Where does the seafood come from in most of the restaurants? The Sea? Really, is it from local fisherman who use sustainable fishing techniques or large commercial companies?

The reason I ask is that I enjoy seafood but won't eat any caught by conventional commercial methods due to the state of the fish stocks world wide.

If I know that the fish is caught by local fisherman using sustainable fishing techniques, I will be free to enjoy all the delicous fish dishes described on this board.

By the way, I'm only speaking for myself, not judging any one else, so don't flame me, please.

Good for you Becky, no flames here, we should all do that. I wish I did not love shrimp so much. I don't know the answer but if the fish is fresh it has to be local. One other point, Mahi Mahi is always a safe bet, fast breeder and fast growing fish, pretty much assured sustainable.

I'm sure they get the fish from local fisherman. Beef, etcetera are probally shipped from the main land.

Thanks. My question includes, however, what type of fishing technique is used by the local fishermen? Also, regarding a specific species, many of the large commercial fisheries have horrendous bi-catch which I won't support.

Bottom line: do they throw a hook out and catch one fish at a time, and throw back the unwanted fish? I will eat the fish caught this way. No long lines, gill nets, etc. Too much killing and waste.

The local fishermen fish by hand lines - hand held spools of fishing line with bait or a lure at the end. The lines are such that there's only one set of bait or one lure on it.

That's how virtually all of the fish you eat on Bonaire is caught. Occasionally a fishing rod might be involved if the fish was caught of one of the handful of sportfishing boats here.

And yes, unwanted fish tend to be thrown back in.

Not sure that any of this would truly be considered "sustainable" fishing, since there's nothing done to improve or maintain existing fish stocks here (or just about anywhere else).

Certainly by-catch isn't an issue since we don't have long lining or drag nets in Bonaire's waters (except when it's done illegally, and we have occasional cases where such vessels are caught and impounded). There is some long-lining in the Antilles however, with an operator out of neighboring Curacao, but we don't get our fish that way.

One man, One boat, One Line, Zero to many fish.

Jake

Jake - thanks, this puts my mind at ease. It doesn't sound as if they are actively wiping out targeted species of fish, which should create a sustainable fish stock, but I guess I have no way of knowing that. But the method is "fish friendly" so I am going to enjoy fish meals while I'm there.

Is the shrimp local?

No-no local shrimp, crab legs, scallops, or conch; they're all imported.

When is lobster in season?

What about the shrimp farm on the East side?

The shrimp farm hatches the eggs and produces brine shrimp which is then shipped off island to either Aruba or Venezuela to be raised to eating size. They have a couple tanks with the large breeder shrimp here. Sea Hatch has occasionally had eating size available which they sold through one of the grocery/supermarket stores but not recently. I can't remember which one right now.

I don't believe there is a season for lobsters although there are size limits.

Conch is illegal unless you have a permit and all permit holders (2) do not harvest them.

Ok so now I have to ask how all the conch shells ended up near Lac Bay? If conch is illegal...or is this the place where the 2 permit holders live
At the end of the summer season here in Joisey we go to the local supermarket and any of the lobsters that are left in the tank we buy and release back to the ocean....(this has become a tradition....they are probably caught again..but they get a second chance!)

Many of the conch piles are quite old, 30-40 years or more. The conch shells have bleached out. Just taken shells (and there are some there)are bright pink inside and most are much smaller not full grown. The scientist that did a study in Lac Bay also interviewed fisherman and thinks the conch population crashed sometime before the '60s.

Linda, that begs the question, how are the conchs doing now? And are they being harvested?

Poorly, and unfortunately yes. Local belief (at least what we've heard) is that "the big conchs are smart and better at hiding". The problem is that enforcing the no-take rules is a very low priority for the police as it requires going out to Lac where not much of any other police-required activity occurs, plus there are a whole bunch of politics around the issue. Not an encouraging situation.

Jake

Can a visitor take one of the shells from the pile as a souvenier?

No. Conch and their shells are protected by an international treaty called CITES. Airport security will confiscate any shells and coral they find. I heard a story about a mini pile of conch shells (20 or so) sitting beside the xray machines after one flight's departure.

There is another effective predator of conch on Bonaire besides man-- the octopus. Found a large octo in a den in front of Sand Dollar by the two still-colorful, small (!!) conch shells neatly arranged on the bottom a few inches from the opening of the den. Looked as thought the octo wanted to view it's conquests! Like trophy heads mankind hangs on the walls of the den or hunting lodge! Do some of our doings have a deeper past than we know???

Hi Glen, I saw that octo den too. It did look like
advanced octo landscape design...

fiona, how was your trip? are you posting a trip report? oh, and was it xerolandscaping?

There used to be a Sunday Conch Festival at Lac Bay--is that still happening? We are making our 31st dive trip to Bonaire in August, 2002.