Honey Bea Charter’s crew members respect the turtles!
by Fallon Best
Christ Church
Contrary to what BFP’s article about the Honey Bea III states, no one has ever apparently contacted the owner Mr Elson Best directly of Honey Bea III. (See BFP’s Bridgetown Careenage and Harbour beautiful… but deadly to Sea Turtles?)
The telephone number is public on brochures all over Barbados and on website HoneyBeaBarbados. Telephone 230.9936. The recently retired captain at the time has worked for Honey Bea Charters for approximately 40 years and the mate for almost 20 years.
These are experienced local fishermen in a small tourism service and have never to my knowledge ever landed nor fished for turtles, especially on Honey Bea nor in the Careenage. Many charters boats feed fish and bait scraps to turtles in the Careenage and tourists usually enjoy watching them surface. They inquire on the spot about cruises to snorkel and feed turtles on West Coast and fishing charters. You can imagine the crew would be the last people to deliberately fish, hook, land a turtle in the Careenage as they support their life’s living off the turtle feeding practise.
On the other hand, turtles bite at fishermen’s bait meant for fish regularly and if a hook was overboard during feeding, the high probability is the hook disintegrated or came out of the turtles mouth.
I wish Barbados Free Press the best with quality investigative journalism in the future, which protects the rights of the vulnerable, the working class and exposes injustice, unethical and criminal behavior in society – but of course based on facts and not any uncertain libel accusations which may neglect truth and slander hard working people and more innocent members of society.
Fallon Best (relative of the owner)
Barbados Free Press 
The boat, crew and turtle concerned were clearly photographed by a visiting tourist from the dockside. The crew were throwing scraps of gutted fish into the water from the back of the boat. The turtle, was attracted by the scraps, but there was also a baited hook dangling in the water from the same boat. Fishing in the Careenage? I think not. Instead of the scraps the unfortunate turtle chose to take the bait on the fishing hook. So the turtle became well caught. One of the crew lifted the line and hook out of the water with the turtle hanging on to it. The line then broke, due to the turtle’s weight. There was a gasp from the watching crowd. The turtle then swam off presumably with the hook and parted line still in its mouth. As I said, all of this was clearly photographed by a visiting tourist, who then reported it to the authorities. However much like the crab and parrot raids at Graeme Hall Sanctuary, the authorities have not been reported as doing anything. The operator owning Honey Bee apparently also failed to respond.
Too bad about the Honey Bea crew doing that. They rely upon the sea, you’d think that they above everyone would take care of it and the sea creatures.