Minister of Financial Services, Trade and Industry and Immigration and Yamacraw MP Elsworth Johnson.
NASSAU, BAHAMAS Minister of Immigration Elsworth Johnson said the government has “taken a stand” on access to the fishing sector and while there are those who have criticized amendments to fisheries and immigration regulations as discriminatory, the Constitution allows the government to “legally discriminate”.
The Fisheries Act, 2020, which was passed in the Senate this week, prevents the foreign spouses of Bahamians from engaging in commercial fishing.
“This is not a matter of recent vintage,” Johnson told the media.
“The Constitution allows it. Persons can’t just come and decide they want to be an MP and you’re not a citizen or a senator or a police officer or any varied number of areas.
Bahamian spouses of Dominican fishermen have made their bed, now lie in it
Dear Editor,
The discriminatory element within the Free National Movement (FNM) government’s Fisheries Bill, 2020 has caused somewhat of a brouhaha within its ranks, with East Grand Bahama MP Peter Turnquest and former Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham both expressing opposition to it.
On the other end of the spectrum, I would imagine that the group, the Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA), which lobbied the former Progressive Liberal Party administration under Mr. Perry Christie to repeal the policy of granting permits to alleged Dominican fishermen married to Bahamian women in 2012, is ecstatic.
tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net
A BAHAMIAN seafood businessman fears the government’s new Fisheries Bill will hamper his business and lead to a loss of critical staff.
Meanwhile, Bahamian women married to foreign fishermen are also enraged at the bill, which they say disenfranchises their spouses and will put a financial strain on their households.
The Fisheries Bill 2020, which will replace the Fisheries Resources (Jurisdiction and Conservation) Act, 1977, was passed in the Senate yesterday.
A key provision of the bill says: “No person shall engage in fishing, or be employed on a commercial fishing vessel for fishing other than sport fishing in the fisheries waters; and use or be employed on a commercial fishing vessel licenced under this act for fishing other than charter sport fishing, unless that person is a citizen of The Bahamas.”
AG: Fisheries bill is not discriminatory tribune242.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from tribune242.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Wives and children of foreign-born fishermen ‘offended’ by Fisheries Bill
The wives and children of several foreign-born fishermen in The Bahamas said yesterday that the government’s Fisheries Bill, 2020, which seeks to prevent non-Bahamians from engaging in commercial fishing in The Bahamas, is “offensive and not fair”.
Sixteen-year-old Gisele Liriano broke into tears as she explained the fear that her father’s livelihood of fishing is in jeopardy if the bill becomes law.
The bill was passed in the Senate yesterday.
It reads: “No person shall engage in fishing, or be employed on a commercial fishing vessel for fishing other than sportsfishing in the fisheries waters, and use or be employed on a commercial fishing vessel licensed under this act for fishing other than charter sportsfishing unless that person is a citizen of The Bahamas.”