(Barbados Nation) – There is an unofficial fishing agreement between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago.
This declaration was made by Caricom Ambassador Denis Kellman as he pointed out that no Barbadian fisherman had been arrested in Trinidad & Tobago’s waters since a new government came to office on January 15 last year.
Kellman told the Daily Nation during a tour of the Trinidadian-Barbadian-owned Arawak Cement Co Ltd that Barbadian fishermen were no longer having problems fishing off the twin-island state.
“Everybody talks about a fishing agreement. There’s a written agreement and there’s a non-written agreement, and as it stands right now the fishermen of Barbados are fishing and they are not having any problems, and I would say ever since we have had an unofficial agreement,” he stated.
Asked whether this “agreement” had come about since the Democratic Labour Party took office, Kellman added: “I wouldn’t necessarily say since we came to office, but what I would say is that since we came into office no fishing boat has been arrested and the fishermen have been fishing in Tobago.”
The ambassador said the key to the the 30-year fishing dispute – which had seen numerous Bajan fishermen being arrested at gunpoint and their boats confiscated – was the forming of relationships.
“Everybody wants to have something in writing but what you want are good relationships, and once you have that you’re able to achieve what you want. I can do without the black and white,” he told the Daily Nation.
