EDITOR, The Tribune.
After reading what Peter Turnquest, the Deputy Leader of the Free National Movement (FNM), had to say about a discriminatory provision against spouses of Bahamian citizens in the Fisheries Bill during debate in the House of Assembly, I was moved to publicly support his position.
I lament the position taken by the government on this matter. The provision excluding spouses of Bahamians from commercial fishing tarnishes the codification of the fisheries law.
This offending provision with an obscenely outrageous penalty will overwhelmingly, if not exclusively, have a negative impact upon Bahamian women married to foreign nationals who are engaged in the fishing sector. It will have widespread ripple effects on human rights of persons legally present in our country with an unrestricted right to work.