Tonight, there is widespread condemnation for government's position on gill nets - which was announced yesterday. It is not the ban that conservationists were hoping for, instead there are measures to, quote, "Control and Eventually Phase Out Gill Nets."
Today, at the Senate meeting, the NGO Senator Osmany Salas said it's a disappointment and one they will fight against:
Osmany Salas, Senator for N.G.O.s
"Its certainly not a gillnet ban. We were waiting with bated breath after all the work that the N.G.O.s and the coalition had done. What came out of the press release from the Government was effectively of more of the same essentially that they need to do a better job in terms of the regulations that are already in place. It was good to hear that you need to be Belizean citizen to get a fishing license or permit. So that is an improvement. It should also had been taken as good news that there would be a gillnet ban south of Punta Gorda. But where south? Is it from Punta Gorda to Sarstoon? It is from Moho to Sarstoon? Is it just the Sarstoon River mouth? So there are a lot of answers and it did not go far enough and effectively the government disregarded the offer by OCEANA and a couple other NGOs to compensate the current users of gillnets, I think up 2 million fund has been set up. That effectively has been put on the wayside."
Reporter
"Now that the government has taken this measure, how does the NGO community react through, will it be coming together again to pressuring the government again to do away with this 2 year thing and seeing at that time if a ban will be implemented?"
Osmany Salas, Senator for N.G.O.s
"The NGOs have not given up and they will not give up."
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