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Historical Background of the Fisheries Management Process in Barbados
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Written by Christopher Parker

The 1724 Act for the Preservation of Fiſh is the first law in Barbados pertaining to fisheries regulation, specifically what can arguably be viewed as ecosystem-wide in focus, in that it prohibited the use of poisons in fishing a practise which reportedly “deſtroyed great quantities of Fiſh in and about the Bays, Creeks and Shoals of this Ifland”. Over a century and a half later, the first TROM based legislation was passed in the form of the 1879 Sea-egg Preservation Act. In this case the management tool used was that of designating a closed fishing season that corresponded with the peak spawning period of the target species. In this context, it is noteworthy that the pertinent information used to determine the period for the closed season was reportedly obtained through interviews with sea egg fishers, essentially an informal stakeholder consultation process.  

While both Acts prescribed the punishments to be administered to offenders, it was only from the 1879 Sea egg Act that the persons responsible for the MSC of the regulations were identified specifically “…the police and rural constables”. This is of course not surprising since the organisation of a fit for purpose local constabulary only began with the establishment of the Police Force in 1835. Nevertheless, while at the Parliamentary level other fisheries laws were later developed and periodically amended, culminating in 1912 with the consolidated Fisheries Regulation Act (1904-5), along with mechanisms for at least limited enforcement, there remained no relevant administrative arrangement for the management of Fisheries. It would not be until 1944 that this disconnect would be first effectively remedied with the appointment of the Island’s first Fisheries Officer and the subsequent establishment of the Barbados Fisheries Division under the Department of Science and Agriculture.  

In addition, an advisory body under the chairmanship of the Director of the Department of Science and Agriculture, referred to as the Fisheries Advisory Committee, was established to offer the technical guidance required for the physical development of the local fishing industry and to this end, the membership of the Committee was comprised of experts on law, finance, infrastructural development and boat construction, with only the Fisheries Officer as the one expert in Fisheries per se. The policies and plans for developing the fisheries sector were articulated for the first time in the Ten-Year Development Plan for Barbados, Sketch Plan of Development 1946-1956. Specific plans included; the establishment of a fishing experimental station and purchase of a research vessel, improvements in the structural design of fishing vessels, modernisation of fishing techniques, improvements in boat access to fish landing sites, clarification of beach property rights, improvements in the marketing and distribution of fish.  

Early in the 20th century valid attempts to mandate registration of fishing vessels predicated on compliance with basic seaworthiness standards in the form of the Deep-Sea Fishing Boats (Registration) Act, 1912 (1912-14) failed, primarily because the safety standards could not be agreed on, and the Act was finally repealed in its entirety in 1915. It was not until the Fishing Industry Control Act, 1947-4 (24th March, 1947) that the legislated compulsory registration of all fishing boats deemed to be seaworthy became a reality. However, the specific parameters and standards to be used to adjudge seaworthiness were not codified, even by the subsidiary regulations to the Act that came into effect from 1st July, 1947. Instead seaworthiness of the vessel was left to the judgement of the inspector appointed under the provisions of the Act. The 1947 Act was soon repealed and replaced by the Fishing Industry Act (15th July, 1952) which, albeit more substantive in a management context and even included a Schedule dealing with rules of the Road (Steering and Sailing (Fishing-boat) Rules, 1952, initially failed to address codification of seaworthiness standards. The earliest subsidiary regulations to this Act was the (Fishing Boat Loans) Regulations, 1958 (L.N. No. 26 of 1958. It was not until 1966 through the Fisheries (Fishing Industry) (Safety) Regulations, 1966 (L.N. No. 141; 25th August, 1966) that safety of life at sea issues in the context of fishing vessels was addressed in some depth, although again the fundamental issue of mandating standards for vessel seaworthiness still remained unaddressed. 

Other important overarching developments in the context of the administration of Fisheries management in Barbados came with the institution of the Ministerial government model on February 1st 1954. In this context, before this significant point in the nation’s history, as a British Colony, from 1881 the Legislature of Barbados consisted of a British Crown-appointed Governor, a 24-member House of Assembly elected by popular local vote, and an Executive Committee that included an Executive Council, which included the Governor and other representatives appointed by the Crown, four members of the House of Assembly and one member of the Legislative Council also nominated by the Governor. Given its membership structure, the Executive Committee did not always act in concert and decisions, especially regarding contentious topics, often ended up being deadlocked. A good example of this is the eventual failure to implement the Deep-Sea Fishing Boats (Registration) Act, 1912 (1912-14). to mandate the registration of fishing vessels only after compliance with basic seaworthiness standards.    

In 1946, Sir Henry Grattan Bushe, then Governor of Barbados introduced a system of assigning elected House of Assembly representatives with quasi-Ministerial Portfolios, an exercise that became known as the “Bushe experiment”. The inexorable movement toward autonomous local governance continued with the on February 1st 1954 the first 5-member Cabinet of Barbados was formed with Sir Grantley Adams, being the Chief Minister (officially referred to as Premier), and 4 other Ministers appointed by him, with the Hon. Cuthbert Edwy Talma (later Sir Edwy) assigned the portfolio of Agriculture, Lands and Fisheries. On January 2nd, 1958 the Governor-in-Executive Committee delegated much of his powers under the 1881 Executive Committee Act 1881 to the Ministers meeting as a Cabinet under the chairmanship of the Premier. Although this change marked a significant general reduction in the governance role of the Executive Committee However, important the powers that could not be delegated by the existing laws, such as making subsidiary legislation, still remained with the Executive Committee. 

As such, while from 1954 the Fisheries sector benefited from having an empowered designated advocate at the Legislature level in the form of an appointed Minister, legislated control of the Fisheries Sector was still hamstrung. On 16th August 1961, changes to the island’s constitution included renaming of the Executive Council to the Privy Council, formal provision for a Cabinet and the establishment of inter alia, the Public Service vested with executive powers to deal with appointments, dismissals and disciplinary control of its members and that the Governor should, subject to the right of one reference back, be bound to accept the advice of the ministers in Executive Committee.  

After the island’s membership in the short lived West Indies Federation (1958 to 1962), the final significant changes to the Barbados legislature under Colonial rule were effected through the Barbados (Letters Patent Consolidation) Order of April 4th 1964, whereby, inter alia, the Legislative Council was replaced with a 21-member Senate and the Executive Committee was abolished with its powers and functions, including those of the Governor-in Executive Committee, transferred entirely to the Cabinet. Via The Barbados Order 1966 (coming into effect on 18th November 1966: UK SI 1966-1403) the designation of Premier was changed to Prime Minister.   

With the Barbados Independence Order of 22nd November 1966 that came into effect on November 30th 1966 along with the new nations Constitution attached as a Schedule to the order, all substantive involvement of the UK in the Governance of Barbados ended, despite the retention of a representative of the Crown in the person of the Crown-appointed Governor-General instead of a Governor, who was mandated to, apart from certain specified matters, act only on the advice of the local Cabinet.  

As such it was only after these legislatorial changes that Ministers were identified as the primary authorities for the legislation pertaining to their assigned Ministerial portfolios. Along with the in-tandem further development of suitably staffed, fit for purpose, Ministries that replaced what were until then referred to as “Departments”, which offered the necessary technical advice and administrative support, the necessary arrangements were in place to effect cogent management and development of the fisheries sector.   

By the late 1980’s the process of drafting an expanded and contemporaneous comprehensive statute for the holistic management and development of the Fisheries Sector began. This resulted in the Fisheries Act (CAP. 391) that came into effect on 1st October, 1993. The Act was divided into 4 thematic areas (parts): Fisheries Management and Development (I); Safety of Commercial Fishing Vessels and Accidents at Sea (II); Enforcement (III); and General (IV). Among several other specific details, the Act introduced the Fisheries Management Plan concept, specifically mandating in Section 4. (1) that “The Chief Fisheries Officer shall develop and keep under Fisheries review schemes for the management and development of fisheries in the waters of Barbados.” “…policies to be adopted with respect to the fishery” were to be included in the FMP; The Act also empowered the Minister to appoint a multi-stakeholder Fisheries Advisory Committee (FAC) to advise him on many issues pertaining to the management and development of the fisheries sector in addition to “the co-ordination of the policies with regard to fisheries with other departments of Government”. It should be emphasised that the fishery management-oriented focus and thus skillsets of the membership of this FAC were very different than for the more narrowly focused fisheries expansion-oriented FAC of the 1940’s to 1960’s. The FAC first met in December 1995 and initially focussed on developing the FMPs (McConney and Mahon, 1998).  

The first consolidated FMP was released in June 1997. The 1993 Fisheries Act also gave the Minister responsible for Fisheries the authority to “…make regulations generally for the management and development of fisheries in the waters of Barbados…” and to this end a wide range of specific Fisheries management tools were offered in the Act. The first suite of management regulations was put in place on the 27th July, 1998.