With the comment period soon ending, regarding the latest Draft legislation, here are the responses penned by The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust and The Abaco Fly Fishing Guide’s Association. The Bonefish & Tarpon Trust response letter. The Abaco Fly Fishing Guide’s Association comment letter. Everything I can add has already been stated in one or both of the above responses, so no need for me to repeat what both entities have already effectively communicated. Will these two letters along with the 100’s of others the government received fall on deaf ears? I guess we are about to find out. But imagine how you would feel if you were a second home owner with a flats boat and could no longer go fishing with your wife for an afternoon without a Bahamian guide in the boat. Imagine the chaos and complexity of needing two different licenses and requiring them to be stamped by customs officials. And putting the BFFIA in charge of the guides and training? Just not getting a vibe that the government wants me back. Where is the “Welcome Mat”. My “fishing gang” were together this week doing some lake fishing for rainbow trout in central British Columbia and naturally the conversation over dinner turned to “where is our next saltwater flats trip going to be?” Guess which country was not even mentioned in the conversation? This after more then ten years of annual trips.
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