CARICOM Secretary General Mr Edwin Carrington yesterday expressed concern at the recent spate of incidents involving the imposition of heavy fines by CARICOM States on fishermen from other CARICOM States caught fishing in their waters.
Without challenging the legal basis of these actions, the Secretary General is concerned that the problem is one which is not likely to strengthen friendly relations among CARICOM States and certainly not among their peoples.
“If today Country A charges Country B’s fishermen for fishing in its waters and tomorrow Country B charges Country C’s fishermen for fishing in its waters and the next day Country C charges Country A’s fishermen for fishing in its waters, the net result is clear for all to see and equally clearly bad relations will result,” he said.
He observed that first of all the territories were so physically close together that incidents of this nature intentional or otherwise, were likely to be frequent.
“Secondly we are all Caribbean people,” he said, “and it is not as if these fishermen are like the large foreign trawlers. Those are the ones which do great damage to our fish stock. Moreover CARICOM citizens consume most of the catch of the CARICOM fishermen. Thirdly, one must also take into account that many of the fish stock migrate from one territory to another at will.
“Maybe the time has come to look at a new dispensation regarding the use of the Caribbean Sea in relation to the harvesting of fish stock by Caribbean people for Regional use,” he suggested.
The Secretary-General said he was aware that consideration “is being given to the design and establishment of a Regional Fisheries Mechanism, which among other things will promote the sustainable utilisation of fisheries resources in the Region.
He recommended that the issue of co-operation among Member States to facilitate fishing in each other’s waters be one that this Mechanism addresses expeditiously.
