Today, the Belize Territorial Volunteers' Will Maheia called that a joke - and a very bad one:..

The BTIA says it will also condemn government's position.

This evening, feeling the heat from the widespread rejection, Government went on a mini counter offensive, sending two releases at newstime. The first says, "An international NGO has proposed to fund a gill nets buy-back programme if a ban on gill nets is first instituted. From a social safeguard standpoint, a better approach is to ensure livelihoods are secured first before a ban is instituted. Good social safeguards extend beyond simply buying nets from legal gill netters, but rather, would include solutions to help displaced persons fare off economically after they can no longer make a living from gill netting…the successful transition of gill netters to alternative livelihoods must precede a ban."