The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

WITH calls for greater transparency during the handling of confiscated fisheries goods, Marine Resources Minister V Alfred Gray says a decision will be made this week on what is to be done with a Dominican vessel now in government custody.

Attention was drawn to the issue last week when Bahamas Commercial Fishers Alliance (BCFA) President Adrian LaRoda suggested that the process is flawed.

He said the Ministry of Finance and the Fisheries Department have not done well in keeping Bahamians informed of what takes place when illegal poachers are caught and their goods turned over the the government.

Mr Gray said: “The position is the Ministry of Finance has taken possession of the fisheries products and they have begun to dispose of them.

“Some of them are being given to charity others are being sold to fish houses in New Providence.

“I am advised that the decision with regard to the vessel and the engines would be made sometime this week.

“(The process) is being very transparent. It’s not in the Ministry of Fisheries hands because once we do our part then the Ministry of Finance that is charged with the collection of revenue takes over from there. I believe most of them have been disposed of at this point.

“What is left to be decided is what we gonna do with the vessel having been confiscated by the court and the engines of the smaller boats that were used in this exercise.”