Crawfishing in the Abacos By Stephanie Humblestone

Crawfishing in the Abacos | Bahamian Lobster
By Stephanie Humblestone

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This year's crawfish season got off to a slow start. On the first day there were summer squalls and many boats returned with small catches. As ever, there was a feverish dash to check traps on August 1, some waiting until only a few hours after the official opening date had dawned before setting out to sea.

Scores of boats left harbours all over Abaco, having eagerly anticipated this day since the closing of the last crawfishing season on March 31. Although too early to tell from a disappointing first day, many felt that it reflected what lay ahead and that seems to be right. Two weeks into the season it was pretty much the same story with fishermen placing one thumb down when asked about the current crawfishing season.

Some like Fisheries Officer Wayne Cornish at the Department of Fisheries in Marsh Harbour attributed the measly catches to Hurricane Floyd whose effects were impossible to predict. Mr. Cornish reported that some fishermen were finding only large crawfish which might indicate that others are still in the incubation or plankton stage.

Over the years Abaco's fishermen have been accustomed to large catches and prosperous seasons, many depending on this time of the year for generating a major part of their annual income. However, aside from immeasurable effects of a giant hurricane there are less crawfish to go around as the lucrative industry is attracting more fishermen.

Fishermen are generally in agreement that Floyd may have adversely affected the numbers of crawfish to be found. However, many are also complaining that their traps are being raided and sabotaged not only by local fishermen but also by foreigners. One long-time Hope Town fisherman was incensed by the number of foreign boats which prevented him access to his traps. He said that stealing from each other's traps occurs every year and fishermen, in his words, "break even." However, it is a totally different issue that foreigners are stealing "from the mouths of Bahamians."

According to Mr. Cornish each foreigner fishing for crawfish is allowed to be in possession of six at any time and this can not be accumulative. Any non-Bahamian flouting this law is arrested and subsequently brought before a Magistrate and liable to a heavy fines, often in the region of several thousand dollars. This applies also to the catching of any under-size crawfish, that is, under the regulated size of five and a half inches, and to fishing in national parks. In response to irate fishermen who called for a total ban on foreigners to go crawfishing, Mr. Cornish pointed out that it is normal for them to want to get first shot, as they do in the Florida Cays where the first few days of the season are termed the mini-season.

Last year traffic was backed up for 15-20 miles in the Florida Keys with keen fishermen waiting to crawfish. Then many of those same people lost interest. He drew this parallel to reassure local fishermen here that foreign interest would decrease after the first week or so. Another grouch was the sophisticated equipment used by foreigners such as GPS to locate traps. One veteran crawfisherman claimed that in four and a half hours he got seven crawfish whereas other years in this same period he would have returned with over 100. This he attributed to poaching, a good proportion of which he felt was from foreigners.

The Department of Fisheries reported that they can do nothing about the poaching of "artificial habitats," that is, those traps which have not been registered. Between 600 and 800 crawfish traps are presently registered; they conform with the specifications laid down by the Ministry of Fisheries in that they are regulation size with a hole in the top and are both buoyed and numbered. They usually cost the fisherman between $40 to $80 to construct; this along with the boat gas for checking them is a costly business. Fishery Officers are aware of this and endeavour with their tri-weekly patrols to catch poachers, both local and foreign.

Many of the habitats poached are unregistered and therefore the owners have no redress. To add insult to injury many of the traps are overturned and left that way. The trapped crawfish are plundered and no more able to be trapped, thus denying the robbed fisherman of his existing catch and any hopes for the future. Indeed a problem, there is nothing on the horizon in terms of legislation to protect fishermen from each other and outside forces.