After ready, yet again another instance of the ease of garnering a Belizean passport by criminals - a Guatemalan just killed his wife and used a Belizean passport to escape to Mexico - I feel implored to post this again, since it has to do with the ease of people coming to this country, doing what they want, and disenfranchising BORN Belizeans from our livelyhood, since they are destroying our marine stock - fish, lobster etc - and now marring our reputation on an international level. Updating the Fisheries Regulations Public Consultation for Placencia September 5, 2013 Placencia Community Center 5 p.m. At least 30 to 40 people showed up at the Placencia Community Center last night, September 5, 2013. The consultation was to discuss the updating of the Fisheries Regulations and ultimately the Fisheries Act. Here are a few notable items that were discussed: Updating the fisheries regulations September 5, 2013 about two years ago fisheries was trying to update fisheries act. Which tells GOB what it can and cant do. * draft fisheries act in 2011 * estimated to finish in a month to two * regulations need to be updated to be consistent with the act * regulations are about what fisherman can and cant do * next, will finalize draft regulations then discuss with stakeholders until finalized POTENTIAL CHANGE AS PROPOSED BY FISHERIES: * special license for lobster traps - laws: escape gap for juvenile, controls on design/construction ** limited entry fisheries for some fish * provision for transfer of license to next of kin * provision for FA to change number of licenses issued per year * upon implementation of new regulations, new applicants for fisherman licenses will not qualify to fish for limited entry fisheries PROPOSED FROM ASSEMBLY: * strong demand to define what is a traditional fisherman. *** Proposed definitions: A born Belizean who has been fishing all their lives, which has been passed down from forefathers * A Special committee of local traditional fishermen will proactively identify who all are current traditional fishermen. Anyone who does not make this list will have to go thru a vetting process by this committee, which will ultimately decide if they should get traditional fisherman status and thus a fishing license. Licensing and Control Regulations: clarification of existing regulations consistency with new Act new issues - license appeal, compounding agreements (out of court settlements) licensing provisions to be extended to other types of fishing (sports, recreational etc) but standardized as far as possible/appropriate stakeholder suggestions - improvements to licensing to application procedures, length of general fishing license ** Limited entry Fishing *** Traditional fisherman FOOTNOTE: It was made very clear by the local Placencia traditional fishermen that the Fisheries Act and Regulations are simply making things harder for born Belizean traditional fishermen, by creating more and more rules and regulations to squeeze them, and is NOT addressing the core issue, and that is the fact that Fisheries is selling Fishing License to, what the fishermen called an invasion of illegal fishermen from Guatemala, Honduras and other areas, who have been made legal by the Government of Belize and these fishermen are NOT traditional fishermen, for they were NOT born here, thus have not developed the respect for the fisheries stock and the sustainability of it - such as the conch, lobster etc...and because of this, have been wreaking havoc, for these fishermen would illegally set nets at night, killing protected species such as permit, tarpon, bonefish etc and evident of their wanton behavior have lead to a drastic depletion of fisheries stock such as the sea cucumber. It has also been noted again, that gill netting is still a major detriment to many species such as permit, tarpon, bonefish, dolphins, turtles etc...for these same NON traditional fishermen are using them illegally at night, as noted above, and they simply do not take care of what species they snag in gill nets. What they do not want, are thrown aside to die. amandala.bz/news/unmanned-aerial-drones-police-belizean-waters/
Posted on: Wed, 13 Nov 2013 19:23:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015