Dominican Republic Fishing Holiday

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Early last year I was lucky enough to go to the Dominican Republic with my girlfriend for a few weeks. This wasn’t a fishing holiday as such, but naturally I packed the rods and spent a few weeks before hand researching the types of fish I was likely to come up against and the tackle I was going to need to catch them. We found the Dominican to be a beautiful place and the people there were fantastic – all smiles.
Fishing from the shore though was slow to say the least.

Dominican Republic Fishing

The resort did offer “deep water fishing” but I had noticed that the charter boat didn’t go out too far and was
charging $75 per head. Not only had I read that the charters in that area were pretty much a waste of time, I also saw some guys return from a trip without a fish between them. However, my girlfriend & I had befriended some of the locals who ran a beach bar and they offered to take me out in their boat for the price of a couple of beers. I jumped at the chance and had a great day out.

Reef Fish

We caught a good few reef fish and barbequed them under the palms, perfect. On my return to Blighty I posted up a few images on a fishing forum of that days catch. I was a bit shocked when some guy then started slating me and calling me a baby fish killer etc. I responded (calmly) and pointed out that:

A. Some reef fish are still pretty small even when fully mature
B. There was no minimum size limit there and these guys fished for their living, I was certainly not going to impose any restrictions on them.

However, after this exchange I did a bit more research.I discovered that the inshore reefs on the Northern coast of the Dominican were under serious threat and in serious decline. The state owned sugar cane plantations were being sold off for development and the workers sacked. They were then left with two options

1. Move into the cities and try and find work
2. Stay near where they grew up and make a living selling what they could harvest from the sea to the tourists.

Several had decided on the second option. Unfortunately they had not learnt through generations the need for sustainability and were decimating the ocean life around them along with the resort charters.There are of course many solutions to the above involving discussions between the government, commercial enterprises and the environmental groups. We though, as responsible RSAs can do our bit; the next time you plan a fishing trip abroad, look a bit further than just the hook size you’re going to need and treat the foreign seas with the same respect you do ours.

Tight lines.
Simon Hooper

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