Fri | Mar 29, 2024

Conch fishers warned to toe the line as season begins

Published:Friday | March 3, 2023 | 12:05 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer

THE NATIONAL Fisheries Authority (NFA) is urging everyone granted licences to operate as industrial or artisanal fishers as the conch season begins to work within the mandate of their licences.

NFA CEO Dr Gavin Bellamy said that ignorance of the law will not be accepted as an excuse, especially since all licensees had to sign a form acknowledging that they fully understood the terms and conditions of the licences granted.

The conch fishing season got under way on Wednesday.

Bellamy noted what seemed like an increase in the number of people caught breaching the Fisheries Act of 2018, with a number of cases involving businesses which offer seafood on their menu now before the courts .

The conch quota for this year is again 350 metric tonnes, with 300 metric tonnes shared between 11 licensees and 50 tonnes shared between artisanal (local trade) fishers.

The NFA indicated that it will be at the forefront of the fight against local and international poachers, especially in light of an incident involving a Honduran fishing vessel that was intercepted by the coast guard after the crew was caught fishing illegally off the Pedro Banks last December.

Some 132 workers were found onboard the vessel.

Bellamy expressed frustration that the matter was not treated with the requisite seriousness, which would have sent a message to all poachers that Jamaica would not treat such breaches lightly.

“I was really disappointed that neither their fines nor the punishment was in keeping with the crimes committed. Right now, the fines in the parish court can be as much as $3 million, and in the Supreme Court, it is left to the judges to determine based on the case, but it was very disappointing that these people got to go back with everything. They were able to take back their vessel [and] all their fishing equipment after being found in our waters with equipment to fish and after damaging the vessel of the Jamaica Defence Force Coast Guard,” he told The Gleaner.

“It has hurt us really bad, but the laws have changed since, and under the Fisheries Act of 2018, we have forfeiture of the vessels now an option and the actions of the captain are assumed to be actions of the owner. All of these things are in the law now,” he added.

This is especially important in light of a 2016 incident which saw two industrial fishing vessels being forfeited to the Crown after the crew pleaded guilty to poaching in territorial waters in May of that year. The forfeiture ruling was hailed as a landmark decision drawing a red line against international poachers who have pillaged the island’s waters, giving optimism to local fishers that heavy penalties would deter trespassers.

However, attorney-at-law Jacqueline Cummings successfully argued that the forfeiture of the vessel would punish its owner who was unaware of the illegal activities of the captain and its crew. She told the court, owners could not be held liable for the breaches committed by operators they had hired.

“There are people in the Dominican Republic who own the boats and employ persons to work the boats for them. The crews worked the boats, entered Jamaica’s exclusive economic zone, and exploited it, unbeknownst to the owners. The owners can’t lose their property by virtue of that fact.

“No government has the right to take a person’s property without due process – unless you prove that the person did something wrong or there is other reason for such action to be taken,” Cummings told The Gleaner then.

christopher.serju@gleanerjm.com