The Editor,
The Anguillian
Dear Sir:
Please allow me some space in your Anguillian to voice my opinion on granting licences to our neighbouring islands for deep-sea fishing in our waters north of Anguilla.
After reading your column of Friday, May 24th, on illegal fishing in Anguilla’s waters, I became concerned. I would like our present and future governments to realise that if Anguilla were to opt for independence, which seems to be the talk of the day, and which I can’t do less than say we are not ready for, we would definitely need to do deep-sea fishing ourselves. We would need to establish a fish-processing factory and outlets to support us as this would be our most natural resource.
I agree we do not have the means for this right now. But if we grant licences to our neighbours, there should definitely be restrictions. It should be a means for income for uslike everything else.
I suggest a few things: (1) The licences should be temporary and paid for. (2) the neighbouring fishermen must not be allowed to fish on our cays nor within a certain distance from the cays. This should be decided by Anguilla’s fishermen as they are the ones who make their daily living in those areas. (3) Anguilla must get its fair share of all fish caught.
This would mean that every visiting boat crew must inform our government before leaving their territory to fish in our waters. They must enter our seaport after each trip to allow us to inspect the fish caught to determine our share before exiting our waters.
I think something like the above should be the way we should go.
A born-Anguillian
Arnie Harrigan
