An agreement has been signed between the Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) government, the south Florida based Day Boat Seafood (DBS) and Caicos Pride Products Ltd. to conduct a pilot study to assess the feasibility of establishing a pelagic fishery in the nation’s waters. The study will be conducted over a two year period based in South Caicos and will license two boats to set 25 miles of long-lines each having 500 hooks. This has been authorized by the government without any stakeholder involvement or any formal public consultation process. Additionally, the study is being authorized by the government under the mantra of a necessary step to conduct a stock assessment. TBF’s scientists have notified the TCI government that this type of study will not provide any sort of stock assessment on a highly migratory species that the expansion of a pelagic fishery would target.
Longlining is recognized as an indiscriminate form of fishing with significant levels of bycatch including billfish. In fact, pelagic longlines targeting tuna and swordfish account for 97% of all blue marlin fishing mortality in the Atlantic. It is not just billfish that are threatened by longlines, but other species like sea turtles, sharks, birds and marine mammals that are also important to TCI’s tourism industry. If the TCI government is going to truly take an “extreme precautionary approach” to this issue as noted by government officials, establishing a longline operation to investigate the feasibility is not the best course of action.
Like many other Caribbean states, Turks & Caicos Islands (TCI) is dependent on tourism and is witnessing the growth of its sportfishing industry. This longline study could potentially impact not only the marine ecosystems, but the livelihoods of the local residents dependent on tourism. Quite simply, anglers will be less likely to travel to TCI and spend money if the fish they seek to catch are being commercially exploited.
TBF is currently working with charter boat owners, representatives from the tourism industry, and local environmental groups to actively oppose the longline study. If the government officials in TCI wish to expand its fisheries for economic gains and to provide new employment opportunities, alternatives are available with less environmentally negative impacts. Many locals question the actual benefits that TCI will gain considering that the catches from this study will be exported just like the vast majority of seafood already being caught on TCI.
