We just came out with a new story on some of the conflicts anglers have faced while DIY fishing in The Bahamas. Some of these are quite serious. I have included the full text of the story here but you can see the story here as well: http://www.anglingreport.com/current_issue.cfm?id=903
We think this issue warrants a serious discussion. Please let us know if you have faced any similar issues or if you have any thoughts. -Mike @ The Angling Report
Full text of the article:
It's an unfortunate fact that news stories often break at the worst possible time. That is certainly the case as regards an abrupt upsurge in conflict in the Bahamas between independent guides and unguided (or do-it-yourself) anglers. The story catches me out of the office and with virtually no means to reach out to important contacts who would help bring needed perspective to this report. Here is the gist of what I know: Some independent guides (that is, those who work on their own as independent businessmen, instead of as employees of lodges) 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. Here are some sample incidents that have occurred. These accounts were either sent to me or appeared in blog posts on the Internet:
"I Just came back from a four-day do-it-yourself trip to Casuarina Point in Abaco. Rented cottage with aluminum boat and small motor. Had read about difficult bones along beach and Cherokee Sound, which lived up to their reputation and then some. What I wish to pass on, however, is a different challenge that I found there. It would appear that the locals are trying to prevent DIY fishing altogether. I say that because at one point during my trip I came upon a flat that was covered up with bones, big ones. I got out of the boat to wade and a local started doing donuts with his boat right near mine. Next, he moved to the end of the flat where the fish were coming on the flat and made lots of commotion with his boat. After spending some time there, he went to the other end of the flat and made more ruckus. This was all designed to make sure that no 'catching' occurred. If this is the way locals want to behave, I don’t intend to come back. This completely spoiled my trip!"
"My group had a problem on Exuma with guides trying to intimidate us. One threatened to firebomb the house where our party was staying. We reported this to the police, but they stonewalled us. That same year an angler I know had his car catch on fire while he was fishing on Exuma. The fire melted the tires, the windshield exploded. Our group has had numerous incidents going back five or six years."
"The problems that we have had with our vehicles have all taken place at the west-side boat launch on Abaco, the launch that Nettie Symonette built when she operated Different of Abaco. We have a pretty good idea who is behind it. A new sign has appeared recently at the boat launch stating 'Private Road. Guided Fishing Only.' A member of our group contacted the local authorities about the sign and, as far as anyone knows, it is a public road. We have been very careful to not leave cars at the launch. Our group fished the area four times this past five weeks but we arranged to be dropped off and picked up by our wives to avoid any confrontations.
"The problems we have had with car vandalism have not just occurred on Abaco. Last year on Exuma we had all four tires slashed. The car was hidden on a vacant lot at the end of a bush road and was only visible from the ocean at Airport Flats. There were a couple of guide boats in the area and they had seen us departing the beach in kayaks. We also had tires slashed several miles south of that area a couple of months before under the same circumstances. The knife or blade that was used to do the slashing was identical in both cases, or at least the holes were."
"In the last couple of weeks a car was vandalized at Garbage Dump Flat near Deadman's Cay on Long Island, and we were accosted by a guide at the Garbage Dump who informed us that it was illegal to fish on our own in the Bahamas. There was another incident with a guide aggressively going at a fisherman on Long Island. The tourist made a big fuss and apparently the guide was contacted by the police and told in no uncertain terms to back off or he would be charged.” Importantly, the single mention above of a positive police response is the only one we have heard about. All of the other anglers say the police have ignored their complaints and/or refused to get involved. A more thorough airing of this issue might turn up more instances of police getting involved, but at this writing the government appears to be allowing a dangerous situation to develop. Slashed tires, a burned automobile, ugly behavior displayed on flats. Can violence be far from surfacing? And who would be charged if violence did flare? No one seriously contests the fact that unguided fishing is legal in the Bahamas, but who will trade the first blows and whose word will be taken as the truth? Think about it. Who wants to spend time in a Bahamas jail? Or a hospital? This is serious stuff. As this is written there are indications that the government is waking up to the untenable situation that has developed in the Bahamas. The threat of violence is only one aspect of the problem. The other aspect is loss of business on the part of owners of small hotels and restaurants in the Out Islands, along with individuals who rent their homes and cars to unguided fishermen. Indeed, unguided anglers spend a lot of money in the Bahamas and they spread it around the communities where they stay. Importantly, Rod Hamilton, whose book, website, and blog (www.diybonefishing.com)are a least partially responsible for the upsurge in interest in unguided fishing, says he is being deluged by calls and e-mails from followers saying they are not going back to the Bahamas until a lawful solution to the current conflicts has been hammered out. One report I received along this line was from an angler who said he had been personally responsible this year alone for encouraging close to a dozen anglers to come to the Bahamas and fish on their own, as well as with independent guides. Collectively, he says, those dozen anglers spent $72,000 on home, car, and boat rentals alone. Food, gifts, and supplies of various other sorts are not included in that tally. That money is gone forever, the writer told me in an impassioned note.
Here at The Angling Report we do not like to write negative stories. My own preference in this instance would be to work behind the scenes with constructive individuals who want to solve this resource allocation issue. Indeed, that is what is involved here. Think jet skis and flats anglers in the Florida Keys. Think float fishermen and recreational tubers out West. This is a squabble over who has what kind of rights to an increasingly valuable, finite resource. Solving such conflicts is what government is all about, and no one of good will doubts the Bahamas government will rise to the challenge eventually. It is what happens in the interim that worries us. Clearly, some independent guides in the Bahamas are acting like thugs and they need to be drawn up short, as they are damaging everyone’s interest. Until they are, be careful if you are headed to the Bahamas on a trip that involves fishing on your own.—Don Causey.
