Fishers not benefitting from law that was passed for them
Territorial At-Large Representative Neville ‘Sheep’ Smith has called on the government to revisit the Food Security & Sustainability Act (2022) to ensure it is working for local fishers.
The law was passed in April this year and aims to put a number of measures in place to improve fishing and farming locally.
But during a recent sitting of the House of Assembly, Smith said fishers are not benefitting from many of the improvements the law was supposed to bring.
“Up to now, I haven’t seen or heard a policy and what is going on. And the fishermen are really asking for some help,” Smith said.
He said the government should do some follow-ups to ensure that the policies in the law are implemented. He mentioned that the law had promised to implement a policy to address spearfishing so fishers can benefit from the use of that technique.
But to date, Smith said this policy isn’t in place because the law hasn’t been fully implemented.
“I don’t understand why this bill was passed so long and some of the things we put in place aren’t happening. We talked about spearfishing and how we were going to do some policy to fix that and nothing has been done as yet,” Smith said.
The Food Security and Sustainability Act also speaks to the development and review of the policy for sustainable agricultural production, food security and food safety.
It is also supposed to ensure sound and sustainable production, management and use of foods while addressing the impacts from climate change and disasters on food production.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
The politicians are just rubber stamps…USELESS
DONT TELL ME THAT THOSE STIMULUS PACKAGES DRIED UP ALREADY?
As usual, law passed, nothing done.
They think passing laws fix problems. STILL. In 2022. Keep passing laws. Useless.
Only sheep we voting for tboes two ladies at large must go
The Food Security & Sustainability Act (2022) is a farce. It secures nothing but money into crooked officials and politicians pocket.. So tired ah dem just mouthing off trying to impress the coming vote.
The truth is, there is no food security in the BVI, neither in real terms nor in political legislation.
Heck, locals can’t even set a fish pot or go any where close to the sold out islets to catch or dive for a fish, conch or lobster as they (we) did before the “raceos” bought them out, and the local governments at the time sanctioned their apartheid realities…
On the other hand, the entire entire sellouts do is give meaningless words and lip service to agriculture for media sound bites. Check the speeches over the last thirty years and the end results. What has been produced as proof?
Imports on every single item are up 100%, along with prices, and not one seed has been planted, or one well dug to water that seed.
After decades of talk nothing has materialized on the food production and agriculture front…they can’t, even with all the financial resources now available, produce a water well for drinking or planting, something our ancestors did with no financial resources, but with human will and muscle power for decades before modernity..
The politicians, of the last 20-30 years, including most of the current ones are self-serving individuals, seeking self-monetary enrichment. Their minds and hands, it is said and believed, are dirty, sticky and greedy..
Last, there are a few well meaning and helpful ones, they are there and they try to help people in need, but even their hands have been tied due to recent legislation, indicating then, that government and its resources have been turned into a personal resource for the elected. Hence, we get bad roads, broken and unfixed infrastructure, no new revenue generating initiatives, neglected education development, and non payer of increments due for decades.
The governance of the BVI went south a long time ago.
The politicians pass laws and the administration execute them.
Isn’t Sheep a member of the Government? So why hasn’t he run with the issue? Sheep, try actually doing something instead of just whining about it!!
The Food Security & Sustainability Act (2022) is a farce. It secures nothing but money into crooked officials and politicians pocket.. So tired ah dem just mouthing off trying to impress the coming vote.
The truth is, there is no food security in the BVI, neither in real terms nor in political legislation.
Heck, locals can’t even set a fish pot or go any where close to the sold out islets to catch or dive for a fish, conch or lobster as they (we) did before the “raceos” bought them out, and the local governments at the time sanctioned their apartheid realities…
On the other hand, the entire entire sellouts do is give meaningless words and lip service to agriculture for media sound bites. Check the speeches over the last thirty years and the end results. What has been produced as proof?
Imports on every single item are up 100%, along with prices, and not one seed has been planted, or one well dug to water that seed.
After decades of talk nothing has materialized on the food production and agriculture front…they can’t, even with all the financial resources now available, produce a water well for drinking or planting, something our ancestors did with no financial resources, but with human will and muscle power for decades before modernity..
The politicians, of the last 20-30 years, including most of the current ones are self-serving individuals, seeking self-monetary enrichment. Their minds and hands, it is said and believed, are dirty, sticky and greedy..
Last, there are a few well meaning and helpful ones, they are there and they try to help people in need, but even their hands have been tied due to recent legislation, indicating then, that government and its resources have been turned into a personal resource for the elected. Hence, we get bad roads, broken and unfixed infrastructure, no new revenue generating initiatives, neglected education development, and non payer of increments due for decades.
The governance of the BVI went south a long time ago.
we need Farmer Caul to govern that Legislation!
The word is Fisherman (singular) or Fishermen (plural) not fishers.
Those are the only two things government workers care about.
And this is how ayo want independence. Jah knows why it’s only the politicians and the cline cousins/brothers shouting independence.