nmbrowncom said:
a simple approach which may offer a reasonable compromise would be to sell a license for a number of days of fishing, half of which must be with a guide and the other half at DIY designated locations.just another thought.
Well, I for one wouldn't call that within a mile of reasonable.
No more so than the equivalent system being put in place for a variety of other services, for example how about DIY driving being prohibited, only certified taxies may be used, rental cars should be for locals only! The arguments about needing the money, ruining the fabric of Bahamian society etc all applies. What about taking your own pictures? Surely, there are many native photographers who are ready to service your photographic needs, why be the ugly American and steal the livelyhood of these fine professionals by insisting on a DIY approach. And then there's fishing tackle, why should selfish tourists be allowed to bring their own gear, when surely there is a huge business opportunity for the locals to sell and rent the same equiptment, all they need to get going is a tiny piece of legislation, outlawing the competition. Surely, if one can afford to travel to Bahamas and use fishing guides, burning a few hundred dollars extra for local tackle is not too much to ask. Then there's the restaurants, surely these fine establishments suffer trumendously from the blatant bypassing of their offering when tourists shop directly in grocery and liquor stores. Perhaps a reasonable compromise would be to prohibit non-natives from shopping directly, but offering up a coupon system so that for every dollar spent in a bar or restaurant, one gets a shopping allowance of one cent in the regular stores. This will help revitalize the image of the ugly American and strengthen the local businesses and society in general. Oh yes, makes a lot of sense, and if this isn't the very definition of reasonable, what is?
Of course, since the name of the game is to pay someone for services not desired, it can be a bit tricky to decide what to do when staying in an all-inclusive fishing lodge. Then the taxi-drivers, restaurant owners, shop owners, photographers and fishing tackle owners would all suffer, perhaps the only solution to this complex dillemma would be for all Bahamians to line up in a long que at the airport when you land, and then you can pay them $10 each.
I see the guides pushing for this legislation as a self-serving group of whiners, whose primary problem is that they insist on offering services for which there is (too) little market demand. So of course, they'd love to force everyone to use their services, effectively creating a monopoly on a resource they have no special entitlements to. It's not their bonefish and not their bonefish habitat, that belongs to the commonwealth of Bahamas, including all those businesses supporting the DIY crowd and casual fishermen on vacation. It takes a rather ego-centric world view to hold it as a self-evident truth that only their particular group should be allowed to reap the benefits from this resource. Not to mention all the problems that would come with such a proposal, including corruption, lack of innovation and price fixing. Perhaps if the resource was scarce, that there is only so many flats and hoards of fisherman frolicking about, it could make some sense, but surely this is not the case. The island are different, but overall they are certainly not lacking in fishable bonefish flats. Any guide worth his salt will have no problem putting his client on heaps more fish than the average DIY bozo, it's his god damn job. It will take at least 50 days of fishing to get familiar with just one area, understanding how temperatures, tides, wind and seasons impact bonefish movement, it's impossible to match for the average boatless DIY'er. If anything, good numbers of DIY should make a good guide's services more attractive, that's a whole new segment to be tapped by a skilled and market-savy professional with differentiated services. It means actual work and a need for innovation, so I can see why getting state-sanctioned monopoly is their primary preference. Who wouldn't take free money? Someone else will pay, well in this case it's our (DIY'ers) money, the guides had better earn it like everyone else.
A tax for usage I would definitely support, perhaps in terms of fishing license that would feed back into research and sustainability of both bonefish and bonefish habitat, preserving the resource in itself. Forcibly subsidising guides whose services I have no desire for, screw that. And screw it 2X when pretending to be a necessary social services fix for a victimized society ripped apart by "wrong" spending patterns from tourists, it's just plain and simple selfishness from grumpy guides. This is clearly best left to good old fashioned supply and demand to sort out.