A delegation of government officials will visit the Dominican Republic at the end of the month in an effort to curb the presence of illegal Dominican poachers in The Bahamas, but if that fails the government is prepared to implement more stringent measures to keep them out of Bahamian waters, said Minister of Immigration and Foreign Affairs Fred Mitchell.
In an interview with The Nassau Guardian Mitchell said there have been far too many complaints made by Bahamian fisherman about illegal poaching.
"The Dominican Republic does not have a bank, The Bahamas is mainly [made up of] banks and shallow water, the conch and crawfish live on the banks and their nurseries are in the banks, so the question is where does the Dominican Republic get such an extensive fishery," Mitchell said.
"Our information is there are large commercial operations out of the north of the Dominican Republic and they really fund these exercises.
"We want the cooperation of the Dominican government to bring this to a quick halt, to let them know that we are quite serious about his matter."
He said if that doesn't work, more stringent measures will be taken by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force, and stronger legislative measures will be taken by the government to control the amount of poachers in Bahamian waters.
Mitchell noted that poaching poses a serious problem to the sustainability of fishing in The Bahamas.
"You must reap the fish by a method that is sustainable," he said.
"The problem we have is twofold. First of all the waters belong to The Bahamas, not the Dominican fisherman.
"Secondly the methods that are being used are in fact unsustainable and they wipe out so much of the species which are in the water, which makes the long-term prospects of recovery more difficult for all of the various species, and this includes conch and crawfish in particular."

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