By Gerrino Saunders
Bahama Journal News Editor

Despite recent setbacks with a number of boats being sidelined for either
routine servicing or due to running aground and needing repairs the
Royal Bahamas Defence Force is determined to do everything in its
power to properly protect the nations’ borders, fishing grounds and
territorial waters.
This week RBDF Commodore Floyd Moxey said four newly appointed safe
boats will be deployed to strategic locations around the country to assist with
ongoing border security efforts in collaboration with the United States and Turks
and Caicos Islands. His comments came at a special seminar to brief Defence
Force Officers on the financial allocations afforded them in the current budget.
The safe boats are fast, can enter shallow waters and travel from New
Providence to Inagua at top speed without refueling and will help to
protect the fishing resources of the country.
Speaking on the sidelines of a conference to discuss government
finances and safeguarding the nations’ borders he told reporters that the
RBDF will deploy four of the recently acquired state of the art safe boats
to strategic locations around The Bahamas to fight against illegal
migration and poaching.
He said, ‘We spent some time determining where was the best places in
the country to locate those safe boats and we have determined that we
will locate one in the northern Bahamas, as of July 7 th one of them would
be operating out of Abaco, we sent one to Grand Bahama and one to
Mathew Town Inagua and one to Gun Point in Ragged Island.”
Financial Secretary Simon Wilson noted that the government intends to
upgrade the RBDF fleet including a new flagship vessel that could cost a
hefty sum of money.

He said, “When you look at the budget you may not see the full extent of
the project in the budget. So for example you would not see in the
defense force budget the $90 million for the refurbishment of the fleet,
you may see a portion of it but you would not see the whole thing, and
this is where forward planning strategic planning takes place. This is
where you as a team schedule consider move resources around to be able
to effectively deliver these services to the public.
For the defense force we have modernization of the fleet as well as
refurbishing the fleet, the total of that could be close to $100 million
when you consider the new ship which is the new flagship which the
defense force is considering acquiring,” said Mr. Wilson.
Commodore Moxey explained that they are in the final phase of doing a
draft proposal for a 62 meter ship that will become the flagship of RBDF
which is an offshore patrol craft that will “assist greatly in defending the
territorial waters of The Bahamas.”
Meanwhile, as it relates to illegal migration he said, “We are watching
the push and pull situation in Haiti, the gang violence and so we are
sending our patrol boats to the southern Bahamas to ensure that we
maintain that present and posture in the southern Bahamas in the event
of any mass migration from Haiti. We are using our air assets and we
are using our surface assets to do that.”
As was identified by former Commodore Dr. Raymond King, Captain
Moxey noted that illegal migrants are changing their mode of operation
and the type of vessels they use to conduct human smuggling exercises.
He said “Just yesterday (Sunday July 6 th ) we discovered that there was a
Haitian landing in the Turks and Caicos Islands and they are using
motorized boats as opposed to the traditional sailing vessels that we
would have seen in the 2000’s and 1990’s.”
As recent as June 22 nd 64 illegal migrants including 50 males and 14
females were apprehended in a white cabin cruiser style vessel near the
Hole in The Wall in Abaco presumably attempting to smuggle their way
into the USA.

The four new safe boats acquired from Safe Boats International and the
U.S. were officially commissioned on Friday May 30 th at the RBDF
Harbour Patrol Unit on East Bay Street. The Minister of National
Security Wayne Munroe, Minister of Education, Technical and
Vocational Training Glenys Hanna-Martin, leader and deputy leader of
the Opposition Michael Pintard and Shanendon Cartwright were also in
attendance along with U.S. Charge d’ Affaires Kimberly Furnish.
Commodore Moxey noted that poaching by Dominican fishermen and
American charter boats continues to be a problem.
As for the Dominican poachers he said, “Our intelligence is telling us
that they are basically operating out of our territorial waters and they are
sending smaller dingies into our waters and so that is what we are paying
attention to our patrol crafts are in those areas, and we are deterring
them and hopefully we will be able to intercept them if the cross into our
Great Bahama Bank.
“Because at this time of the year we get reports of Dominicans on our
banks so we are deploying our surface assets to the Great Bahama Bank
to ensure that our marine resources are protected for our fishermen when
crawfish season opens on the 1 st August,” said Moxey.
In addition to other assets and increased man power the four new safe
boats are expected to enhance the nations’ maritime security capabilities
in regards to strengthening border security and territorial defense.