Smith and Zeller: Unreported catch and tourist demand on local fisheries in The Bahamas 
127 
Bahamas. Hence, we maintained the 
average consumption rate per stop- 
over visitor for the years 2009-2010 
based on our survey results ( i.e. , 
0.49 kg-visitor _1 -night _1 and 1.08 
kg-visitor _1 -night _1 for visitors to New 
Providence and Grand Bahama and to 
the Family Islands, respectively) for 
the remainder of the time series (i.e., 
1950-2008), although this extrapola- 
tion may have resulted in a slight 
overestimate of local seafood consump- 
tion rates in the earliest parts of the 
time series (e.g., the 1950s). 
Stopover visitors, by fishing recre- 
ationally, also increase local demand 
on fisheries resources (see the previ- 
ous Recreational fishery section). How- 
ever, because our tournament data 
did not distinguish between resident 
and tourist individuals that fish, we 
assumed that 98% of all tournament 
catch was taken by stopover visitors. 
The assumption that most tourna- 
ment catch was taken by tourists is 
based on the fact that most sport fish- 
ing tournaments in The Bahamas are 
geared toward tourists (Thompson, 
1989; Cleare, 2007) and on the notion 
that only a small percentage of the 
Bahamian resident population fishes 
for recreation (see the previous Recre- 
ational fishery section). 
We are unaware of any estimates 
of local seafood consumption by visi- 
tors who arrive on cruise ships dur- 
ing their shore visits in The Bahamas. 
To be conservative, we assumed that, 
during 1950-2010, 10% of all visi- 
tors from cruise ships consumed lo- 
cal seafood equivalent to 1 plate-size 
snapper during their visit (i.e., 0.31 
kg-visitor _1 -trip _1 ). 
Results 
Reconstructed total catch 
B 
o 
X 
CO 
O 
Figure 3 
Reconstructed catch in metric tons (t) for The Bahamas during 1950-2010 
by (A) fisheries sector, where bars indicate ranges of uncertainty for 1960 
(for the period 1950-1969), 1980 (for the period 1970-1989), and 2000 (for 
the period 1990-2010), and by (B) major taxa. In graph A, the dashed line 
represents official landings data reported to FAO, and the commercial 
sector is subdivided into the artisanal fishery and the large-scale fishery 
for Caribbean spiny lobster ( Panulirus argus ). For a list of species within 
each taxon shown in graph B, see Smith and Zeller. 5 In both graphs, ar- 
rows indicate the period when changes were made in catch limit regula- 
tions for tourists engaged in recreational fishing. 
Reconstructed total catch from 1950 
through 2010 was 884,500 t, a level 
that is 2.6 times the 336,190 t reported by FAO for 
The Bahamas. Catches increased from around 2300 t/ 
year in 1950 to a peak of 24,700 t/year in 1985 and a 
second, smaller peak of 22,200 t/year occurred in 2003, 
before declining to 18,600 t/year by 2010 (Fig. 3A). 
Notably, recreational fishing accounted for more than 
half of the reconstructed total catch over the full time 
period (i.e., 55% or 490,100 t), followed by the large- 
scale, commercial Caribbean spiny lobster (29%), arti- 
sanal (12%), and subsistence (4%) fisheries (Fig. 3A). In 
contrast, for the most recent decade (i.e., 2000-2010), 
recreational catch mainly declined but still accounted 
for more than one-third (i.e., 39%) of the reconstructed 
total catch; in the same period, a generally increasing 
trend was observed for the large-scale, commercial fish- 
ery for Caribbean spiny lobster (Fig. 3A). 
Reconstructed total catch comprised nearly 40 taxo- 
nomic groups (for details, see Smith and Zeller 5 ; sum- 
