Bajan responds to Hague ruling

BARBADOS boat owner Henderson Jordan believes the exercise in which Barbados engaged Trinidad and Tobago at the Arbitral Tribunal of The Hague-based Permanent Court of Arbitration, was about mineral resources, not the local fisherfolk.

He told the Barbados Daily Nation that his country’s fisher folk had gained nothing from the process and were basically back at the same point as before, seeking to negotiate a deal with Trinidad and Tobago.

The court, which handed down its decision last Tuesday, established a single maritime boundary almost smack in the middle of waters separating both countries, and urged them to sit down and work out a fishing agreement.

Jordan, who owns both long-line and ice boats and has been in the business for almost 20 years, said what was needed was a decision on a marginal line, not a fishing agreement.

“We do not need a fishing agreement. The Law of the Seas Convention says that all countries which find themselves within the 200 Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) should among themselves make agreement on a marginal line. None of the countries in Caricom has ever done this,” he said.

Jordan said while a fishing agreement could have limitations in terms of the duration of its existence and the number of boats allowed in specific waters, a marginal line would give fishermen a clear indication as to how far they could go to catch fish.

“Trinidad will not allow all of Barbados’ boats to fish in its waters with a fishing agreement. But if we get a marginal line all of the boats will go to that point.

“This could be done throughout the Caribbean and then you can concentrate on a fishing agreement,” he said. Jordan suggested after that was decided, Trinidad and Tobago, St Vincent, St Lucia, Grenada and Barbados could seek to form a Caricom Fishing Association to develop the fishing industry throughout the region.

The boat owner argued that the twin-island republic’s seizure of Barbadian vessels, crew and catch, as well as its “claim” on the 200 EEZ between the two countries, was legally questionable.

“As long as we do not go into the 12 territorial miles off Trinidad and Tobago, which is theirs, I do not see why they should be holding our boats beyond that distance. From Barbados to Trinidad is within the same 200 EEZ. Why can’t we claim all the area as they want to do?” he questioned.

Jordan argued that the question of compensation should be raised over the arrest of local fisherfolk and the seizure of their catch, since Trinidad and Tobago took action mostly outside their 12-mile territorial waters.

He said he had written letters on the subject to every Minister of Agriculture since 1994 [with the exception of Senator Erskine Griffith], as well as to Caricom Secretary-General Edwin Car-rington. “But I am a boat owner, I am not a lawyer. They do not listen to us in the industry,” he said. He added regional leaders were talking about the Caricom Single Market and Economy (CSME) as though the concept was confined to land.

“What is CSME doing for us at sea? We are still living without any knowledge of where we should and should not go. Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago are saying they have both won but the fisherfolk in Barbados have won nothing,” he said.