Freeport News Reporter
Minister of Agriculture and Marine Resources Larry Cartwright is expected to meet with brothers Paul and David Mellor on their controversial plan to implement a Pelagic Aquaculture Tuna Fishing Program.
The Freeport News learned that discussions on the matter continued at the Cabinet Level yesterday and the government might be prepared to give further details on the issue after (officials) meet with the brothers today.
The meeting is scheduled for 11 a.m but sources say that it could be moved back until later this afternoon.
Paul Mellor told The Freeport News yesterday that they plan to again discuss their aquaculture program with the minister and inquire on reasons why they were even given the green light in the first place.
"We plan to ask them why they granted us permission to go ahead and bring in our vessel and make investments here on the island and as soon as they got a bit of public pressure they went ahead and published a statement that they were going to stop this kind of fishing without even giving us a call," he said.
"More importantly we hope that we can sit down with them and come to some sort of middle ground the government, the fishermen and the conservationists will all be able to live with."
After an uproar of public objection on possibly allowing the Mellors to purse-seine yellowfin tuna, the government released a statement indicating that no permit would be given for purse- seine or net fishing within the waters of The Bahamas.It was also announced that the government intends to make amendments to the Fisheries Conservation (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act and Regulations to that effect.
The Mellors have maintained that the government gave them permission to execute their plan. They produced a letter addressed to them from the director of marine resources Michael Braynen, dated April 17, 2009, which states that purse-seine nets are allowed in The Bahamas, as long as the mesh size is a minimum of two inches.
"I am not aware of any legal impediment to the use of such a fishing method by a Bahamian commercial fishing vessel to harvest tunas within the waters of The Bahamas or to the subsequent sale of such products within The Bahamas," the letter reads.
However, the letter also notes that aquaculture of any freshwater or marine organism is controlled by the Fisheries Resources Regulations and a permit is required.
"Consideration of applications for such permits requires the submission of detailed information with regard to the site where the operation is to be carried out, the physical facilities that will be constructed, the species, your source of supply, their diet, veterinary health requirement, the harvesting, processing and distribution and proposed markets of the end products and an evaluation of the potential environmental im-pacts for the proposed operations and any plans for the mitigation of any expected negative impacts."
In the letter, Braynen also notes that the circumstances do not allow a decision to be made on the matter at that time.
A copy of an e-mail from Braynen to the Mellors was also produced by them, in which Braynen writes, " As has been previously discussed with you, you do have the opportunity to target yellowfin tuna."
The Mellors said that the government was indeed informed every step of the way and encouraged them to move forward with creating a valuable new industry in The Bahamas.
