By Jimenita Swain ~ Guardian Senior Reporter
Agriculture and Marine Resources Minister Larry Cartwright has confirmed that it is unlikely two Grand Bahamian businessmen will get a meeting with Cabinet for a final pitch of their aquaculture project, which involves purse seine or net fishing.
The minister, who spoke to The Nassau Guardian in a recent interview, sought to clarify some issues raised by brothers Paul and David Mellor, who are claiming the government flip-flopped on the purse seining issue.
David and Paul Mellor are seeking approval for their net fishing operation and according to them, they were told last April that the practice is legal.
"The matter of controversy right now is not the aquaculture project. The matter is purse seine fishing for tuna," said Cartwright.
He admitted that there "was no legal impediment at that time, but pointed out that government has a right to change the laws whenever they see fit. And government has now decided to change the laws."
He added: "The plans that they submitted to us at that time was to start an aquaculture project in The Bahamas to rear tuna, blue fin and yellow fin tuna in a cage. They were advised to apply to Lands and Surveys for a lease of the seabed. If they had foreign input they were advised to make application to the investment board," said Cartwright.
The minister said he was told by the Mellors in a recent meeting that they had met with officials from those agencies.
"But the matter of buying a purse seining ship was never discussed in my office. I got an e-mail from (one of the Mellor brothers) sometime later in the year in 2009, indicating that he was in Italy to purchase a vessel. I learned later that it was a purse seining vessel with a net - a huge net," he said.
Minister Cartwright said even though less than a year ago the practice of net fishing was not illegal, an amendment will be made to the fisheries laws to outlaw the practice.
Government's position on the issue followed strong objections from environmental advocates and others who said the practice would cause untold destruction to marine life.
The ministry said in a recent statement that the method of fishing could result in the possible depletion or significant reduction of the fishing stocks in Bahamian waters.
"Having regard to the importance of sport fishing to the tourism industry, the government takes the position that purse seine or net fishing will not be permitted in The Bahamas," the ministry said.
"We were then and we are now supportive of a aquaculture projects in The Bahamas and that's what we are supportive of. We were never supportive of purse seining because that matter never arose. Our support was of aquaculture projects in The Bahamas and the proposal that we received was based on aquaculture. The building of cages, the leasing of the seabed and aquaculture," he stressed.
Paul Mellor told The Guardian that, "It looks like the minister has stuck to his guns. We're still conferring with him and trying to get some more explanations in regards to why he won't consider some sort of middle-of-the-road decision."
Mellor is hoping for answers on if a new law will be created that stops them from fishing, how long will it take to be implemented and what research has been done to base a decision on making purse seining or net fishing illegal.
He said he and his brother David Mellor have been granted fishing licenses, but have not begun any type of fishing.
"We are kind of waiting to see what happens next," he said.
They said they have invested about $2 million in the project.
