Barbados & SVG agree on maritime boundaries

Prime Ministers of Barbados Freundel Stuart and PM of St Vincent and the Grenadine sDr Ralph Gonsalves have signed an agreement that establishes the limits of their maritime boundaries, in order to combat the detrimental practice of illegal fishing in neighbouring countries’ waters. It also aims to adress trade in contraband goods smuggled by fishermen.Prime Minister Stuart said, “We need to find a solution to this problem [of illegal fishing]. Of course, Prime Minister Gonsalves made the point that our fishermen have had no problems with St Vincent and the Grenadines and his businessmen [trading in] illegal agricultural products have not had major problems with Barbados until they get here.”  PM Gonsalves explained that first-time offenders might have part of their catch confiscated; repeated breaches risk losing the entire catch and third party vessels would be subject to different rules.  The PM also gave the assurance that security officials would not confiscate any Caribbean fisherman’s boat since this would hurt the person’s livelihood.

Read more: http://www.barbadostoday.bb/2015/09/01/barbados-and-svg-agree-on-mariti…