Four bones of contention in Trini/Bajan flying fish talks

The four bones of contention in the “flying fish debate” between Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados have to do with the fishing areas in which Barbados fishermen should be allowed to fish, the number, size of the fishing boats used, and the duration of season.

This was revealed yesterday by Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift at a post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall. The entire contention centres around Barbados’ insistence that its fishermen are entitled to fish in Tobago waters, and this country’s attempt to regulate such activity. Gift said Trinidad and Tobago had moved during the negotiations from a ceiling of 30 fishing boats (from Barbados)  to 60 fishing boats being able to fish in our waters. “But who knows, they (Barbados) might (want an) increase (in) that number,” he stated, adding that it was unclear if Barbados wanted 65 or 120 boats. On reports that Barbados might be going to an international maritime court, Gift suggested that one state could not take another to court over the pace of negotiations. He said Trinidad and Tobago had responded on every occasion, even at very short notice, to the request to sit and negotiate. He said therefore the basis of such an action could not be supported. He added that under the International Law of the Sea, Trinidad and Tobago as a sovereign state had the right to harvest and protect its fishing zone, and other national resources.

On statements from Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur, that the outcome of these negotiations would prejudice any discussions on political union, Gift stressed that Trinidad and Tobago believed that the two issues (fishing and political union)  were quite separate. Asked how he felt about the attempt to link the two matters by Arthur, Prime Minister Patrick Manning stated  that each country had to pursue a strategy which it believed to be in its national interests, and that was what Arthur was doing. But he added that the Government of Trinidad and Tobago had a responsibility to do the same thing for this country. Asked whether the discussions on political union would be held hostage to the negotiations on the fishing agreement, Manning suggested not. Gift stated that there seemed to be a divergence of views between the Barbados fisherfolk and the administration. He said one would have thought that given the noises being made by Barbados in the international media and the interest  of Trinidad and Tobago to conclude an agreement, there would have been some urgency to conclude an agreement. Instead, he noted, the Barbados side had proposed that the next session take place in the second half of February, “not even January. I believe  that speaks for itself,” he stated.