After heavy criticism from two opposition members at Tuesday’s parliamentary debate on the fisheries bill, the Team Unity government agreed that the minimum fines to local fishers were excessive and accepted the proposed amendment.
The member for Constituency #8, Hon. Eugene Hamilton, gave way to demands by opposition members to revise the minimum fines outlined in the ‘Fisheries, Aquaculture and Marine Resources Bill 2016’. Hon. Nigel Carty and Hon. Konris Maynard argued that minimum fines for fishermen such as the EC$337,500.00 fine for non-compliance with license and registration requirements and the EC$168,750.00 fine for failure to produce accounting records, and other data and information, was exorbitant and could lead to deterrence from the industry.
In the Minister’s wrapup during the afternoon session of the 26 January 2016 sitting of Parliament, he informed the Honorable House that the Government side would remove the column entitled “Minimum Fine” in the Second Schedule outlining fines for persons in breach of the legislation.
The amendment was made and the bill was passed into law.