NATIONAL NOTES

December 1998 Table of Contents - Current Issue of The Abaco Journal - Abaco Bahamas' Home Page

NATIONAL NOTES

Defence Force Officers Killed: Two members of the Bahamas Defence Force serving on HMBS Fort Montagu were found dead in the Gladstone Road area of Nassau on the morning of 20th October. Both Marine Seaman Demitri Ferguson, 27, and Able Mechanic Daniel Munroe, 31, had gunshot wounds to the head suggesting execution style death.

Christie Voted PLP Leader: Perry Christie retained the leadership of the Progressive Liberal Party at the party's 42nd national convention. He defeated Dr Bernard Nottage by 121 votes. Christie had previously been voted party leader in 1997 following the resignation of Sir Lynden Pindling. He had at one time left the PLP, vowing never to return to it. He had also been for 17 years the law partner of Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham, leader of the Free National Movement.

It's an Ill Wind That Blows No Good: Hurricane Mitch wreaked extensive death and damage in several Central American countries but caused at least ten cruise ships to divert from the region and visit Nassau.

Bahamian Bishop Becomes Archbishop of West Indies: Bishop of The Bahamas and Turks and Caicos Drexel Gomez, 61, has been elected Archbishop of the West Indies. He will perform the duties of archbishop along with his previous obligations. Archbishop Gomez once served as bishop to Barbados and was the only Bahamian member of the Commission of Enquiry into drug trafficking in the early 1980s.

Bahamas' Fishing Industry Close to Collapse?: According to Sir Nicholas Nuttall, President of the Bahamas Reef Environment Educational Foundation, the fishing industry of The Bahamas is close to collapse. In spite of a reduction in tail size, more efficient fishing techniques and a bigger investment, the crawfish landing for August and September of 1998 were 10% down from the same period last year. Sir Nicholas had been invited to comment on the draft for the Fisheries Act of 1998 and hired professional consultants to prepare a report. The report indicates that the fishing industry in The Bahamas is showing classic signs of collapse. But, said Sir Nicholas, if the recommendations included in the report were adopted by government, a more scientific approach to the industry would guarantee its continued existence and growth.

Not Just Sir Nicholas: Ms Sam Duncombe, director of Re-Earth, an environmental watchdog society, has called for a November to February closed season on scale fish, especially grouper. She noted that Canada's codfish industry collapsed despite it employing the most sophisticated scientific data. Grouper schools have collapsed all over the Caribbean and Ms Duncombe wants a closed season during the breeding period for groupers, which extends from the first new moon in November to the end of February.

Not Just Abaco: Tropical Storm Mitch pounded the rest of the northern Bahamas, not just Abaco. A 300 ft container vessel, Takadori, ran aground off Eight Mile Rock, Grand Bahama. In Nassau, high winds and tide spread debris over coastal roads.

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