Publication: Sun on Saturday
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Paper Date: Sat, Jan 26, 2002
Byline: Melissa Wickham
BARBADIAN FISHERMEN have hauled in fewer catches over the past two months because they fear venturing near Trinidad waters.
President of the Barbados Fisherfolk Association Angela Watson said records showed a worrying decline in an industry that usually netted some 3 000 metric tonnes annually.
“The catch is definitely down. We’ve been recording smaller catches basically because fishermen are now afraid,” said Watson, speaking yesterday at the Democratic Labour Party’s lunchtime session at its headquarters. The last fine was TT$30 000 (BDS$ 10 000) and most people do not want to incur that kind of debt. As a result the boats have been staying around Barbados,” she said.
This posed a problem, she added, since the flying fish were not in the vicinity of Barbados during this time of year. Instead, Watson said the local delicacy migrated further south, near Trinidad, and probably would not show up in local waters until mid-February. She said the longer Barbados and the twin-island state took to reach an agreement the worse the problem would get.
Some fishermen have even proposed paying for a licence to fish in the now forbidden waters, Watson said, but that decision would have to form part of any negotiations between the two countries. According to her, the time had come to put an end to the constant humiliation local fishermen had to undergo at the hands of Trinidadian authorities in an attempt to feed their families.
“Barbadian fishermen had to undergo inhumane treatment in Trinidad prisons, pay huge fines to the Trinidad government, and when we expected our leaders to act on our behalf no help was forthcoming.
She said the industry, which provided 6 600 jobs, was constantly being neglected – an industry which she said contributed to tourism and was a foreign exchange earner since “fishermen on their own initiatives had been able to access the United States market selling tuna and the occasional swordfish”.
The head of the fisherfolk association also suggested that the National Insurance Scheme should try to come up with a suitable way for fishermen to make their contributions so they could provide for themselves when they reached the age of retirement; the provision of a high-speed search and rescue boat to help fishermen in distress; the establishment of a fish processing plant, and fisherfolk becoming part of the management structure at all markets.
Watson said the eyes and ears of all fisherfolk would be tuned in to Prime Minister Owen Arthur to see how swiftly he would deal with the Trinidad situation. And, after that, the association would consider its next move.