Crawfish & Turtle Season Opens Today

By Quincy Parker
Bahama Journal

The crawfish and marine turtle seasons open today and the Department of Marine Resources is asking the cooperation of the fishing community in preserving and "safeguarding the sustainability" of The Bahamas’ marine resources.

Last year, Bahamian fishermen landed $92 million worth of crawfish, according to Deputy Director of the Department Edison Deleveaux.

Mr. Deleveaux touted the rules and regulations as effective measures to ensure the sustainability of the country’s marine resources.

"That’s the whole idea of fisheries management from our standpoint…We know we lack the resources to properly police our waters. We’re making it in such a way that the average fisherman who goes to sea is aware of what we’re trying to achieve and through his action he can help us to enforce," the deputy director said.

"In other words, he can become our eyes, he can become our ears at sea, and advise us of things that are going contrary, and provide that information for us to act on."

A Department of Marine Resources press release, issued on the eve of the opening of the seasons, reminded that the legal measurement on whole crawfish is a carapace, or jacket, length of three and one quarter inches and a tail length of five and one half inches.

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