Bonaire going down the drain??

[BHB ScubaTroll]

Pretty much sums up most of this thread

 

[gypsyjim]

Be a real shame if we wiped out the entire Lionfish population supplying All You Can Eat's!

Only 59 days, and we are back on Bonaire!!! WAA HOOO!!!!

 

[Mike]

Tarponchick

I'm not really sure if they use ropes on each trap or exactly how they are harvested. It is probably a combination of hand gathering by day and traps at night. One thing is for certain, the process is nothing like anything in Maine. I encourage you to track down the article by contacting DAN and maybe you could start a thread about it. I'm not sure if this would be the correct forum though. Although everybody should read it before they go to the all you can eat lobster fest. Glad you are interested, most people don't care about what they eat, let alone where it comes from, who suffered to provide it or what environmental destruction was done,


Go U.S.A!. . . . . . . . To the all you can eat buffet! . . . . . . Fill your whole damn tray while you waste away the day!:eat: :eat: :eat: :eat: :eat: :eat:

They don't use traps because traps are more expensive to buy and maintain then human divers, its simply an economics choice where labor is dirt cheap and there is an unending supply of Miskito indians who will willingly replace anyone too sick to dive anymore. Besides with no regulation and no policing of the industry no fines or enforcement for stealing traps or lobsters in them, there is little incentive for a lobster captain to invest in traps since it's common for lobster divers to poach any traps on the bottom they would come upon, simply open them up and steal the lobsters in them. With no regulation and no policing of the industry you can imagine that anything goes, so the old ways are adheared to.

Lobster diving is regarded by the Miskito indians as a very, very good job, a highly desired and prestigious job.

This isn't just a Honduran industry, it's common all along South America, Brazil is well known for facing the same issues.

According to legend, Honduras' Caribbean coastline is littered with treasures from a time when Spanish galleons passed by filled with treasure chests of gold. Buried so deep under the sea bed now, very few treasure hunters have had the expertise or the means to attempt to locate this potential wealth, and if indeed there does lie a trove of jewels, it will likely remain hidden for some time to come.

There is another treasure to be found in these waters, however, at least for the Miskito Indians that live in the sparsely populated villages of Honduras' Mosquito Coast. Caribbean spiny lobster has for decades been the source of income for the population here, yet whilst it's provided wealth for the region it has also been a curse for the hundreds of lobster divers injured whilst sourcing the delicacy. They call the lobster 'red gold' in these parts, yet to find this treasure, divers must descend to depths for times that defy the body's ability to deal with the dangerously high levels of nitrogen they are subjected to. The result, a region inundated with injured and crippled men, unable to find work in an area rife with unemployment.

Paulino, 42, is an ex-diver from Brus Laguna. He has been paralysed from the waist down for 11 years, after being exposed to such a high level of nitrogen that his nerve system shut down. 10-15 dives a day to depths of up to 100 feet will do this to the body. This is decompression sickness at it's most perilous. His family left him when he could no longer support them, and he lives in a shack that consists of very little more than it's broken wooden frame. Planks are missing from the floor of his stilted house exposing the mud below and his wheelchair regularly gets trapped between the gaps. Without medical treatment, which is rarely available for the divers on the Mosquito Coast, he has developed Atrophic Musculos, which can potentially lead to amputation. Left abandoned, he has no one to regularly assist him to wash his clothes or clean himself.

He is one of hundreds and hundreds of young handicapped ex-divers along the coast. If there are few employment opportunities available, there are even fewer for those that have been inflicted with paralysis. Sandy roads, and canoe-like boat transportation make maneuvering through the area difficult and it is often only through church donations and volunteer contributions that these men are able to enjoy any assistance in an area where there is still great stigma associated with being handicapped.

Lobster diving in Honduras functions in the gray area on international fishing laws. The Honduras government and international organizations have been trying for years to phase out diving for lobster and offer employment alternatives to the Miskito divers. At present though, there are few options in this rural region, practically cut off from the rest of the country by poor transport options and lagoon network that covers most of the area.

To make matters worse, spurred on by the current global economic climate, the price of lobster has been at an all time low for almost a year. With the summer hiatus now over, and the season again open, industry representatives are not optimistic. There are concerns that rising pressure to compensate for the low cost of lobster will push the divers to take ever more risks to bring back a decent catch.

Shawn Hyde, managing director of Mariscos Hybur, one of the largest lobster processing plants is not positive for the upcoming year. 'We're down 20% from last year which was in itself a terrible year for us. This year the price is so low, at 170 lempira a pound, that we can't even help the fishermen get out, like we would have done before.'said, 'In the long run, it is a lot more profitable to be trapping for lobsters but outfitting the boats with traps is a significant investment'

An ex-diver in Puerto lempira makes jewelry from turtle shell. He is unique, however and employment opportunities are rare for injured divers.​

Thousands of men are employed along this coast and hundreds have been crippled or killed whilst diving. Nonetheless, the practice continues, and last season there were 67 boats still preferring to dive for the lobster as opposed to setting traps which is regarded as the safer if not more costly alternative.

US companies who are the chief purchasers of Honduran lobster have stipulated that they no longer buy lobster that has been caught from dive boats, but the reality is that it is impossible to tell where the lobster has originated once it reached the processing plant, and while the current economic situation remains as it is, and until stricter regulations are enforced, Miskito lobster divers will continue to risk it all in search of the country's caribbean 'red gold'.

 

[tarponchik]

Thanks for the article...where do these guys get equipment and tanks, I wonder. Most likely, surplus of used stuff from diveshops.

 

[lionfish-eater]

Mike thanks for the post. Would you mind posting it in the bay islands section under the title of "All you can eat lobster" or something like that. Thanks David


I don't think that was the article from DAN, but explains the problem well. Tarponchick

 

[Mossman]

Thanks for the article...where do these guys get equipment and tanks, I wonder. Most likely, surplas of used stuff from diveshops.

Good question. You'd think surface-supply would be even more economical, not that it would help the poor Miskitos as they'd be forced to stay down hours at a time.

 

[Mossman]

Mike thanks for the post. Would you mind posting it in the bay islands section under the title of "All you can eat lobster" or something like that. Thanks David

The real problem isn't "all you can eat lobster" in Roatan, though that doesn't help. The real problem is cheap lobster at Red Lobster, etc. in the U.S. Red Lobster alone purchases 25% of the entire Honduran lobster catch, at least according to one article I read.

 

[tarponchik]

Good question. You'd think surface-supply would be even more economical, not that it would help the poor Miskitos as they'd be forced to stay down hours at a time.

This could be short-lived cause it looks like lobster farming is on the rise. See this, for example: Home - Caribbean Sustainable Fisheries Corporation

 

[Jax]

. . . the so-called STINAPA "rangers" happily turn a blind eye on this illegal fishing activity . . .

:shocked2: Pilot Fish, is that YOU?!?!?! :huh:

 

[Mike]

Thanks for the article...where do these guys get equipment and tanks, I wonder. Most likely, surplus of used stuff from diveshops.

I think you have to adjust your mindset, this is a 3rd world country, this is commercial fishing in a totally unregulated industry. It's a captain with a boat who hires these people to dive and catch lobsters for him.

I think the closest similarity would be the sleaze ball contractor who hires the illegals out front of the Home Depot everyday to come work for him for nothing.

There is no similarities to the show on discover channel "deadliest catch" where everybody is a big happy crew working together. Think a captain and mate just short of flogging the divers on a daily basis. Rusty old tanks I would assume supplied by the boat, filled on board with a dangerous compressor. Sh*tty living conditions, alcohol and drugs, squalor, low pay, deadly health risks, all in a country where the living conditions are so low, unemployment is so high that this job is highly desirable.