BNT to issue statement on shark culling proposal today
NASSAU, BAHAMAS — Bahamian fishermen have recommended that the government temporarily lift the ban on shark harvesting, and allow culling to balance the population.
In a statement, the Bahamas Commercial Fisher Alliance backed recent remarks by Deputy Prime Minister K Peter Turnquest who noted that “sharks and turtles” have become a “nuisance” to fishermen.
Turnquest called on the Ministry of Agriculture and Marine resources to look into the matter.
His comments came days after a Grand Bahama fisherman, Anthony Feaster, was attacked by a shark, leaving him with an injured hand.
“In 2011 the BCFA supported the protection of sharks in The Bahamas through the establishment of a shark sanctuary with the understanding that the state of the shark population would be assessed after ten years,” said the BCFA.
“The protective measures are successful as we see an explosion in the shark populations, however with this success come the hazards of overpopulation, which unfortunately increases the competition for food causing the animals to seek other food sources.
“Sharks now equate the sound of boat engines with food, where any water base activity has the potential to bringing these apex predators in contact with man as sharks aggressively hunt for food.”
The alliance added: “We recommend the government explore the possibility of temporarily lifting the ban on harvesting sharks for a minute period that would allow culling to balance the population. This we feel would eliminate the need to seek non-natural feeding sources and encourage the animals to engage in natural predation.”
Sharks have been fully protected in The Bahamas since July 2011 when the country was declared a shark sanctuary.
When contacted by Eyewitness News, Bahamas National Trust (BNT) Executive Director Eric Carey said he would meet with his team to discuss the matter and issue a formal statement today.
All we as humans have to do is learn how to respect nature we wanna go everywhere and bully the surroundings if u see a shark or a turtle give them their space how u wan be bigger and badder than them in they habitat jus learn to respect nature . Cuz if u lift that ban trust me ene no stopping them fisherman from killing everything in sight for couple dollars or jus killing them for ntn
Sharks are only relating to the sound of boat engines as a food source only in the very specific divespots were the scuba industry is doing shark-dives…these are not in areas were commercial fishing takes place.
Ban feeding of sharks and shark dives. Everywhere they have these tours sharks are more aggressive around humans if you do your research.
Sharks migrate so they wont stay in one area if they are a certain species of shark.
This year I’ve seen more sharks diving then in all my years of fishing put together. There as been a substantial increase in sharks since the ban. We dnt kill to destroy we kill to maintain a balance. Right now that balance is way out of hand. But turtles are no treath.
Oh I have done years of research, and you couldn’t be more wrong.