(Barbados Nation) The decades old row between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago over fishing rights may be headed for calmer waters.
Following a high-level meeting between Prime Minister Freundel Stuart and his counterpart Kamla Persad-Bissessar in Port-of-Spain on Thursday, Stuart reported yesterday that the two countries would immediately try to hammer out a temporary protocol on how infringements in the waters would be treated until a solid agreement could be reached.
The development came a week after ten Barbadian fishermen were arrested and imprisoned for several days, and later convicted and fined for fishing in Trinidad’s waters. Some were rearrested for violating the republic’s immigration laws.
Speaking at a Press conference on his arrival at Grantley Adams International Airport from a Cuba-CARICOM summit in Trinidad, Stuart said he sought a meeting with Persad-Bissessar because of the “flare-ups” over the continued arrest of local fishermen.