New Fisheries Act being drafted, says Nicholson
May 27, 2007
THE Chief Parliamentary Counsel is drafting a new Fisheries Act that will address fisheries governance, as well as increased fines for illegal fishing, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, A J Nicholson, told the upper house on Friday.
Nicholson said government was committed to having the Act passed during the current financial year, to coincide with Cabinet's decision to turn the fisheries division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land into an executive agency.
He said that the new Act would deal with trade in fish products, modern enforcement mechanisms, allow for community participation in fisheries management as well as significant increases in the current level of fines for illegal fishing.
But Nicholson's pronouncements were not enough to convince Opposition members that enough was being done to help fisherfolk, and to restore the industry to previous levels.
Opposition member Senator Christopher Tufton pointed out that the industry had been waiting for ten years for the Act. Tufton said he understood that while it had been drafted from 2004, its introduction to Parliament had been delayed since.
"There is a sense that with all the announcements coming from that side, I am not convinced, even at this stage, that the government is approaching the industry in a holistic way," Tufton said.
"The fact is that this policy and this legislation that the government speaks of, as it relates to articulating a clear vision for the fishing industry, has been in the making for well over a decade so what are we to say now, that because it is being announced again today, does that mean we can now expect that it will be implemented over the next year, two years, three years, five or six years?"
He said that there is, clearly tardiness, reluctance and a lack of focus, as it relates to regularising and modernising the industry.
The debate was on a motion moved by Tufton, calling on the Senate to seek the appointment of a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament to examine the problems facing the local fishing industry, and to make recommendations for its sustainable recovery and development.
Nicholson said that the government rejected Tufton's arguments about the decline in the industry. He noted that efforts were being made, with the aid of foreign and local agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), to sustain the viability of the sector....
Author: Balford Henry
Source: Jamaica Observer
