ long) moored with many small boats scattered to its south. At first we thought it was a military vessel, but as we got closer we noticed it was a white hulled commercial fishing vessel and that there were 20+ smaller vessels working the area.

IUU Mothership
Photo: Courtesy of the President of the Bahamas Fishery Union

We were aware of the danger associated with poachers in the Bahamas so we decided to steer around the dinghies in the area and give the mother ship a wide berth.  As we steamed by we saw a second dark hulled vessel (100′ to 125′ long) coming from the west end of Anguilla with approx 20+ dinghies in tow and dozens of men onboard. We decided to change our plan and keep motoring until we reached the lee of Cay Sal Island, where we anchored for the night.

The next morning we moved around to the east side of Cay Sal. We saw a dozen or so dinghies scattered around the south end of the island, apparently fishing the area, but we saw no support vessel. We anchored and launched our dinghy so that we could circle the island, during which we confirmed that there was no mother ship nearby. We were alarmed to discover that the poachers had actually set up camp on the west side of uninhabited Cay Sal Island. By the number of fishing boats, we estimated that the camp supported 30 to 40 people.

Photo Credit: John McMahon
Photo Credit: John McMahon

We were both curious and a fearful for our safety when one of their dinghies passed close to our anchored vessel, but we waved them over to confirm what they were doing and who they were. The fishermen told us that they were from the Dominican Republic and that they were camping on the cay. We asked them what they were catching and they held up lobster, and we could see lobster and fish of many varieties (Grouper/Parrot Fish/Mutton snappers) scattered on the floor of the dinghy as well as a large burlap bag full of fish. The fishermen smiled and tried to sell us some catch, which wasn’t appetizing, especially since the small fishing boats had no ice and the fish were already stiff from lying in the sun.

We left at nightfall for Key West. We would have stayed longer, but were uncomfortable with the poachers in the area. The presence of these IUU fishermen in Bahamian waters is not only destroying fisheries and marine habitat, but it is also a deterrent to cruising vessels of the Bahamas, affecting the largest economy in the islands – tourism. We’ve heard reports that numerous other cruisers have also altered their plans to stay out of the path of poachers.

It’s apparent that these illegal fishing vessels are operating without concern for being caught. They feel free to anchor in Bahamian waters and leave men to camp on the uninhabited islands without a support boat closer than fifty miles away. We estimated each mini-fleet included a mother ship, 100 dinghies and 200 men, literally stripping the area clean of fish.

Cay Sal Bank
Cay Sal Bank

The scale of the problem is well documented with credible evidence from legitimate Bahamian fishermen. A typical foreign poaching vessel is 65 to 100 feet long, each supported by 20 to 30 small dinghies, and in the past few years we are seeing even larger vessels approaching 200 feet with 50 or more dinghies.  Divers operate from the dinghies using hookah rigs and spears; with many going below 90 feet, harvesting deep water resources not legally fished by Bahamians.

According to a scientific report by the Bahamas Lobster Fisheries Improvement Project, poaching by commercial fisherman from the Dominican Republic is the the greatest threat to Bahamian seafood resources. The number of lobsters removed illegally from Bahamian waters by poachers was estimated at a staggering 35 per cent (or 4.3 million) of the known export of 12.5 million lobsters from the Bahamas.

The report acknowledged as many as 65 foreign fishing vessels could be operating from northern DR ports, and lobsters are not the only species caught; Conch, Grouper, Snapper and other fin fish are also taken, and each vessel can land over 70,000 pounds of seafood per trip. In fact, tens of thousands of lobster tails are legally imported into the US from DR each year, although no commercially viable stocks of spiny lobster exist in Dominican Republic waters. It is obvious where the lobsters are coming from – the waters of the Bahamian Reefs Hope Spot.

“This recent incident at Cay Sal Bank is a further reminder that this poaching problem is very serious and that the national dialogue must not only continue, but lead to action. From a conservation perspective, more and more our Bahamian fishermen are supporting conservation efforts, but they get discouraged when they see these brazen incidents disregarding our laws by these foreign poaching terrorists,” said the Director of the Bahamas National Trust, Eric Carey.

Radar Image, Anguilla. Photo Credit: Joseph Ierna Jr
Radar Image, Anguilla. Photo Credit: Joseph Ierna Jr

It is our hope that through the actions and continued efforts of Ocean CREST Alliance and our partners, real solutions can be put forward NOW to stop these Illegal fishing activities. Illegal Unauthorized Unregulated fishing activities are a global issue putting in jeopardy our fisheries, our economy, our personal safety and are a real threat to the health of our ocean environment.

Imagine if we could eliminate all IUU’s – this alone would represent one of  the largest conservation victories of our time. At the Ocean CREST Alliance, we believe in E2=MC, meaning; Education+Enforcement = Marine Conservation! It is time to expose these criminal activities and educate the world about these illicit trades, before it’s too late for fish stocks to recover.

For more information about Ocean CREST Alliance and how YOU can help with our conservation efforts, please visit  www.oceancrestalliance.org.

Feature photo: Deb Castellana

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6 thoughts on “Encounter at Cay Sal Reveals Poachers in the Bahamas

  1. The mother ships/boats most likely carry “square grouper” to unload on small craft to be ran to the Florida Keys. These runs may have been happening for several decades.

  2. Back in the early 70’s I was the Salad Girl (cook) on a fishing boat out of Key West. But I learned once we got to Cay Sal and met with the “ambassador” who by the way, was from Griffin, Ga and one other individual, who searched out boat, I guess to make sure we were not smugglers?? But they had one of those pulleys on the side of the boat and they pulled Other Peoples lobster traps and took them. They had a huge cooler container, full of ice and they even flipped a turtle in the sandy bank side of the island, before she laid her eggs and went back the next day and killed her. I was terrified. I was so glad when we anchored in Key West!!!! I slept on the bow of the boat every night and looked at the stars. It was a wonderful experience for a 24 yr old single girl, except for the part of them being poachers. When we saw the big grey boats far away, they called them Gun Boats and we would go the other way. Later, with my boyfriend, at the time, I liked Fort Jefferson and the Dry Tortugas better and the light house near there. This was in or about 1974.

  3. Why in the world would the Bahamian government allow this to continue now that the know what is going on!?

  4. I can tell you from personal experience our bahamian waters are getting destroyed.I give the lobster fishing in our country 2 to 3 years and are banks will be gone.I just recently stopped fishing because i took a pellete intoy neck and if I went back out there it was gona be blood on the seas that’s how bad it’s got on our banks

  5. Please have someone get in touch with me as we have a similar problem in Brazil and hooka diving by misikito idians is a big problem in Nicaragua and Honduras.
    We should join fishers from the 4 countries and fight for their lobsters

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