Dominican poachers busted with over 12,000 pounds of fish

12,163 pounds of seafood was discovered on two Dominican fishing vessels intercepted and confiscated by the Royal Bahamas Defence Force last week, according to the official tally.

83 Dominican poachers were busted in Bahamian waters on September 18.

On “EL SHIP" vessel, officers discovered 448 pounds of Hog Fish, 211 pounds of grouper and 155 pounds of a mixture of fish.

On “ANGEL GABRIEL" vessel, officers found 3,085 pounds of Hog Fish, 1,746 pounds of mixed fish, 920 pounds of grouper, 2,096 pounds of crawfish, 2,155 pounds of crawfish tails, 427 pounds of rock fish and 957 pounds of Margaret fish.

Defence Force officers arrested the unscrupulous foreigners on Thursday morning off Diamond Point, Great Bahama Bank.

Acting on information received from the US Coast Guard, RBDF patrol craft HMBS Lignum Vitae, under the command of Lieutenant James Cox, intercepted the Dominican fishing vessels “El Ship” and “Angel Gabriel”, which were subsequently boarded and searched.

The confiscated vessels were brought into the Royal Bahamas Defence Force Coral Harbour Base on Friday afternoon.

Defence Force officers also discovered at least six Yamaha engines, 20 Walkie talkies and fishing apparatus onboard the vessels.