Missing poachers arrested after JMU and DoE chase
(CNS) UPDATED TUESDAY: The RCIPS has confirmed that two suspect poachers have been found and arrested. Yesterday, the police said officers from the RCIPS Joint Marine Unit and the Department of Environment had tracked a group of suspected poachers aboard a canoe Monday, but the men went missing. The RCIPS appealed to the public to confirm that Ian Martin Ebanks and Derrick Bush were safe and well after they abandoned their canoe in the mangroves near Barkers during the chase.
“Both of the men believed to have been in the canoe fleeing Joint Marine and DoE officers yesterday have been located and are in good health. Both have been arrested on suspicion of marine offences and are currently in police custody,” the RCIPS said Tuesday.
Police had explained that just before 8am yesterday morning (13 March), marine officers on patrol were asked to help DoE officers who were tracking suspected conch poachers on a boat in the North Sound.
Police on the JMU vessel Typhoon joined the DoE boat but the canoe fled into the mangroves near Barkers and was grounded. After finding the abandoned vessel, they searched the surrounding area for several hours with the assistance of the police helicopter but the men were nowhere to be found. During the search of the mangroves one marine officer was injured and taken to hospital and treated for a non-life threatening injury.
Category: Crime, Environment, Police
Cayman were a better place without u money hungry people. You all don’t have this place at heart. If your home were any better u wouldnt have came here.
Let’s set this straight!!! Caymanians were able to support and maintain their families from our waters. What messed us up were the people coming here and couldn’t afford to buy food because of their cheap salaries and the expats were killng off our marine life regardless of the size so they could eat and save what they were making to send back to their countries. We had to implement new laws to avoid this but yet those same cheap wages were encouraging expats to come here because it was making them rich in their own countries. OMOV hurry please. Caymanians fed up!!!!!!! Also the dive boats and operators need to be followed up on because many sea life especially lobsters are being poached!!! Lobster heads are being found only!!!!! Caymanians don’t do that. Its the people that looking for a quick poach. Caymanians picks every last piece!!!!
Yea, the same people that built this island from a bleak backwater into a world class financial, legal and tourism destination.
Let’s get it straight, without those people you would have nothing except what you could scavenge from the sea.
And what planet do you come from you bigoted idiot? Caymanians DO chop lobsters heads off, or rather they rip them from their tail. Caymanians are far and away the worst offenders and responsible for the wholesale destruction of the conch, whelk, lobster, grouper and turtle populations.
Rest of the world fed up by your racism, your prejudice and blind belief that all your problems are caused by everyone but yourselves.
Yup. Fresh Lobster tails in season or out of season. Gotta supply the demand for taste bruh
Who do I call when I see poachers in the Rum Point marine park. They are out there in broad daylight every week or so. Is there a number to call where someone will answer and take action?
Per DOE’s website…
Report Offences to:
Grand Cayman: 949-8469 or 916-4271
Cayman Brac: 926-0136
Little Cayman: 916-7021 or 926-2342
Or Call 911
911 – for active poaching they will then alert the nearest police / marine police / DoE unit
911 and ask for DOE attendance. The police aren’t interested.
Jamaicans built this place, so they deserve to pollute the roadsides and pillage the sea. Do you know where you are foreign commenters?
Really. Like they built the West Indies Federation..or their own successful country, I guess. Pleease
We Need solutions folks. Create a conch farm where the local eateries can purchase their conch from.
Anything that is in demand will be taken at any cost.
Better idea, stop eating them.
We can hire 1000 more marine officers it will not stop without a plan.
porchers are being blamed but the fact is our population is growing. More boats means more conchs are being taken. It’s just how it works.
Good job officers.
You cant feed conch to a million tourists and expect to have any left. You need to import them like you do lobsters so eliminate the duty.
1) conch already imported in great quantities.
2) Conch farm will be more expensive than imported wild conch which is cheaper than fresh caught (legal) local conch.
Sad when you have caymanians trying to survive to put food on the table due unemployment and the high cost of living. We have the wealthy people out there in the sound practically every day reaping conchs and lobsters to the maximum daily limit with no means of consideration to the population of the specie and others. There should be some recourse for people who are unemployed and need to eat.
They need to get a job. Living off the reef doesnt work anymore.
Most of you sound so stupid when talking about poaching and destroying our natural habitat,when you have the elite land developers doing way more destruction by clearing away all the mangroves an trees that helps protect us and makes us live,plus there is no way on God’s green earth anyone can kill out the marine life, billions of fish are born everyday here in these waters and the conchs are the snails of the ocean,its only because when people get them they tend to pop them out of their shell an leave it there to scare away the other conchs that comes around,the lobsters are the roaches of the ocean there’s literary mountains of them living at the bottom of the Cayman trench,we can’t even exterminate the roaches on land what makes you think you can kill them out from the ocean,doe has everyone fooled they just want to keep everything for the rich,and all you empty balloons just listen and believe what the media tells you.but I will tell you this as a caymanian I will eat fish,conch,lobster and turtle everyday for the year anytime I want,think about me the next time you watch finding nemo
LMFAO!! Lobsters are living at the bottom of the Cayman Trench… In 19,000 feet of water!? Thanks for the laughs, Scientist!
Because of people like you, your great grand children (hopefully you don’t reproduce) will never know what a conch or lobster looks like.
If you yourself believe what you have just said, then you also have placed yourself in the same category – stupid!!
What ignorance,you all don’t even have a clue about anything in life its because everything you know is feed to you by either the internet or the media,take it all away and their be no chance of survival.marine life is only destroyed when dredging,clearing away mangroves and reef/beach rock,etc,plus don’t forget about the pollution and toxic waste that the said developments dump into the ocean,those are the things that destroy marine life,just like back where most of you come from,and sadly with all this development in Cayman now a days I’m afraid we’re on the same path,and yes the Cayman trench is full of spiny lobsters it’s been documented on national geographic but you wouldn’t know that because only intelligent people watches that type of stuff and for your information I have eight healthy children,made them with the same fish, conch, and turtle stew, da the real gumbo bobo
Thank heavens ‘only intelligent people watches that type of stuff’, wow, you are so smart. Try working on your English grammar and punctuation before you make another attempt at pretending to be intelligent.
I think those toxins you rant about have already done for you my friend.
Glad to know that I struck a chord with you,talking about my English grammar,Cayman was fine before America infected us with people like you,wish you would be so brave and give me your address so I can do a different type of poaching
You my friend need to get an education before you throw your “Facts” around. Sea Life like any life has a finite population. Over fishing has made many jurisdictions like deserts. Some sea life has been reduced to near extinction or extinction. Every country has acknowledged that without limits on fisheries that the fish will be eliminated. Canada used to have a huge cod population that years ago people thought would never be reduced. The early settlers talked about so many cod that it seemed you could walk to shore on them. That cod population was all but wiped out and without limits/ restrictions and penalties there probable wouldn’t be a cod fishery today. This has happened with many species and many oceans and seas and can happen here.
To those of you ridiculing this post as if you were more educated, not so fast to parade your own condescending ignorance. Queen Conchs lay on average between 400to700 thoudand eggs, up to 6 times a year. In the first year conch lives under the sand out of site and can reach full maturity in 3-4 years. Their main predators are turtles, parrot fishes or other canabilistic crustaceans like the horse conch and no where near come close to making conch endangered. Humans cannot and it’s impossible to makes Conchs extinct in cayman unless there is some sort of toxic waste being pour into the waters island wide. I agree poaching should be a crime and punished but NOT because conch will come of existence in cayman. That’s absolutely ignorant psychobabble. It’s because it can drain the mature population to the point that the rest of us won’t have any for a few years until the poaching stops to allow to population to regrow.
Make your mind up! You contradict yourself too many times in your comment.
How many of the 400k conch actually reach adult hood? How many of the larvae actually stay in Cayman? Since you’re such an expert on conch you must be aware that the larvae emerge from the sand drift away in the currents. Most of them are probably swept out to sea over the drop-off, washed up on beaches or eaten by fish. I’m obviously not as smart as you so please do tell me how many of the 400k actually survive?
The FACT that you have to be able to freedive 50+ feet to find a decent conch bed these days is ample proof that we are taking too many and we CAN in fact wipe them out. The North Sound is like a barren wasteland compared to how it was when I was a child.
You clearly have no idea how stupid your comment is. Conch populations in Cayman waters have been decimated by commercial level poaching by Caymanian criminals. Hundreds of conch are stolen everyday and the NS is being laid waste by these ignorant thieves and the restaurants they supply.
Toxins don’t crack conch with hammers or choppers, drug dependent losers do. And if your toxin theory is right, eating conch is definitely the culprit when the stupidity of your reasoning is examined.
That’s ridiculous! Ask any old timer around here. They would tell you that back in the day the lobsters were so plentiful that they could walk along any shoreline and strike them or pick up mountains of conch during the low tide- Can’t do that now. Of course back then the population was 20-30,000 and a lot of them depended on the sea.
Now with a population doubling that I’m surprised that we have anything left. We need marine parks, enforcement and limits otherwise there won’t be anything for our future generations.
Yet another uneducated idiot to add to the very long list here on Cayman.
It is sad to have to say it, but there are a significant number of Caymanians who don’t give a damn for our conservation laws and if you say why Caymanian?, just look at the people who are caught time and time again, poaching conch and lobsters.
As a Caymanian I am truly embarrassed by the attitude towards conservation from the vast majority of Caymanians.
Expats should not be allowed to fish/lobsters/conch etc.without a license of some sort or have to hire a local guide (like in Turks Is.) Expats build houses and gets Conch & Lobsters in their area all around year, they are killing out everything., not the poor Caymanians that trying to feed their families.
24/7 marine remote viewing drones are coming. All cayman has to do is stop raping the ocean and it will return back to normal.
drones would be a great solution for maritime surveillance. Lot cheaper per operating hour than the helicopter, lot longer range and endurance, operates 24/7…. but maybe a little too efficient for Cayman 😉
Can the DOE and whom ever please come to Cayman Brac and deal with the poachers there. The restaurants there are buying the conch 100 at a time. Who is supplying them and how are they getting away with taking so many conch.
And please buy some eyeglasses for the DOE over in Little Cayman for they cannot see a thing.
I heard the doe officer is going, so I suppose we’ll have to rely on the weather to guard our oceans from now on.
DoE LC officer is being changed.
DOE needs to address a lot of “things” here on the Brac
Things can only change if specifics are reported. If you don’t want to mail it anonymously to DoE (PO Box 10202, KY1-1002) then send it to the (Ministry of Environment, Government Admin Building, Grand Cayman, KY1-9000). But ONLY if it is actionable information. Claims like ‘DoE are blind’ won’t change anything because there’s nothing they can act on. (Other than ordering eye tests.)
And before anyone asks yes you can send email anonymously (DoE@gov.ky) but that’s possibly more annoying to do anonymously than using the post.
DOE is aware of whats going on here (statistics, gas purchases, reports, condition of equipment, etc should show more than enough). Everybody on island can see whats going on and the powers that be are allowing it! No accountability whatsoever!
It’s time to make a meaningful public example of recidivist poachers who flee the JMU and DOE fully aware of their offenses and guilt. Everybody is watching to see what happens to these two…what will the message be?
May not end it completely but would probably curtail it significantly if all stopped buying of these poachers…or buy off them and turn them in.
Poor RCIP cannot do right in some people’s eyes. We are systematically eating ourselves in a spiral of anger and distruction, just like the snake who ate his tail. So sad.
Lets open a conch farm. It could have a nice water slide and stuff.
Terrific idea, 10:00am. Then we just need to give it a government subsidy of gazillions and hire a hundred Filipinos and we gone clear.
Don’t forget we need a consultant first…
This poaching has to be stopped! These guys are criminals and need to be arrested and sent to jail.
Some proper scumbags on here saying the police/DOE are wasting resources on these crimes. I wish DOE’s budget was doubled or tripled. We need more protection for what’s left of our depleted marine resources!
One day when financial industry eventually collapses and we have raped our sea of the marine life the tourists come to see how will the 5th and 6th generation poachers feed their families? I hope you like how green iguana tastes!
Honestly, you are right. Cannot and will not disagree.
How sad is our reality folks?
It’s bad enough with over development pushing the marine habitat to the brink of extinction. Poachers and developers with no compassion or common sense to protect what marine life we have left are true scumbags.
People and restaurants who knowingly purchase poached marine life are also scumbags!
Millions in the conservation fund and they can’t even buy decent boats for these brave officers.
Disgusting.
Destroy the vessel!
Not MY conchs! Dey goin wid da f****n conchs!!!!!!
Morons of police officers we all have here in Cayman.
How much gas did you guys use for chasing them in you’re boat ?
A : not enough.
B: good amount.
And how much fuel you purchased for the helicopter ?
….
And how much was the staff of Doe, Rcip paid ?
Wasting government money on 2 local guys trying to survive!! …tipical caymanains trying bring each other down.
Terrance, I don’t think think you should be calling anyone a moron when you are the one supporting the breaking of the law in the name of “survival”. Time to reset your moral compass, I think.
Bankers and Lawyers do it every day and they are hero here!
Typical. The word you are looking for is typical!
Better idea. Stop trying to eradicate conch. Just got back from Barkers. It’s a dump folks. A national park dump. F tradition. Time to grow up to at least the late 20th century.
Shut up please about wasting gas. Tell the f’ing poachers to STOP.
Thumbs down on this stupid remark!!!
If they’re trying to make a living, they need a job. No need to be lazy and look for the easy way out. Can hardly even find conchs in season now and you’re trying to justify the poaching. Some people just don’t use their common sense.
People like you are the reason why this country has spiraled downhill for the last decade. Wanting to be first world developed country with a banana republic mentality. Go back under the rock you crawled out from!
Terrance, yet they can afford a boat and fuel…more than a lot of people can here..
aye I back that up
Typical uneducated comment from a criminal apologist.
How much does it cost to attend some stupid idiot who can’t drive in a straight line, in daylight and fine conditions, and hits a power pole. How much does it cost to rid our streets of the mindless wannabes who carry weapons to gain respect because they don’t have the intelligence or moral fibre to gain respect through common decency. How much does it cost to write a parking ticket because some moron can’t understand simple traffic laws.
And how much does it cost to attend the numerous domestic and neighbour disputes that are reported to police on an all too frequent occasion?
Poachers are scum and deserve to be locked away for a very long time. They are ruining our environment, our heritage and our reputation as a forward thinking and law abiding country.
Protecting our people, our laws and a our environment is paramount. So if you don’t want the police and DOE to spend money chasing criminals, then blame the criminals for their actions, not the brave souls trying to maintain law and order.
Another pair of mindless poachers determined to ensure that resources like conch, lobster, and grouper are eventually destroyed. They are too stupid to realize that one day there will be nothing to poach.
Sadly, spme restaurants turn a “blind eye” when offered these items out of season, or, in season, in quantities which clearly exceed the legal limit.
How about a more honest approach – we think these guys have broken the law, and we want to arrest them, do you know where they are. Does RCIPS seriously think anyone who knows these guys or their whereabouts is going to cough based on a concern for their safety? Particularly when there is no obvious reason to be concerned about their safety – they beached their boat and legged it. Just makes the police look stupid.
Who gets the boat?
Hopefully it crushed by a steamroller.
Thank you police and DoE officers. We always hear of our marine laws not being enforced. Thank Godness that’s not true. Shame on anyone who breaks our marine laws. Save some marine life for our grand children.
Yeah DART, save some marine resources for our grandchildren!!
Ouch, that stung like a jelly-fish bo-bo!
What has DART got to do with this one?
DART digs up the marine life and paves it with concrete.
Maybe this is an argument for clearing the rest of the mangroves in Cayman. Woops, I shouldn’t be giving them developers any more ideas.
they need to chase a lot more
Because everyday they take fish, conchs and lobsters out of our Marine Parks.
Take the boat away from them, or another one will end up getting killed on it.
I bet you cant put your name up and show yah self fool
Just like you.
Are you trying to intimidate those who would name you and report you for poaching you son of a bitch. Are you one of the criminal syndicate of West Bay and other areas who, hand in hand with the restaurants and dealers are screwing it all up for everyone else? What is your name? You show me yours and I’ll show you mine.
Well I’ll be a son of a bitch; you can swear on CNS.
To 8:57. Clean your own yard before u start accusing. U don’t have the right to judge and blame anyone if the family don’t. Deal with your own family affairs. You weren’t asked for your ignorant opinion.
Great use of the police resources. You couldn’t make this up!
Wow, no embarrassment over such a comment? Is that not why we have Police Resources, to enforce our laws? This is becoming an increasing cry with every type of lawlessness? Really worrying if these are voters.
Really, if you knew what and how much these assholes destroy and what their illgotten gains go towards you wouldn’t be such a know nothing Pratt. People like these are destroying our natural resources, the same resources that bring us tourism and feed our people. We don’t need thieves, we need a healthy and sustainable marine environment that will support our economy and ensure that our grand children will enjoy the fruits of our oceans.
Or do you think that writing up a parking violation is more important than preserving our heritage and natural environment?
Idiot.
Amen brother! I think we need to buy DOE their own helicopter to be honest! Without a healthy marine environment we literally have NOTHING!
Thumbs up on this comment, too.
Yes, it is. Catching criminals is EXACTLY what police resources are for.
How can you say that? You think destroying the environment of this country isn’t important? There are few things more important to Cayman than protecting its largest resource….
I’m sure they are soooo concerned for their safety!!! *sarcastic voice*
If you were so concerned about their safety , why did you chase them?
Ummmm. Fairly obvious. They were suspected of committing a crime. How do you think the police are supposed to do their jobs? Criminals generally don’t come walking up to the police volunteering their guilt with evidence of their wrongdoings. Some people just need to comment for comment’s sake.
Exactly Should of tasered them.
Burn him again!
Where are those “Taser cops” when you need them?
We could have sent them on a little boat cruise since they getting paid while suspended.