The crack of the bat hitting the metaphorical home run heard yesterday happened when AFFTA stepped to the plate and penned a response to the repressive draft Bahamian fishing regulations being discussed of late.
(I personally haven’t hit a real home run in a genuine baseball game since middle-school, though you know the sound of the bat knocking one out of the park I’m talking about.)
June 23, 2015
Michael T Braynen
Director, Department of Marine Resources
PO Box N 3028
Nassau, BahamasThe destination angler traveling to the Bahamas has for many decades played a vital role in the health of the Bahamian economy. These tens of thousands of Bahamas-bound anglers also play a crucial role in the U.S.-based fly-fishing industry as a whole. For these reasons, the American Fly Fishing Trade Association (AFFTA) opposes the Fisheries Resources Regulations of 2015 in its present draft form. We would further encourage Bahamian legislators to carefully consider the negative impacts that such heavy-handed and unnecessary regulation will have on destination angling and fly fishing throughout the Bahamas.
We strongly encourage the Bahamian government to reject the draft of these regulations in their present form and seriously evaluate whether these proposed regulations are truly good for the Bahamas as a whole.
Recent data (from The Economic Impact of Flats Fishing in The Bahamas; Tony Fedler, Ph.D) shows that anglers traveling to the Bahamas in 2010 spent over $141 million to fish the Bahamas, bringing to the developed islands of the Bahamas (and perhaps more importantly the out-islands) thousands of jobs and economic benefit. And the best news of all: These anglers were spending money on a low-impact, totally renewable pastime on the islands and in the communities that need it the most. Fast-forward to 2016 with the U.S.’s improved economy and an end to its recession, there is little doubt that this number of $141 million will in all likelihood significantly increase.
Read AFFTA’s full response here.
From where we sit they’re pretty much spot on, save for the rhetoric about the recovering economy (see this behind-the-smoke-and-mirrors commentary about Q1 2015 GDP and the out of ordinary inventory build – graphic below – for a dose of reality).
It actually doesn’t matter in this case as angler spending in the Bahamas has been pretty robust despite a weakened American and world economic milieu and will get even better when things genuinely improve.
Keep swinging AFFTA.
