Bahamas

Overview

To assist the process of extending the Bahamas National Protected Area System, The Nature Conservancy funded a study to map coral-reef fisheries at a national scale.  The key aims of this work were to model and map fishing impact, model and map the current fish standing stock, and assess the potential benefit of conservation and management measures, such as the potential standing stock on a reef following the cessation of fishing.

The maps generated by this project represent the first spatially explicit, continuous maps of fishing impact and current and potential standing stock for The Bahamas. This project provides important data layers for use in the imminent Marxan analysis to identify key locations for new marine reserves.

In 2017, The Nature Conservancy and Bahamas National Trust conducted a national gap analysis to support the Government of The Bahamas in meeting its commitment to the Caribbean Challenge Initiative (CCI), a regional agenda were 11 Caribbean countries committee to protect 20% of the marine and coastal habitat by 2020.  The CCI countries have also pledged to provide sustainable financing for effective management of MPAs.

Fact Sheets and Links

Bahamas Protected – Fact Sheet

Mapping Coral Reef Fisheries – Final Report

Explore TNC’s Atlas of Ocean Wealth to view mapping of fisheries supported by coral reefs in Bahamas. Once landing on the homepage, click on the Fisheries App Icon. Change the “Region” to ‘Bahamas.’  You will see summary statistics for the various values. Click here for a visual of the instructions

National Marine Gap Analysis (2017):
Final Report (14 MB)
Executive Summary (760 KB)

Contact

Ms. Shenique Albury-Smith
Bahamas Program Director
Email: salbury@tnc.org

Photo credit: © Jeff Yonover