41 Parrotfish Speared In Poaching Incident
A “serious poaching incident” took place on July 1st when wardens observed a person snorkeling in the Cooper’s Island area and subsequently recovered 42 recently speared fish, with 41 of them being parrotfish, the Department of Environmental Protection said.
A spokesperson said, “Staff from the Department of Environmental Protection are troubled to report a serious poaching incident which took place on the morning of Wednesday, July 1st when Fisheries wardens on patrol observed a person snorkeling in the vicinity of Cooper’s Island and acting in a suspicious manner.
“The snorkeler refused to respond to enquiries and would not show his face, but simply showed his empty hands and then swam off. The wardens retraced his path and found a spear and a string with 42 recently speared fish on the seabed in shallow water, plus another recently speared fish floating on the surface.
“As members of the public are likely to be aware, anyone wishing to spear fish in Bermuda requires a licence from the Department of Environmental Protection, and spear fishing is not allowed within 1 nautical mile of the shore.
“Further, of the dead fish recovered, 41 were parrotfish, a family of fishes that have been protected under Bermuda law since 1993 and which may not be taken or harmed.
“Parrotfish are protected because they play an important role in coral reef habitats, keeping seaweed under control and also contributing to the formation of sand.
“The Fisheries Act, 1972, provides for a fine of up to $50,000 for violations involving species included under the Fisheries [Protected Species] Order 1978.”
The Fisheries Wardens said, “Given the quantity of fish involved, it seems likely that these fish were intended for sale. The public and restauranteurs are reminded that purchasing fish, particularly speared fish, from anyone who is not a registered fisherman is an offence under the Fisheries Act, and that simply being in possession of dead parrotfish puts them in violation of the Fisheries [Protected Species] Order as well.”
“Anyone who might have any information regarding this incident is asked to contact the fisheries wardens on 7053474 or 2935600, or send an email to fisheries@gov.bm.
“Likewise, anyone witnessing a fisheries offence should call the FISHTIPS hotline [7053474] or the police immediately.”
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Category: All, Environment, News
I hope there is a massive fine and loss of gear and boat etc to go with this…
Sadly it doesn’t sound as though they caught the guy, or that he owned a boat, as he simply swam off. Very sad but very unlikely that anyone will be caught
And ignorance of the law is no excuse. What a waste, and how long has this person being doing this.
I can’t believe this, right off a nature reserve, I can’t believe this cretin got away.
Someone out swims a boat!!!!!!!!
What a joke.
@ Sage
Believe it, especially that he got away. Sadly the fisheries dept & the other Govt Depts mentioned are not much more than a running joke when it comes to enforcement.
Ask most any St David’s Islander who this could be and I bet they’d mention his name within the first two out of their mouths.
You know something? Then say something… Things like this only continue to happen because people who have vital information refuse to do their civic duty.
I guess by him saying nothing he’s mimicking his Government.
@ Onion juice,
LOL. Had already spoken with them. I guess by you saying that you’re mimicking the opposition; clueless.
Must suck being you
@ Time Shall Tell,
Had already contacted Fisheries before posting. However I don’t know anything, just a hunch.
Guess who the first name was out of the Fisheries Dept persons mouth was… yup you guessed it; same person. Doesn’t mean it was that person but.
@sage you don’t think the wardens would want to get wet would you? What a waste of public founds. .
Yup it is sad but money over the environment was the motive ! I’ve seen someone night diving next to the causeway on the Castle harbour side . They had to be looking for lobster . They had a light attached to their head well equipped for the job . Searching the break water walls . Smh !!
A couple of questions: How was he able to “swim away”? Why wasn’t he followed? Were the wardens swimming too? Do we have unfit wardens in our waters? Does this even make sense? How could they question him without removing his mask? Was he swimming when being questioned? Is he Aquaman? Did the wardens lose sight of him that quickly? Did the swimmer ever come out of the water? What happened to the fish? Were they sold? Were they eaten? Were the fish donated to the poor? So many questions…………
Well they are pictured.
Your questions should be addressed to the Fisheries Dept.
Terry, thanks for your comment. I hope someone from Fisheries Dept reads this. Also, yes, the fish are pictured. We can see that they are dead. But how many people do you know eat live fish?
And your point is what.
“”live fish”.
Get off the rum chiel.
Honestly Terry, if you haven’t gotten the point by now, you’re in the same boat as the wardens. *pun intended if you didn’t catch that one either*
It’s hard to believe that a resident who has been in Bermuda would do something like this. Would a restaurant owner go this far? What big groups on island need to be fed? As we continue to open our borders we must be prepared for offenses that we typically do not see?
Wow, so you’re actually accusing an expat of this. Just ludicrous.
I hope they fine and then stone the toe rag who did this.
Who was the dumb a** in government that let this person go, they should be fired if they can’t or wont do their job.
Burn them. Lockem up.
They need to have the warden’s out there more!
Horrible…
what a total pig (sorry that’s wrong – pigs are very useful!!) – how frustrating – anyone who knows anything on this ought to turn him in
Disgusting
Quite sad to see this. I’m struggling to understand the rational behind it – after all, I always understood the flesh was not all that palatable anyway.
Very sad.
Hopefully our parrotfish population is sufficiently robust these days to handled this, but still…
The flesh is very palatable, it’s eaten all around the Caribbean. Unfortunately this man either doesn’t care or isn’t educated in the integral role this fish plays in keeping our reef environment healthy.
Take it from me, our parrot fish population is very healthy, but as a diver/spear fisherman myself, I find this to be disgusting!!!!! But just to reassure everyone our parrot fish are flourishing. Hope this guy gets caught reguardless… FYI
No they are not. There are no where near as many fish swimming our waters as when I was younger – you kidding me? They are recovering yes but flourishing? Not quite. I dive too btw – regularly.
Parrot fish aren’t good eating fish, they’re a bit mushy, and these didn’t look very big either. I would have jumped in and swam after the idiot!
that was just shear greed on that persons part…..you didn’t just spear a couple fish for yourself but 41 geeez man ….you couldn’t even lift all that fish out of the water on your own….to bad he wasnt caught !
Definitely a pre-Cup Match haul for ‘fish cakes’.
When found he should be NOT SPEARED any punishment but hauled scaled of monies in an account.
Shalom.
Bingo Terry – Fish Cakes for sure.
I hope DEP that you are going to prosecute the individual to the fullest extent of the law! Make an example of the individual. This is not the first time someone has been seen and challenged for fishing illegally at Coopers Island.
Sadly he prob wont get in trouble at all as the idiot wardens just let him swim away! What do we pay them for?!
Anyone with information should contact the police and/or the fisheries department. Someone needs to be taught a very public lesson.
Disgusting.
Did they call the police and arrest the guy or did they just let him swim away. Please tell me he was arrested.
Now one would hope they’d called the police but, it doesn’t mention the police were called
Wardens have the same authority.
No they don’t, that’s why they take police with them at times
Read the laws Billy Boy.
Read the laws.
Not good form at all…an abberation….if you catch this fellow prostitute him….it it over the barrel behind charring cross onnah Saturday night….blindfold…helium filled pink balloons on each ankle….and a sign says I beenah bad bad boy! K……
Make an example of these A—s!
Can’t take a cellphone pic or anything before he swims away?
If he can swim that fast maybe we should train him for the olympics
So sad, Bermuda has enough problems with the invasive lion fish stripping the reefs bare of juvenile fish.
I am personally prepared to offer a $5000 reward for pertinent information that leads to the conviction of the party responsible for this idiotic, selfish act.
Who are you then? Money where your mouth is….
This is terrible. As a responsible fisherman – both line and spear, it grinds my gears to see that morons like this are in our beautiful waters. Even if I spent an entire day, 40 miles out and came back empty handed, I would never stoop so low. I along with fellow members of BBIRYC who spend a lot of time on and in the water will keep our eyes open for fools who are determined to destroy our delicate ecosystem.
I am angry right now so angry and disgusted
This is horrible. To boot the fish will probably be discarded which is even more upsetting. A sad sad waste all around smh
Hopefully they take it to the aquarium for food for their fish. I know Darth Vader wouldn’t mind a few parrot fish for dinner!
Why not just have a fish fry.
Why the hell didn’t the wardens follow him until they could find out who he was. Gave up too easily. the fact he wouldn’t speak, spoke volumes.
Probably was a friend or family, notice no description was mentioned.
Mmmmm
It was to hot . Surly you don’t think they would give chase Still get their pay check at the end of the day
Check out peeps on Flatts Bridge fishing every day, and no one does anything about it!
Are they catching parrotfish and other protected species? If so, sounds like you have a phonecall to place… Or photographic evidence to take…
@ Real talk,
In fairness, I think Blowmyfish’s point was that fishing is not allowed from Flatts Bridge, nor any of the bridges. However people fish from them daily & nothing is done to stop it despite the police & fisheries seeing it.
What if the person on the bridge is your cousin? You’ll be first in line to poke my eye’s out!?!?
How odd that they didn’t follow-up on that suspicious behaviour. He had to come out of the water somewhere and it wouldn’t have taken too much, I wouldn’t think, to have walked along while he swam looking for a place to exit the water. This is shocking to me and I urge everyone to be on the lookout for poachers. We MUST stop this immediately… and it’s going to take ALL of us to pitch-in.
Again.
Fish cakes.
Location.
Area.
St. Davids.
Hello……………
need to spearfish them
What a joke, hopefully this guy is caught and prosecuted. I think they need to start requiring anyone who purchases spearfishing gear to show their license, I assume this guy does not even have a license to be so blatant. I still don’t understand how they could not catch the guy and he simply swam away? Can we at least have a description of this person to help us keep a look out, I doubt this was his first time doing something like this and probably not his last.
That beautiful midnight parrotfish! I was just snorkelling there with my son last month and saw this beautiful large midnight, along with the plentiful other parrotfish. I am so disgusted and disappointed.
Our outdated fisheries protection laws and grossly inadequate enforcement capability urgently need to be beefed up. It’s a travesty that we value our reef at billions and claim to love our environment but spend a tiny derisory percentage of our resources to study and protect what we claim to treasure. People are still using fish pots, illegal long-lines, catching illegal amounts of rockfish etc and getting away with either an absurdly small fine (a fraction of the fish $ value) or scott free.
@ William Welton,
Spot On!! Sadly with a real lack of will power & ignorance within Govt, coupled with crippling budget cuts the situation at the Fisheries Dept is even worse then people think.
Combined with their lack of powers of enforcement/arrest we have a situation that is pathetic at least & as an Island that prides itself on our waters, & environment it’s down right Disgraceful!
Sadly, enforcement authorities don’t seem to take that reserve very seriously
There are boats in some of those bays all the time, they actually have to cross over bouy’d lines to get in! I’ve taken pics, sent them to various departments that promise to “look into it” to no avail
This was pure greed! Put him under the jaI don’t want to jump to conclusions but with no boat and that amount of fish in the middle of the week if they have not caught the fellow yet may I suggest looking in the surrounding areas of Coopers Island? There just aren’t that many places he could have come from or run away too……IJS
Description of the person and maybe his boat?
No description at all. Hmm.
Ok so I understand that the DEP probably don’t have authority to detain or arrest someone but if they suspected the person was up to something why not alert the police while tracking him and his movements? Eventually he would have to get out of the ocean unless it was a mermaid!
OnionPatch…
He was already heading for sure, more than likely he spotted them long before they got to him. That’s why he dropped his catch and didn’t stop. By the time they reached him he was almost to the shoreline.
I wish they had Tasers & the authority to use them.
Use a taser on a man in the water ? Real smart
Foolishness,
They don’t need to use them on people in the water you Muppet, Most times they are dealing with people in boats or onshore. Besides he climbed out of the water and walked away. Or maybe you think he had gills and stayed in the water.
Need to bring back the death penalty!
What a tragedy. Such beautiful fish that won’t even be consumed.
how do you just swim off? what a joke
This is highly annoying. They spoke to the guy and let him swim off and then what? Clearly our wardens need to be better trained to handle poaching incidents??? Or given additional powers?? What’s to stop this from happening again , if even when caught by wardens they can still get off??
Are the wardens afraid of confrontation? Why wouldn’t they be more aggressive in dealing with this kind of person?
Probably a cousin.
@ Terry,
No, it’s because they aren’t permitted to get aggressive. They call the police but not until they are sure that the person is indeed breaking the law & refuses their ‘request’ to be ‘interviewed’. They didn’t know he was spearfishing until after he had made his escape.
After all they aren’t the Police with powers of arrest or detention.
Would you be willing to jump in the water without any weapons against someone with a spear and possible dive knife?! Make sure you know the facts before attacking the wardens who are doing their jobs and are the most frustrated that this person got away, but they also can’t drive their boat into the rocks as that would cause more grief on the taxpayer! As consumers we have to play our part and be aware of what fish we are eating!
You obviously didn’t pay attention to the facts. The article reports that the diver showed his empty hands,then the wardens retraced his path and found a spear and a string with 42 recently speared fish on the seabed in shallow water. That means when they saw him, he didn’t have a spear. Now to educate you on another fact, being more aggressive doesn’t mean they have to get physical, argue, shout,threatening nor violent.
I find it so odd how this guy just got away like that, you mean to tell me this guy just swam away into the blue and you couldn’t track him, this is crazy, something does not add up here.
They acted like it was a mermaid
They work for Government. They’re probably not used to moving as fast as he could swim.
Lmao good one
In fairness to the wardens, I suspect they cannot detain a swimmer who does not have a spear or fish on his person. So they could have followed him, but would not have any evidence against him. In going to find the evidence, they unfortunately let him get away. I agree that perhaps a call to the police for assistance was warranted.
This is disgraceful ! if they thought he was acting in a suspicious manner, they should have detained him until they searched the area. At the very least, they should have forced him to identify himself !
Incompetence and ignorance is dangerous combination that results in the repetition of a vicious cycle.
That moron would be back to spear more because they didn’t close the loop when they caught him red-handed !
Aggravating.
Possession is 9/10 of the law if they didn’t find nothing on him physically they can not charge him for what they found
This is so unfortunate. Looks like the whole species pretty much right there dead and strung up. Really…who doesn’t know NOT to fish for parrotfish?
To me this seems like an easy person to catch at the time especially if there were two wardens together because he couldn’t drive a vehicle into that area so sit back an wait for him to walk right into your hands.
this story smell fishy….. you let someone acting suspicious go..then trace their path….
add to that…How can you trace their path in the water ???
Why did he show them his hands? Next time grow some balls wardens and sort the scum out.
He should go jail 41 is too much just to get away with a fine
Probably already been to jail.
Totally agree with Cranberry! Give out the highest fine and confiscate the persons gear!!! Nasty!
Can’t fine someone that was allowed to swim away
This is BS… Call the Police and follow his a**!
He swam away…
instead of the usual fish that got away story, it’s the bastid that got away.#mad
The image shows the fish on what appears to be a boat… why didn’t the wardens follow the man?
Probably the wardens boat.
The photo of the fish was not in the guys backyard.
Lord.
This is a very shocking discovery. Everyone needs to be aware that all species of parrotfish are protected for a very good reason. They are very important in maintaining the health of our reef. Here we have a situation of someone spearfishing from shore (which is illegal, except for lionfish) and targeting protected species (illegal) with the likely intent of potentially selling the fish (illegal without a license). It’s too bad the guy got away but hopefully bringing this incident to light will help raise awareness.
If you see someone entering the water from a beach or bay with a spear that does not have a Trident tip and/or you see them coming out of the water with anything other than lionfish, please raise the alarm.
I wish he’d gotten the taste for lionfish instead!
For sure
If indeed he came up on land, there’s only one way out of Cooper’s Island. More could have definitely been done. Call the police and wait for him to leave. smh. sad
So this person is the only one in the area He is suspected of wrong doing won’t show his face and able to just swim off And wardens did nothing to arrest him but trace his footsteps .
Fire the Warden for not doing their job!!
Disgraceful the book should be thrown at them! But just like everything else in Bermy, nothing has been done and nothing will get done so it will continue. Punish the perpetrator and maybe these kind of things will stop until then it is a waste of time even bringing it to the general publics attention.
Maybe he is related to the guy that ran and swam from the airport.
Castle Harbor and adjacent areas.
Most likely a foreigner.
Oh come on.
The wardens here are partly to blame. Why would you just let him swim away? Why didn’t you make him take off his mask and get his information? Pathetic.
Nonetheless, I hope this guy is found and is fined heavily or has to serve time.
Sadly this is nothing new, I would bet this individual has been doing this for ages. Sadly our fisheries & parks personnel lack the wherewithal do deal with this & they defo lack the enforcement authority.
I have heard of incidents where the fisheries wardens have been threatened if they set foot on a vessel while carrying out their duties. Try doing that to the Coast Guard & fisheries officers in the US, the offending individual would be removed from their vessel pronto & it wouldn’t be with just words!. Sadly in Bermuda there is an entitlement attitude of ‘I’m Bermudian, I can do what I like’!! & guess what; most do.
This is outrageous! I really don’t see a local doing this…
Haha. Good one!
That picture disgusts me!
what is infuriating is this lazy !@#$ (struggling for the right word) could have gone off John Smiths bay and speared a bunch of lionfish – they taste better and he would be doing everyone a favour – but the @#@# being a lazy #$% thought killing parrot fish was better and easier – someone needs to turn this #$@%$#^ in!!
The Fisheries Wardens lack all the safety equipment that is normally issued to Police officers, i.e. handcuffs, extendable baton , spray, tazers and so on.
The Police also will not assist or help them .
They are often threatened and assaulted,as far as I know the Police have yet to respond to any complaints from the Wardens, so are you really surprised that they are not about to pursue someone who could be carrying a knife or other weapon and would be prepared to fight?
In this case however, the evidence was found and the story publicized. If you are outraged, please contact the Police Commissioner and appropriate Government Ministers and ask why the full support of the Government is not with them.
A lot of the comments here make little sense.
This isn’t some commercial fisherman. He isn’t ignorant of the law he knows quite well what he’s doing and likely has been doing so for most of his life. There is no boat or gear to confiscate he works the shoreline, comes ashore, cleans his catch and disappears. Parrot fish is not mushy you don’t know how to prepare it.
The fact the fisheries wardens didn’t apprehend him or in the least get a look at him speaks to how inept that department is. I wonder are they any closer to knowing who too the twenty odd rockfish on one day a few months ago. NAH DOUBT IT!!!
The person responsible for this is as Terry said looking to make fish cakes or sell the fish to fill an order for someone who is.
Parrot fish are in abundance on the reef and very easy to spear given their numbers.
Rest assured this isn’t the first run in with fisheries for this guy and likely not his last. Like any predator this is his hunting ground he will be back rest assured.
Hope the person is caught and made an example of by applying the highest fine allowed which is $50,000!
And the police should have been called as this person was acting suspiciously and obviously was stealing!!!!
Sadly in Bermuda there is an entitlement attitude of ‘I’m Bermudian, I can do what I like’!! & guess what; most do.
Don’t paint “most Bermudians”,with the same brush please at best it is quite boorish.I’m sure their are some Bermudians you know and respect you would not include in your comment.Even you would not pack some bad fruit amongst the good and call most of it bad.
Oh,and for the record I don’t care if you are Bermudian or not my comment still stands.
@ Oh, I see now,
I am painting those Bermudians that have that attitude, if you don’t like it tough.
Yup I’m Bermudian and your comment stand like a house of sand on water.
Build a bridge & get over it… or don’t. Either way I don’t give a d*mn.
Swamp Thing does is again!! Out swims even a fisheries boat!!
Man shot in Baileys Bay.
20 people see him. Know his escape and vehicle
No one says s****.
Irony.
I did not read all the comments so what I am going to say may have been said already.This person is not a Bermudian or a resident that has lived her for some time . Enough said.We need to have others here but they may not be aware of the law ,while ignorance is no defence ,information should be front and center for all to see and tighten up the law. These people do not own a boat,so that part of the law will not apply.Seeing these dead parrot fish made me sick.
Bermudians are going around robbing banks and shooting each other. But you refuse to even consider the idea this might have been a Bermudian. You’d rather blame expats.
Are you serious? The Wardens approached him…he showed his hands (empty!). He knew EXACTLY what he was doing is WRONG and AGAINST THE LAW! Stop making excuses for outright STUPIDITY! YOU obviously know this person so you are just as IGNORANT fr not reporting him! People like you really tick me off.
Fisheries inspector may stop and search vessel; arrest
8 (1) A fisheries inspector may at any time stop, go on board and
search any vessel within the exclusive economic zone, and if he has
FISHERIES ACT 1972 8 reason to suspect that any person on board such vessel has contravened any of the provisions of this Act or any regulations made thereunder he may without summons, warrant, or other process seize the vessel and
detain it and arrest any person found on board.
(2) A fisheries inspector may at any time without summons,
warrant or other process seize and detain any vessel or thing which is
liable to forfeiture under this Act or which he has reasonable grounds to
believe is so liable.
(3) Any fisheries inspector and any person whom he may call to
his assistance may arrest and detain without warrant any person whom
such inspector has reason to suspect has committed or permitted any
offence against this Act or any regulations made thereunder.
(4) Any person who resists or obstructs any fisheries inspector
in the exercise of any of his powers conferred by this section commits an
offence:
Punishment on summary conviction: a fine of $5,000, and such person
may be detained by the fisheries inspector.
(5) Where any vessel or thing is seized or detained or any
person is detained under this section by a fisheries inspector, the
inspector shall take such vessel, thing or person as soon as may be to
the nearest or most convenient place in Bermuda and there deliver it or
him into the custody of the most senior police officer there available.
[section 8 amended by 1996:10 effective 11 June 1996 and by 2006:24 s.8 effective 20 July 2006]
Where’s the video footage? Where are the pictures? Duh! Why aren’t they patrolling the area by boat? All of this sounds so dumb…as usual!
In hindsight, the fisheries wardens perhaps should have marked the trail with a small anchored buoy (assuming one was available on their boat) and pursued the person in order to identify him reliably, preferably with photographs. Then they could have gone back to look for the evidence, and it wouldn’t really matter if he got away because they could identify him to the police.
The fisheries warders have one job and that’s to safeguard Bermuda’s marine life. You would thinkafter they failed in doing that, that they could at least be bothered to go after a guy who’s swimming away who just committed a crime in their jurisdiction.
They just proved that they are unfit to enforce Bermuda’s marine animal laws when they are most needed. It’s easy to sit around staring at the water in a tropical country when they are uneeded. Going after culprits who break those laws, not so much.
The people who let him get away are just as bad. Can’t get the uniform wet.
@Jay Maloy,regarding your malicious comments,
The Wardens dived the area and recovered the fish and spear, they got wet alright.
Enviromental Protection then released the information as this level of poaching is clearly on an industrial scale and needs the support and help of all members of the community , not only to identify the culprit,and stop this practice, but also raise awareness and hopefully make people think about what they are eating .
You also clearly have no clue about the actual events , the area involved, the culprit involved , nor the difficulties involved in operating large boats within feet of the shoreline, in adverse conditions.
Rather than making unsubstantiated malicious comments at the Wardens, who are trying to some thing, with little in the way of manpower, equipment and support, you should, (and the other commentators who are unsubstantiated slanderous statements) do what you can to support them and lobby the appropriate Government Ministers to do their jobs and ensure that law enforcement officers are given everything they need to accomplish their jobs.
Comment liked. Thank you for clearing that up.
Thank you, Loquat tree. Some people are very quick to assume they have all the facts and to assign blame, particularly at someone who is an official. I appreciate your voice of reason.
WAIT! You are asking the public for help in identifying the perpetrator? Did you come across the perpetrator? You left the guy snorkeling. You knew something was wrong. What kind of incompetence is this? SIR, You should be charged for derelict of duty.