THE Chief Parliamentary Counsel is drafting a new Fisheries Act that will address fisheries governance, as well as increased fines for illegal fishing, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, A J Nicholson, told the upper house on Friday.

Nicholson said government was committed to having the Act passed during the current financial year, to coincide with Cabinet’s decision to turn the fisheries division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Land into an executive agency.

He said that the new Act would deal with trade in fish products, modern enforcement mechanisms, allow for community participation in fisheries management as well as significant increases in the current level of fines for illegal fishing.

But Nicholson’s pronouncements were not enough to convince Opposition members that enough was being done to help fisherfolk, and to restore the industry to previous levels.

Opposition member Senator Christopher Tufton pointed out that the industry had been waiting for ten years for the Act. Tufton said he understood that while it had been drafted from 2004, its introduction to Parliament had been delayed since.

“There is a sense that with all the announcements coming from that side, I am not convinced, even at this stage, that the government is approaching the industry in a holistic way,” Tufton said.

“The fact is that this policy and this legislation that the government speaks of, as it relates to articulating a clear vision for the fishing industry, has been in the making for well over a decade so what are we to say now, that because it is being announced again today, does that mean we can now expect that it will be implemented over the next year, two years, three years, five or six years?”

He said that there is, clearly tardiness, reluctance and a lack of focus, as it relates to regularising and modernising the industry.

The debate was on a motion moved by Tufton, calling on the Senate to seek the appointment of a joint select committee of both Houses of Parliament to examine the problems facing the local fishing industry, and to make recommendations for its sustainable recovery and development.

Nicholson said that the government rejected Tufton’s arguments about the decline in the industry. He noted that efforts were being made, with the aid of foreign and local agencies including the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), to sustain the viability of the sector.

He was supported by president of the Jamaica Agricultural Society (JAS), Senator Norman Grant, who said that things were happening in the sector. Another government senator, Noel Monteith, gave examples of efforts being made to assist fisherfolk in eastern Westmoreland.

Tufton was supported by the Leader of Opposition Business, Anthony Johnson, who raised the issue of the safety of fishermen at sea. He said government had abandoned fisherfolk.

In the end, it came down to an amendment to Tufton’s motion, moved by Senator Nicholson, which read: Be it resolved that the recommendations and comments made in this debate be sent to the ministry of agriculture and land for examination and implementation as might be necessary.

The amendment was supported by government members. In fact, Senator Trevor Munroe pointed out that the government side did not disagree that the fishing industry was in need of serious upliftment and improvement.

Munroe said that Tufton’s recommendations were regarded with sufficient weight by the government to require that they go directly to the ministry, as reference to a joint select committee of Parliament could drag out the issues.

But, Johnson said that he regarded the amendment as an insult to the fishermen.

“The fishermen have written to the minister, they have written to the ministry, they have written to the director of fisheries…and they have received little or no response. It is their view that they want a forum that they can go to and speak,” Johnson insisted.

The issue came down to a vote on Nicholson’s amendment. The government won 6-4.

Tufton invites Fishermen to the Senate

Opposition Senator, Dr Christopher Tufton, finally got his day in the Senate to deal with the problems affecting fisherfolk in his South St Elizabeth hometown, as well as across the island, when the Senate met last Friday.

Leader of Government Business, A J Nicholson, finally gave in to Tuton’s request to have his 11-month-old motion seeking to have a joint select committee of both houses formed to examine and make recommendations for the development of the fishing industry.

To celebrate the occasion, Dr Tufton invited some fisherfolk from South-West St Elizabeth, to the Senate. They sat in the public gallery.

An interesting point that came out of the debate was that government members felt that sending the issues directly to the minister, instead of appointing a joint select committee (JSC) was a better alternative.

Government member, Senator Trevor Munroe, noted the delays created by joint select committees.

This is an interesting view because, if JSCs have become too slow to be effective why do we keep appointing them in the first place, and what would we replace them with?

Maybe it’s time for Parliament to examine the large number of committees being appointed, including joint select committees, and how much these are actually achieving.

There are committees that have never sat, like the one appointed last December to examine Local Government Reform, after the postponement of the Local Government Elections. There are also committees that are still awaiting the conclusion of debate on their reports, like the ganja committee, which has been in place since July, 2003. And then there are committees that are reappointed, year after year, but can’t get their meetings going again, like the one on flexitime, which was appointed from 2001 to study the green paper.

Yet on Friday, Senator Nicholson named members to five more Senate committees, most of which had not sat for sometime.

These include:

. the senate committee, chaired by Nicholson;

. the standing orders committee chaired by the President, Syringa Marshall-Burnett;

. the regulation committee, chaired by Nicholson;

. the privileges committee, chaired by Marshall-Burnett; and

. the special select committee on the use of idle agriculture lands chaired by Senator Norman Grant.

House returns from break Tuesday

THE House of Representatives will meet Tuesday and Wednesday at Gordon House.

The meeting on Tuesday will be the first since the break which followed the 2007/2008 budget debate.

Three items are on the schedule for Tuesday:

. Government guarantee for a loan to the National Water Commission (NWC), to be taken by Minister of Finance and Planning, Dr Omar Davies;

. An amendment to the Representation of the People Act to be piloted by Leader of the House, Dr Peter Phillips;

. The KSAC (Amendment) Act and Parish Council Amendment Act.

On Wednesday, Minister of Housing, Transport, Water and Works, Robert Pickersgill will kick-off the first leg of the Sectoral Debate.