Get GPS! Careless boaters at fault for fish trap problems — Premier
Premier Andrew Fahie has singled out careless boaters as being responsible for lost fish traps in the oceanic waters surrounding the BVI.
“When it comes to the pot fishing [and] our fish traps, ayo don’t wash your mouth on the fish traps, that’s what help raise me,” Premier Fahie said during a recent House of Assembly (HOA) debate on the Food Security and Sustainability Act.
“Most of the problems with the fish traps has been careless boaters and some careless fisherman who putting out their fish trap all in the areas where the boats passing all the time,” the Premier argued.
Premier Fahie — while noting that environmentalists have described fish pots as dangerous — said that in the early years of the territory, fish traps are what fed the population.
Legislators have argued while debating in favour of the food security bill that fish traps should have GPS systems attached in order to keep track of them.
Premier Fahie agreed with this suggestion.
“No, no, no, that helped us get somewhere, so let’s modernise it. Modernize it to see what’s happening,” he said.
The Premier argued that using fish pots is the only method of fishing that some old fishermen know and made specific reference to an old fisherman called Fredo in his First District constituency.
“If we modernise them with a lil‘ GPS I could see him down there now using his GPS, finding them fish traps. Ayo ain’t gon get rid of Fredo there so easy,” the Premier said.
“If some parents are putting on now – while I don’t agree with it – putting on a brace on their children so when they go to the mall and they get away, they could find them, we could put on one on the fish trap so if it get away we could find that too,” Premier Fahie stated.
Copyright 2024 BVI News, Media Expressions Limited. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or distributed.
Foy dont have a clue
That’s not how GPS works, that’s not how any of that works! Fahie doesn’t really understand much of what he speaks but he does like talking!
Dear leader seems ignorant about attributes and limitations of GPS technology for sea floor recovery of submerged object. Good luck locating and pulling your unmarked fish traps in BVI waters.
I would be happy if the fishermen here would simply comply with the global standards to use degradable materials in the lashings of their fish pots. This would mean the traps that get lost dont become ghost pots on the bottom trapping and killing unnecessarily. Perhaps Czar Fahie could enforce this?
So we’re not gonna teach Fredo how to use modern ways to fish, but we’re gonna teach him how to use GPS. Okay. Got you.
Andrew Fahie If you don’t know what you are talking about you should just shut up you are an embracement to the BVI.
I’m sure Fahie isnt the only”embracement” I’m sure there are other reasons for you to be “embraced” but I’ll let you figure that out on your own.
Please gain some maritime knowledge! Marine Charts do not reflect items just like that.
Instead fish pot areas should be marked off and not placed in the middle of channels and in the way of marine traffic.
Someone tell me this article is a joke right?
It is such a shame that the Premier doesn’t share the same concerns about careless boaters when it comes to White Bay. It’s been wonderful without the jackass day boat captains schlepping their drunken freight to White Bay and anchoring stern to right in the swim area. Blasting crap music thinking this will increase the tip from the white trash drunks they have to take back to USVI.
Let’s enforce the swim area.
I think he cannot say anything more dumb than before and he comes out with this. The man has got to go. Clueless.
they are not in compliance detain their boats:)
In the old days, Premier, there were fewer people and fewer fish pots. There were more fish, too. These days, the fish pot is not like it was then.
The fish pot of today is one of hundreds, maybe thousands, being laid out, many in protected areas, operated by some very fishy operations with immigrant labor that does not have any care or concern about our reefs and fish problems here. Of course the local boss doesn’t either – they are just using their big money to make more big money from our struggling reefs.
Fish pots should be limited in number per fisherman and areas all around the BVI should be closed to fishing for a number of years so the reefs and stocks can recover, and other areas left open for fishing. In future years we close those areas and open the refreshed reefs.
You can’t separate our desire to eat fish, our traditions and our damage from all the same forces affecting the same ocean all over the world. We are small and it all feels local but we are part of giant problems out of our hands, and other problems that, sorry to say, we are just making worse so boss man can profit.