Recent News
Aquarium Hall Renovations Get UnderwayMonday, October 06, 2014
The Aquarium Hall will be closed from Monday 6th October and is expected to reopen of March 2015.
Aquarium Hall to close for repairs
Saturday, October 04, 2014
The Aquarium Hall will be closed from Monday as work to replace the roof begins.
Have fun and raise money with Zoobilee!
Thursday, October 02, 2014
The Bermuda Aquarium, Museum and Zoo will be transformed this coming weekend as the Bermuda Zoological Society holds the latest instalment of its wildly popular event Zoobilee: The Hungry Game
Let the Hungry Games begin
Thursday, September 25, 2014
Face-painting, hopscotch and selfie stations — they’re all part of The Hunger Games, Bermuda style.
“Zoobilee: The Hungry Games” On Oct 4th
Wednesday, September 24, 2014
The fifth installment of the Bermuda Zoological Society’s “Zoobilee: The Hungry Games” is set for Saturday, October 4.
About
GovernanceAbout Us
Newsletter
Latest News
Gift & Bookstore
Contact
General Inquiries
info@bzs.bm
Latest News
All the latest updates and news from the Bermuda Aquarium, Museum, and Zoo, one of Bermuda's leading visitor attractions!
Photo by Chris Burville Commercial fishing: A swordfish is lifted from
the icebox aboard the longline fishing vessel Eagle Eye 2 in Bermuda
when it visited in 2007. Government has indicated it is looking at
the arena of commercial fishing as a possible revenue stream for the Island.
Proposed licencing for foreign fishing vessels stands in complete conflict with plans to preserve the ocean around Bermuda, according to Shadow Environment Minister Michael Fahy.
In a statement issued over the weekend, the OBA Senator said he was alarmed by a statement by Premier Paula Cox in her budget speech, in which she said Government has initiated discussions with relevant parties to assess the feasibility of establishing a licencing regime for international fishing in Bermuda’s exclusive economic zone.
Mr Fahy said the licencing regime potentially flies in the face of the proposed Bermuda Blue Halo project, intended to turn the Island’s unused marine territory into a marine reserve.
“The benefits [of the Blue Halo] will be enormous including the ability to market Bermuda as an environmental haven,” Sen Fahy said. “We support this initiative wholeheartedly.”
He further expressed concern that fishermen could turn to long lines to catch fish in Bermuda waters, potentially resulting in extensive damage to the ecosystem and the Island’s reputation.
“These are fishing lines that are sometimes as much as 50 miles long, with thousands of baited hooks attached,” he said. “They are left in the water for days at a time.
“This method of fishing has been attacked by conservation groups the world over for what is called the bycatch the fish, turtles and birds that are hooked and killed, but not wanted by the fishermen and thrown away.
“If there were just a few of them, that would be one thing, but very often, the bycatch involves the slaughter of thousands of unwanted creatures.”
The Senator also said that Bermuda has in the past licenced international fishermen, but those ventures “fizzled out” due to a lack of interest from fishermen and Bermuda not having a large enough fish population to attract fishermen in numbers.
“If the Government is intending to licence fishermen regardless of the methods they intend to use, we would be squandering a hard-won reputation for being at the forefront of enlightened maritime thinking,” he said.
“We were the first country in the world to pass legislation to preserve wildlife, petrels and cedars, back in the 17th Century, and we passed groundbreaking and now much-copied legislation to protect fish from fish pots in the 1990s.
“The OBA is looking for clarification of the Government’s proposals. It seems to us you either support the Bermuda Blue Halo project or you don’t. You can’t really have it both ways."