Local officials mum on complaints that Bajan fishermen overfishing in Tobago

Local authorities are keeping mum amid claims that Barbadian fishermen are not only plying their trade illegally in Tobago’s waters but overfishing in their search for flying fish as well.

In an article published recently in the Trinidad Guardian newspaper, the All Tobago Fisherfolk Association (AFTA) said it intended to write to Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley about the issue. AFTA president Curtis Douglas had claimed that overfishing by Barbadians was causing fish processors in Tobago to go out of business.

However, when Barbados TODAY contacted local officials, no response was forthcoming.

Minister of Environment, National Beautification and the Blue and Green Economy Adrian Forde said no official report had been made to his ministry about the matter and he could not comment on something for which he had no details.

Chief Fisheries Officer Dr Shelly-Ann Cox also said she could not offer a comment at this time.

President of the Barbados National Union of Fisherfolk Organisation Vernel Nicholls said she had seen the newspaper article and sent it off to Dr Cox, and given that the “information is with them, I cannot comment about it until I hear back from them about what is really going on”.

However, some members of the fishing community said the article raised some proverbial eyebrows.

Longline fisherman Everton Brathwaite, who has been plying his trade for more than 50 years and is based at the Bridgetown Fisheries Complex, said on Tuesday that while he did not have much information to go on, he decided to disseminate a cease and desist message.

“I heard what you heard and I would advise the fishermen, if they are down there, to leave from down there. I went on the [single sideband] radio early this morning and put it out that there was a problem between Barbadian fishermen and Tobagonian fishermen . . . and they should pull back so we could see what is happening before they get themselves in trouble . . . ,” he told Barbados TODAY.

Brathwaite said that based on his own encounters with Trinidadian authorities ten to 12 years ago, he did not want local fishermen to get on the wrong side of the law there.

“I’m not sure if there is a feud between the fishermen or if it is the processors but everybody has a right to protect their territorial waters from anybody poaching,” he said.

Well-known expert diver from the Silver Sands, Christ Church community, Stephen Bourne also said he was not familiar with the latest development, though adding that fishing issues between Barbados and Trinidad were nothing new.

The retired ice boat fisherman, who now rents out his boats, said there was a fishing agreement between the Caribbean neighbours in 1990 but for “some reason, it went under the carpet”.

However, he suggested that the matter may not be as simple as it appeared.

“The governments have to intervene so we can get clarity on the matter and how they are going to deal with it. Issues between Barbados and Trinidad where fishing is concerned arise from time to time and there are some kinds of truth to Bajans fishing in their water, but the overfishing part [is concerning]. We are not catching no great lot of flying fish like we used to and they are ocean-going fish so you can’t overfish them,” he said.

“Flying fish breed in the ocean and they live all over the world so you can only catch them when you see them. They are seasonal from about mid-November to the end of June.”

Bourne suggested that the “feud” over fishing in Tobago was between fishermen who have not been in the industry for long as “long-time fishermen at sea [get along] with one another”.

He and Brathwaite said that while flying fish was a delicacy in Barbados, it was not a fish of preference for neighbouring islanders.

In the Trinidad Guardian article, the AFTA president said that during the COVID-19 pandemic, the flying fish population had increased, but for the last year, fleets of Barbadian vessels were operating in Tobago waters illegally.

He added that when there is overfishing of flying fish, it creates a shortage of many other commercial species which depend on them for food, resulting in higher prices for those fish.

sheriabrathwaite@barbadostoday.bb