Posted by Interested In The Bahamas on April 27, 2002 at 07:17:40:
I agreed with Conch Head. I hunt and I fish. I eat what I kill. It just isn't right to me to take game for sport. I get more thrill out of the hunt and capture vs. the killing. It gives me a kick to properly release a fish so it can return to its habitat. Some would even say that is wrong though.
In terms of the Bahamas' fishing stocks. I have been visiting the Bahamas since 1963. I can remember when you could walk in the grass next to the dock at the Jack Tar Resort on Grand Bahama and fail to step on live Conch. I can also remember visiting the Bahamas on a 19' boat when I was in college and never failing to find a tail under virtually any piece of structure.
Last summer, on opening day, in a fairly unpopulated area, I was only able to take four legal tails in a day of diving. Of course that didn't stop Bahamians from coming in right behind me and grabbing any short they could get their hands on. Not judgement, just a fact. Every single Bahamian I encountered had a boat full of short tails and didn't hide the fact.
I'm not saying tourists don't do the same thing but most of us are scared to death of the thought of Fox Hill prison. When was the last time you EVER heard of a Bahamian being arrested for possessing short tails???????
The Bahamas are overwhelmed with humans now and nature is suffering. The Bahamian Government, by its own admission, does not enforce conservation laws anymore via the Defence Force. All of the boats are in the Southern Bahamas trying to stop Haitians from entering the country.