Any person wishing to engage in commercial fishing – defined in law as “the taking, breeding, producing, killing or capturing of any fish by any means whatever, or the attempt or preparation to do so, for the purpose of the sale or other disposition of such fish for money or money’s worth” – is required to get a license to do so.
That permission to fish comes with relatively few limitations; however, there is a move afoot to limit the access of fishermen on Belize’s seas. Authorities will begin to implement restrictions at two marine protected areas ahead of planned revisions to Belize’s fisheries legislation.
Mauro Gongora, Coordinator of the Capture Fisheries Unit at the Fisheries Department, said they want to ensure that the issues important to the Fisheries Department and the fishermen are included in the new laws.
On Friday, November 26, Amandala had a chance to speak with Gongora and two consultants hired to undertake the revision of Belize’s fisheries laws: Bill Edeson of Australia, formerly of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), and Elisa Montalvo, national legal consultant.
The team has been working since June, they said. They identified a range of key issues they are trying to address in the process.
Edeson said that the act, which had not been revised since 1989, needs to be brought up-to-date. Whereas fishermen now have an automatic right to fish on the sea, said Edeson, there will be controlled access and they are trying to reflect that in the new legislation, “in keeping with many other places in the world.”
Gongora commented that there needs to be a change in the policy and the current management of the fisheries.
One of the changes is a system of catch shares (a system of quotas) that should be initially implemented early 2011, which would limit access to fishing in, for example, Port Honduras Marine Reserve.
Montalvo pointed to two other major issues that came up during the recent consultations to revise the law: inadequate penalties and enforcement.
Belize is lagging behind other countries in the Caribbean region when it comes to penalties, Edeson said. Even if you catch someone breaking the fisheries laws, he added, the penalties are too low to be a deterrent.
Montalvo also indicated that the Fisheries Advisory Board has no legal standing. They are now trying to provide for that in the new legislation, in order to give it more teeth, she explained.
Gongora noted that the fact that fisheries enforcement personnel can detain, search and arrest has helped tremendously with enforcement. In neighboring Guatemala and Honduras, fisheries enforcement staff do not have that power, he pointed out.
Edeson told Amandala that there also needs to be more focus on high seas fishing. The current fisheries act is thought to be inadequate and does not fully incorporate international fisheries obligations.
Edeson noted that the drafting of the new laws has only now commenced. Janet Gibson, country director of the Wildlife Conservation Society, said they hope to have the first draft out by February 2011. This would set the stage for another round of consultations on the first draft. Feedback from that would be incorporated before the finalized draft is taken to Cabinet for review and then to the Parliament for passage into law.
Edeson said that the act should reflect modern regimes such as the precautionary and ecosystems approach to fisheries management. He emphasized “long-term sustainable use” of the fisheries.