On Thursday 15 June, a delegation from the Anguilla Fisheries & Marine Resources Department, headed by Ms Kafi Gumbs, Director Department of Fisheries & Marine Resources, met with French counterparts in Marigot on 15 June to discuss mutual fisheries issues. The meeting, facilitated by the Governor’s office following the meeting between the Préfète and Governor on 16 May 2017, sought to take forward discussions on fisheries issues between the two states at a technical level. The meeting hosted by Mr Emmanuel Effantin – Chef de cabinet du Préfète, St Martin and Mr Michael Wery – Head of Maritime Affairs, St Martin/St Barthélemy and Mr Stuart Wynne, Deputy Director Department of Fisheries & Marine Resources, Ms Kathleen Rogers, Principal Environmental Health Officer, Department of Health Protection and Mr Darren Forbes-Batey, Chief of Staff, Governor’s Office represented Anguilla.
The bilateral talks were fruitful, agreeing a process permitting Anguillian fishermen (and their catch) to safely transit French waters to Dutch St Maarten, and took forward discussion on a process to allow Anguillian fisherman to re-start landing their catches directly in French St Martin. The process to be implemented for safe transit of French territorial waters includes the provision that daily “transit times” will be agreed and adhered to by both parties. Anguillian fishermen must carry the appropriate certification for their vessel, hygiene certificate (applicable for Dutch St Maarten as well) for their catch, Anguillian fishing licence and Export Permit (it was agreed that Export Permits could be issued on an annual basis to qualifying fisherman) and finally that al l fishing equipment (pots/nets/spear guns) must to be stowed away whilst transiting French waters (so it was clear to any French authorities monitoring that fishing was not taking place).
The parties agreed to take forward the process for Anguillian fishermen to land their catch directly in French St Martin, this was a more complex issue as a number of long established EU regulations pertaining to food hygiene will need to be overcome. But both teams worked through the issues in a spirit of cooperation to come up with potential workable solutions to satisfy both sides. This work will now continue over the coming weeks and it is hoped that this technical level meeting will be the first of many to help improve the cooperation between St Martin and Anguilla in regard to fisheries and marine resources.
– Press Release
(Published without editing by The Anguillian newspaper.)
