Category Archives: Bahamas

THE shocking events that unfolded in Charlottesville, Virginia over the weekend stunned a modern world that wanted to believe racism was a thing of the past or reserved for over zealous police in troubled cities. Suddenly, racism was alive, re-asserting its demonic vehemence when white supremacists led by the KKK staged the Unite the Right rally protesting the removal of a statue of confederate Gen Robert E Lee and were met by counter protestors.

Scenes of violence and hatred exploded like the lava of an erupting volcano.

Millions watched online and on TV as hatred spewed forth its effluent. Brawls broke out. Cops met angry protestors with shields, tear gas and pepper spray. Two policemen monitoring the violence from overhead were killed instantly when their helicopter crashed. A car driven by a 20-year-old man described as disillusioned, misguided and a supporter of the neo-Nazi white supremacist movement plowed into a crowd of counter protestors, killing 32-year-old Heather Heyer, a paralegal who devoted her life to the fight for human rights and justice. In all, 34 people were wounded, 19 suffering serious injuries.

It took the state of Virginia years to reach the decision to remove the statue at the heart of the anger and conflict, a statue that symbolised the Souths defiant defense of a slave economy. The debate over its presence or removal raged in full view of the public.

In the end, right won out. Historys evil must be remembered lest it be repeated, but it need not assume a place of honour in a state capital that is home to its flagship university, one designed by the framer of the Constitution, Thomas Jefferson.

What happened in Charlottesville and American President Donald Trumps refusal to lambast the KKK, neo-Nazis and white supremacists shook a sleeping public accustomed to so much protection for equal rights that the underlying need for that protection had slipped out of mind and sight. If it re-awakened the reality of racism in its most heinous form in the United States, it also sent a message to The Bahamas.

In The Bahamas, the evil of racism is much more insidious. Rarely openly displayed, its existence is caught in the glare of an eye when a black Bahamian does not realise a white Bahamian sees. It shows up in unpredictable places where instead of a wave or greeting there is an unexpected icy stare. Some vow it is alive in pricing, the same goods or services sold at different prices depending on the consumer or the community.

In The Bahamas, where whites make up less than 15% of the population, was it anti-white racism when the Bahamian flag was designed with the aquamarine, black and gold? Here, in the governments own words, is the description of the symbolism: Black, a strong colour, represents the vigour and force of a united people The omission of white as a colour on the flag has long sparked controversy and the late Norman Solomon excused it by saying that the white welting holding it together represented the minority segment of the population. Mr Solomon, a former UBP politician and progressive leader recognising the need for majority rule, refused to be insulted by the flags design but for others it has remained a sore spot for more than 40 years.

If the hate and bitterness that spilled over in Charlottesville by people who felt displaced was misplaced, it touched a sensitive nerve that triggered 24-hour coverage of an issue so painful and raw it refuses to hide its ugly head.

In The Bahamas, while this weekends events were a reminder, there have been improvements but we still have a short way to go. Most Bahamians work, live and play together without issue. They show the respect they should to people with whom they interact. Many would not even remember if the last person they spoke to or did business with was black, brown or white.

Fortunately, we are far ahead of our neighbour to the north. Bahamians are largely colour blind in the best sense.

But we must not ignore the undercurrent that influences decisions, makes immigration issues tougher and builds resentment. In addition to time mending and blending all, there is only one strategy to make certain that someday there will truly be One Bahamas. That solution is to treat each person as if you could not see colour. If the young man accused of stealing a pack of cigarettes has to be shackled going to court, so should the former Cabinet minister accused of extorting thousands of dollars.

If a developer snubs his nose at the government and tells it to leave the project alone, that developer should be apprised of the rules and should he not wish to abide by those rules that everyone else has to abide, he should be invited to do business elsewhere. The clerk who steals must be prosecuted in the same way his boss must be if there is a Customs violation.

Racism will never vanish until we vanquish the differences with which we treat people. Eradicate the difference in treatment and the resentment that breeds racism will, finally, be a lesson for history classes. This is one evil that we can put to rest and say Sleep well and for a very long time.

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Editorial: Hidden Faces Of Racism In The Bahamas - Bahamas Tribune

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#Bahamas, August 16, 2017 Nassau As The Bahamas government exacts austerity measures across the public sector to see a rebound in the economy, there are strides to boost recurrent revenue too. Tourism Minister Dionisio DAuguliar recently explained that somehow the country has got to get tourists to spend more money and he signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbnb which paves the way to a new tax and a new stream of government income.

During the signing, it was shared that the tax could be along the lines of the 7.5% which is where VAT stands but more significantly, he noted, is the revenue Bahamian home owners could make in vacation home rentals. Airbnb says there are 1900 listings from The Bahamas, 1200 of them active. Tourism Minister DAguliar explained that not all vacation home renters are listed on Airbnb, which means a vigorous registration drive campaign must be launched.

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Bahamas Tourism signs MOU with Airbnb - Magnetic Media (press release)

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#Bahamas, August 16, 2017 Nassau Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis and Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, the Hon. Peter Turnquest led the verification process for FNM Members of Parliament prior to participating in the weekly Cabinet Meeting on Tuesday.

The men were two of 15 Cabinet Ministers to take advantage of the verification opportunity as Public Treasury Department staff are stationed at the Cecil V. Wallace-Whitfield Centre to conduct the process for public service employees there. Other honourable ministers verified yesterday were: Brent Symonette, Carl Bethel, Desmond Bannister, Jeffrey Lloyd, Marvin Dames, Frankie Campbell, Dionisio DAguilar, Michael Pintard, Darren Henfield, Senators Dion Foulkes, Kwasi Thompson and Elsworth Johnson.

It was explained in a BIS media release that Cabinet Ministers, Romauld Ferreira, Lanisha Rolle and the Brensil Rolle are off island while Health Minister, Dr. Duane Sands had already completed his verification. #VerificationCentres were established since August 8 and public sector workers who do not register by end of the month, will have their salaries interrupted, though not ceased, until they do get verified.

See the article here:

Bahamas FNM Ministers & MPs verify with Public Treasury - Magnetic Media (press release)

By Natario McKenzie

Business Tribune Reporter

nmckenzie@tribunemedia.net

Finance Minister K Peter Turnquest said yesterday the Minnis administration has the best opportunity to restore value to Bank of The Bahamas, telling this newspaper the government would not have injected $166m into the struggling bank if it did not believe it could turn it around.

"I think that we have the best opportunity certainly to restore value to the bank. I am very confident in the board that we have. They will have the full support of the government and we believe that we will be able to turn it around. We wouldn't be investing $166m if I didn't believe that there is an opportunity for the Bank for The Bahamas. At the end of the day, we believe in the professionalism and the ability of Bahamians," Mr Turnquest told Tribune Business yesterday.

The latest rescue will remove some $166m worth of "toxic" commercial loans from BOB's balance sheet and transfer them to the Bahamas Resolve special purpose vehicle (SPV). The loans, which are to be paid for at gross book value, will be exchanged for promissory notes (government IOUs or bonds) that will be provided by Bahamas Resolve. This will fill the hole left on BOB's balance sheet by the removal of the impaired loans.

"We are going to give them every opportunity to be successful. It is unfortunate that the bank got to this point but as we give the bank the opportunity to solve its issues, we will also diligently pursue those loans that we taken on to the Resolve Corporation to ensure that the Bahamian people are able to recover as much of those delinquent loans as possible. At the end of the day, this is a tremendous investment for the Bahamian people and we must return shareholder value to them," Mr Turnquest added.

Bahamas Resolve is the special purpose vehicle (SPV) created in October 2014 to facilitate the rescue of Bank of the Bahamas. The "bail out" saw a collective $45.2m in "bad loans", belonging to 13 delinquent borrowers, transferred from the BISX-listed institution to Bahamas Resolve, with the subsequent 'hole' in the bank's balance sheet plugged by $100m worth of government bonds.

The interest payments due to Bank of the Bahamas on those bonds were supposed to be serviced by the proceeds from Bahamas Resolve's sale/liquidation of "distressed assets" securing those loans - mainly high-end and apartment-style residential properties, together with some business premises.

Opposition financial services spokesman and Exuma MP Chester Cooper yesterday backed the Minnis administration's BOB rescue. In a statement, Mr Cooper noted that there was "no getting around" the fact that BOB has been in trouble over the course of several administrations. He noted that the government and ultimately the Bahamian taxpayers will be on the hook for the $166m to be transferred and the $100m transferred under the previous administration.

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Turnquest: We Can Turn Bank Of The Bahamas Around - Bahamas Tribune

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#Bahamas, August 15, 2017 Nassau As the Royal Bahamas Police Force anti corruption unit continues to gain momentum and make arrests of Bahamian politicians and other public sector managers for alleged extortion and bribery, a report over the weekend suggested that a former manager of the now embattled #UrbanRenewal project of Grand Bahama was here in the Turks and Caicos.

The circulated report went as far as to name the individual and who in the TCI had to assist Bahamian Police with the capture and deportation of the woman. #MagneticMedia late last night contacted Senior Assistant Commissioner of Police in The Bahamas, Stephen Dean who confirmed that the story is bogus; no truth he said, all lies.

Yesterday, in Nassaus magistrate court an #NIB Manager was charged with bribery and corruption, so far three former PLP Members of Parliament and Ministers have been slammed with charges of malfeasance while in public office.

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Bahamas Police denies suspect hide out in TCI - Magnetic Media (press release)

MIAMI (AP) The queen of the sea, a monster mollusk that inspired its own republic in Florida but now is as likely to be found in a frying pan or a gift shop as the ocean floor, is in trouble.

A marine preserve in the Bahamas famed for its abundance of queen conchs and intended to help keep the country's population thriving is missing something: young conchs. Researchers studying the no-take park off Exuma, one of hundreds throughout the Caribbean, found that over the last two decades, the number of young has sharply declined as adult conchs steadily matured and died off. The population hasn't crashed yet like it has in the Florida Keys, but in the last five years, the number of adult conchs in one of the Bahamas' healthiest populations dropped by 71 percent.

For the slow-moving slugs that gather by the hundreds to mate, scientists fear a new, unexpected threat may now doom the park's population: old age.

The discovery also raises questions about the effectiveness of marine preserves, long viewed as a solution to reviving over-fished stocks. If one of the Caribbean's oldest and best marine preserves isn't working to replenish one of its biggest exports now regulated as tightly as lobster what does that mean for other preserves and how they're managed?

"We can see (the preserve) works for grouper and sharks," said Andrew Kough, lead author of a study published earlier this month and a larval expert at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. "But for a lot of the animals you don't consider as much, for example conch that are tied to a complex life cycle of larval dispersal, it's not working."

To find out why, Kough and a team of researchers set sail this month from Miami aboard a Shedd research boat imagine the Belafonte minus the mini sub in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." For 12 days, they'll dive the deep channels surrounding the park in search of young conchs to count and measure. They'll also take DNA samples to determine where the conchs are coming from. If they can trace the path of the young conchs, the hope is they can find a better way to protect them and manage the fishery.

"The babies are either not coming in in high enough numbers to replenish the adults or there's something else going on in the park that's an unintended consequence," Kough said. "There's so many sharks and rays inside the park they could just be chowing down on baby conchs."

In the Florida Keys, the ghost of the conch looms large: in oversized highway replicas, T-shirts, and horns. When he took the throne as king of the Conch Republic, treasure hunter Mel Fisher carried a scepter crowned with a queen conch. But in the Caribbean, conch remains a vital part of the economy, and the reason its governments are so concerned.

Conchs used to be prevalent in Florida, too. But decades of overfishing nearly wiped them out. In the mid-1980s the U.S. banned their harvest to save what was left. Yet more than three decades later, they still have not recovered in Florida waters, an inauspicious sign for the Caribbean.

Across the Caribbean, conchs are as good as currency. Almost anyone who can swim can grab one from the ocean floor and sell it or serve it. Cracked conch or conch salad appears on almost every menu. Their pink-lipped shells line porches and walkways. Countless docks are littered with piles of discarded shells. They are used for everything from jewelry to bait. Whole industries, from fishermen to exporters, depend on a healthy population.

But regulating them as been uneven. While some islands impose seasons and limits on takes in the Turks and Caicos conch season starts in October and there are set limits on numbers and size other have not. Populations have plummeted in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, prompting the U.S. to ban their imports.

The Bahamas has taken an aggressive approach. In 2013, the government launched a "Conchservation" campaign to save what it considers a national treasure that once gathered in vast herds along miles of flats and seagrass meadows.

In recent years, Kough said those herds have thinned considerably, driving populations down. In the Berry Islands, he said, previous surveys found the sea bottom littered with conchs, which can live up to 40 years and not only hold an important place in the food chain but graze on algae that can kill seagrass. The last time his team visited, Kough said, they found hardly any big adults.

"The fishermen are going further to get the animals," he said. "We found a lot of sub adults and juveniles as well, but it's the adults that are in decline and that just screams fishing."

Scientists believe a healthy population needs between 50 and 100 adults conchs for every 2.5 acres to sustain itself. The patchier the clusters, the harder it is for populations to find each other and connect.

Working with the Bahamian government, Kough hopes to better understand how the conchs are circulating or more precisely the baby conchs. About five days after female conchs release their eggs in long sandy strands, larvae emerge and get caught up in currents. Because the larval stage can last up to a month, the babies can float more than 100 miles. Kough suspects the young conchs from the preserve are winding up in unprotected areas hammered by harvesting.

Although the Bahamas restricts fishing, Kough said tighter measures may be needed. Regulations currently allow the take of any conch with a flared lip, the smooth curve on its rosy shell, which for years has been considered the indication of a mature conch. Scientists now believe the thickness of the shell is a better measure of maturity, triggering a local move to change rules to require shells be at least as thick as a Bahamian penny.

"You don't want to pull up juveniles. You want animals to reproduce," Kough said.

Kough is hoping the team can find some answers by studying currents to map the ocean highways traveled by conch larvae.

"It's a lot more complex because the animals are spending so much time out in the open ocean and outside the boundaries because they're dispersing as larvae," he said. "You can't create a huge ocean open park. Well you could, but how would you enforce that?"

The international community has vowed to protect 30 percent of the world's coastlines by 2030 to keep fisheries sustainable. But, Kough said, the Bahamas is in the difficult position of having within its borders vast flats and shallows not considered shoreline that should be protected but could exhaust limited resources.

"They recognize there's a problem. That's the really important thing," he said. "So they want to take steps to fix it before it turns into something like Florida, where the population just crashed and still hasn't recovered."

___

Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com

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Conchs mostly gone from Florida. Can the Bahamas save them ... - San Francisco Chronicle

Associated Press

MIAMI The queen of the sea, a monster mollusk that inspired its own republic in Florida but now is as likely to be found in a frying pan or a gift shop as the ocean floor, is in trouble.

A marine preserve in the Bahamas famed for its abundance of queen conchs and intended to help keep the country's population thriving is missing something: young conchs. Researchers studying the no-take park off Exuma, one of hundreds throughout the Caribbean, found that over the last two decades, the number of young has sharply declined as adult conchs steadily matured and died off. The population hasn't crashed yet like it has in the Florida Keys, but in the last five years, the number of adult conchs in one of the Bahamas' healthiest populations dropped by 71 percent.

For the slow-moving slugs that gather by the hundreds to mate, scientists fear a new, unexpected threat may now doom the park's population: old age.

The discovery also raises questions about the effectiveness of marine preserves, long viewed as a solution to reviving over-fished stocks. If one of the Caribbean's oldest and best marine preserves isn't working to replenish one of its biggest exports now regulated as tightly as lobster what does that mean for other preserves and how they're managed?

"We can see (the preserve) works for grouper and sharks," said Andrew Kough, lead author of a study published earlier this month and a larval expert at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. "But for a lot of the animals you don't consider as much, for example conch that are tied to a complex life cycle of larval dispersal, it's not working."

To find out why, Kough and a team of researchers set sail this month from Miami aboard a Shedd research boat imagine the Belafonte minus the mini sub in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." For 12 days, they'll dive the deep channels surrounding the park in search of young conchs to count and measure. They'll also take DNA samples to determine where the conchs are coming from. If they can trace the path of the young conchs, the hope is they can find a better way to protect them and manage the fishery.

"The babies are either not coming in in high enough numbers to replenish the adults or there's something else going on in the park that's an unintended consequence," Kough said. "There's so many sharks and rays inside the park they could just be chowing down on baby conchs."

In the Florida Keys, the ghost of the conch looms large: in oversized highway replicas, T-shirts, and horns. When he took the throne as king of the Conch Republic, treasure hunter Mel Fisher carried a scepter crowned with a queen conch. But in the Caribbean, conch remains a vital part of the economy, and the reason its governments are so concerned.

Conchs used to be prevalent in Florida, too. But decades of overfishing nearly wiped them out. In the mid-1980s the U.S. banned their harvest to save what was left. Yet more than three decades later, they still have not recovered in Florida waters, an inauspicious sign for the Caribbean.

Across the Caribbean, conchs are as good as currency. Almost anyone who can swim can grab one from the ocean floor and sell it or serve it. Cracked conch or conch salad appears on almost every menu. Their pink-lipped shells line porches and walkways. Countless docks are littered with piles of discarded shells. They are used for everything from jewelry to bait. Whole industries, from fishermen to exporters, depend on a healthy population.

But regulating them as been uneven. While some islands impose seasons and limits on takes in the Turks and Caicos conch season starts in October and there are set limits on numbers and size other have not. Populations have plummeted in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, prompting the U.S. to ban their imports.

The Bahamas has taken an aggressive approach. In 2013, the government launched a "Conchservation" campaign to save what it considers a national treasure that once gathered in vast herds along miles of flats and seagrass meadows.

In recent years, Kough said those herds have thinned considerably, driving populations down. In the Berry Islands, he said, previous surveys found the sea bottom littered with conchs, which can live up to 40 years and not only hold an important place in the food chain but graze on algae that can kill seagrass. The last time his team visited, Kough said, they found hardly any big adults.

"The fishermen are going further to get the animals," he said. "We found a lot of sub adults and juveniles as well, but it's the adults that are in decline and that just screams fishing."

Scientists believe a healthy population needs between 50 and 100 adults conchs for every 2.5 acres to sustain itself. The patchier the clusters, the harder it is for populations to find each other and connect.

Working with the Bahamian government, Kough hopes to better understand how the conchs are circulating or more precisely the baby conchs. About five days after female conchs release their eggs in long sandy strands, larvae emerge and get caught up in currents. Because the larval stage can last up to a month, the babies can float more than 100 miles. Kough suspects the young conchs from the preserve are winding up in unprotected areas hammered by harvesting.

Although the Bahamas restricts fishing, Kough said tighter measures may be needed. Regulations currently allow the take of any conch with a flared lip, the smooth curve on its rosy shell, which for years has been considered the indication of a mature conch. Scientists now believe the thickness of the shell is a better measure of maturity, triggering a local move to change rules to require shells be at least as thick as a Bahamian penny.

"You don't want to pull up juveniles. You want animals to reproduce," Kough said.

Kough is hoping the team can find some answers by studying currents to map the ocean highways traveled by conch larvae.

"It's a lot more complex because the animals are spending so much time out in the open ocean and outside the boundaries because they're dispersing as larvae," he said. "You can't create a huge ocean open park. Well you could, but how would you enforce that?"

The international community has vowed to protect 30 percent of the world's coastlines by 2030 to keep fisheries sustainable. But, Kough said, the Bahamas is in the difficult position of having within its borders vast flats and shallows not considered shoreline that should be protected but could exhaust limited resources.

"They recognize there's a problem. That's the really important thing," he said. "So they want to take steps to fix it before it turns into something like Florida, where the population just crashed and still hasn't recovered."

Read this article:

Conchs mostly gone from Florida. Can the Bahamas save them? - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Story Highlights

Tropical Depression Eight has formed northeast of the Bahamas.

Somewhat favorable conditions should allow the system to strengthen as it moves northward.

The next name on the list is Gert if Eight becomes a tropical storm.

A cold front along the East Coast should keep the depression away from the eastern seaboard.

Tropical Depression Eight has formed a few hundred miles northeast of the Bahamas, and it could pick up surf along the East Coast.

Previously dubbed Invest 99L, this system has become a little better defined and the shower and thunderstorm activity has increased, allowing the upgrade toTropical Depression Eight.

Theenvironment around this storm is improving, with less wind shear and dry air, but these still not ideal conditions should keep Tropical Depression Eight from getting too strong.

That said, environmental conditions are expected to be good enough to allow Eight to become a tropical storm on Sunday, and it should strengthenas it moves northward in the western Atlantic.

The next named storm that forms in the Atlantic will be Gert.

(MORE: Hurricane Central)

Is it anything to worry about on the East Coast?

This system will begin to turn more to the north on Sunday east of the U.S. That is because it will be sandwiched between the western periphery of high pressure in the central Atlantic and an incoming cold front across the eastern U.S.

Tropical Depression Eight will take the alleyway in between those large-scale weather systems.

At the moment, it appears this alleyway will set up far enough east that the U.S. would avoid any direct impacts, but increased surf along the East Coast is possible. A higher rip current risk is possible too.

Check back with us at weather.com for the latest on this, and everything inthe tropics this hurricane season.

Read more:

Tropical Depression Eight Forms Northeast of the Bahamas; Likely to Stay East of the Carolinas Early Next Week - The Weather Channel

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#Bahamas, August 11, 2017 Nassau There has been a slight decline in the #unemploymentrate for the country, according to a report released by the Department of Statistics, from 11.6% to now, 9.9%. Grand Bahama Island leads the way in unemployment at 12.4%, New Providence follows at 10.4% and 15-24 year olds continue to rate highest as unemployed.

The survey taken between April 24-30 revealed that most of the jobs were created in the private sector and the biggest gains by industry went first to community services including police, civil service and domestic workers up just under 30%. Also rating high, by industry were hotels and restaurants, up 26.2% and construction spiked by 20%.

Despite its moderns, in the major islands the Labour Force Survey exposed that there are more men employed than women, with the exception being Abaco. The Statistics Department information explained that there is more optimism too in the marketplace, when it comes to actually finding work.

Discouraged workers, those who believe it is a waste of time looking for a job, was down by 8.8%. Despite this small increase in employed people within The Bahamas, the overall statistics say that there are some 21,880 Bahamians and residents without work.

#MagneticMediaNews

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Unemployment drops, still nearly 22,000 not working says Bahamas ... - Magnetic Media (press release)

By JENNY STALETOVICH, The Miami Herald

MIAMI The queen of the sea, a monster mollusk that inspired its own republic in Florida but now is as likely to be found in a frying pan or a gift shop as the ocean floor, is in trouble.

A marine preserve in the Bahamas famed for its abundance of queen conchs and intended to help keep the country's population thriving is missing something: young conchs. Researchers studying the no-take park off Exuma, one of hundreds throughout the Caribbean, found that over the last two decades, the number of young has sharply declined as adult conchs steadily matured and died off. The population hasn't crashed yet like it has in the Florida Keys, but in the last five years, the number of adult conchs in one of the Bahamas' healthiest populations dropped by 71 percent.

For the slow-moving slugs that gather by the hundreds to mate, scientists fear a new, unexpected threat may now doom the park's population: old age.

The discovery also raises questions about the effectiveness of marine preserves, long viewed as a solution to reviving over-fished stocks. If one of the Caribbean's oldest and best marine preserves isn't working to replenish one of its biggest exports now regulated as tightly as lobster what does that mean for other preserves and how they're managed?

"We can see (the preserve) works for grouper and sharks," said Andrew Kough, lead author of a study published earlier this month and a larval expert at Chicago's Shedd Aquarium. "But for a lot of the animals you don't consider as much, for example conch that are tied to a complex life cycle of larval dispersal, it's not working."

To find out why, Kough and a team of researchers set sail this month from Miami aboard a Shedd research boat imagine the Belafonte minus the mini sub in "The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou." For 12 days, they'll dive the deep channels surrounding the park in search of young conchs to count and measure. They'll also take DNA samples to determine where the conchs are coming from. If they can trace the path of the young conchs, the hope is they can find a better way to protect them and manage the fishery.

"The babies are either not coming in in high enough numbers to replenish the adults or there's something else going on in the park that's an unintended consequence," Kough said. "There's so many sharks and rays inside the park they could just be chowing down on baby conchs."

In the Florida Keys, the ghost of the conch looms large: in oversized highway replicas, T-shirts, and horns. When he took the throne as king of the Conch Republic, treasure hunter Mel Fisher carried a scepter crowned with a queen conch. But in the Caribbean, conch remains a vital part of the economy, and the reason its governments are so concerned.

Conchs used to be prevalent in Florida, too. But decades of overfishing nearly wiped them out. In the mid-1980s the U.S. banned their harvest to save what was left. Yet more than three decades later, they still have not recovered in Florida waters, an inauspicious sign for the Caribbean.

Across the Caribbean, conchs are as good as currency. Almost anyone who can swim can grab one from the ocean floor and sell it or serve it. Cracked conch or conch salad appears on almost every menu. Their pink-lipped shells line porches and walkways. Countless docks are littered with piles of discarded shells. They are used for everything from jewelry to bait. Whole industries, from fishermen to exporters, depend on a healthy population.

But regulating them as been uneven. While some islands impose seasons and limits on takes in the Turks and Caicos conch season starts in October and there are set limits on numbers and size other have not. Populations have plummeted in Haiti, the Dominican Republic and Honduras, prompting the U.S. to ban their imports.

The Bahamas has taken an aggressive approach. In 2013, the government launched a "Conchservation" campaign to save what it considers a national treasure that once gathered in vast herds along miles of flats and seagrass meadows.

In recent years, Kough said those herds have thinned considerably, driving populations down. In the Berry Islands, he said, previous surveys found the sea bottom littered with conchs, which can live up to 40 years and not only hold an important place in the food chain but graze on algae that can kill seagrass. The last time his team visited, Kough said, they found hardly any big adults.

"The fishermen are going further to get the animals," he said. "We found a lot of sub adults and juveniles as well, but it's the adults that are in decline and that just screams fishing."

Scientists believe a healthy population needs between 50 and 100 adults conchs for every 2.5 acres to sustain itself. The patchier the clusters, the harder it is for populations to find each other and connect.

Working with the Bahamian government, Kough hopes to better understand how the conchs are circulating or more precisely the baby conchs. About five days after female conchs release their eggs in long sandy strands, larvae emerge and get caught up in currents. Because the larval stage can last up to a month, the babies can float more than 100 miles. Kough suspects the young conchs from the preserve are winding up in unprotected areas hammered by harvesting.

Although the Bahamas restricts fishing, Kough said tighter measures may be needed. Regulations currently allow the take of any conch with a flared lip, the smooth curve on its rosy shell, which for years has been considered the indication of a mature conch. Scientists now believe the thickness of the shell is a better measure of maturity, triggering a local move to change rules to require shells be at least as thick as a Bahamian penny.

"You don't want to pull up juveniles. You want animals to reproduce," Kough said.

Kough is hoping the team can find some answers by studying currents to map the ocean highways traveled by conch larvae.

"It's a lot more complex because the animals are spending so much time out in the open ocean and outside the boundaries because they're dispersing as larvae," he said. "You can't create a huge ocean open park. Well you could, but how would you enforce that?"

The international community has vowed to protect 30 percent of the world's coastlines by 2030 to keep fisheries sustainable. But, Kough said, the Bahamas is in the difficult position of having within its borders vast flats and shallows not considered shoreline that should be protected but could exhaust limited resources.

"They recognize there's a problem. That's the really important thing," he said. "So they want to take steps to fix it before it turns into something like Florida, where the population just crashed and still hasn't recovered."

Originally posted here:

Conchs mostly gone from Florida. Can the Bahamas save them ... - WRAL.com