The Police are at it again.  They are harassing and threatening the fishermen in Carrot Bay for practicing their trade.

(Our fight is not with the Police.  They are doing their jobs.)

To begin with, the law that deprives the fishermen of their livelihood is unjust.  It has no backing in local studies nor scientific data.  Yet it prohibits them from improving their chances in the deep by forbidding the use of scuba gear and fishing guns.  

Government compensation for taking away the fishermen’s livelihood was out of the question 3 years ago and is likely out now.

Proscribing the scuba gear makes fishermen susceptible to "shallow water blackout" which leads to drowning.  Spear fishers and free divers who hold their breath for too long are primary victims.

The vibrancy of the marine environment chases the catch into deeper waters and if the fishermen are to survive, they must follow the food.

So, based on the law in vogue, the fishermen's options are: Death by starvation; Death by drowning; Or imprisonment. 

No other class of workers in the BVI faces so great an occupational hazard or such dismal odds.  

Philosopher Thomas Hobbes said in 1651 that "Life (without government) was nasty, brutish and short."  Obviously, he was not a BVI fisherman who relied on his fishing gun and scuba tanks.

We are ignorant as to the origin of the law that criminalizes fishermen.  This is where representation comes in.  But the fishermen’s representatives in government have failed them.

In law, one cannot disenfranchise those who were already receiving a benefit.  That principle is even upheld in the constitution.

But the fishermen!  We have judged them as being unworthy of public protection.

Hon Omar Hodge was the only Fisheries Minister who sought to right that wrong but now, the police are having a field day.

We have already spoken ad nauseum about the inhumane treatment by the Police that Albert Stoutt and his sons faced and the crass and hurtful words of the arresting Officer: “We don’t need you anymore, …..”

Those words await us in one form or another if we allow this injustice to persist.  

We have heard the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., annually, speak about justice but the chain of justice is only as strong as its weakest link.

Nowadays the government is vocal about food security.  They have even engaged with the Dominican Republic to help to feed us.

Then why treat their fishermen like criminals and threaten them with imprisonment? 

We have taken the grandiose step, in law, to protect the sharks that are vital to the food chain.  But sharks have never cast a vote for anyone. 

Are the lives of BVI fishermen ranked lower than those of the sharks?  That is painful.  But we are used to pain.  It is rejection that creates the conundrum and bruises the spirit.

For Albert and his sons, their day of reckoning is May 7th.  The hounds have not been called off.  

It only took government 3 years to have "Reviewed and considered an amendment to the Virgin Islands Fisheries Act, 1997 to remove the blanket prohibition on spearguns...." (Cabinet Meeting-15th April 2026).  

What about the use of scuba gear?  The Representatives have known that need for the same duration.  For the fishermen who have depended on this craft for decades, the two, spearfishing and scuba equipment, are essential.

But laws are made by the House of Assembly.  The opportunity to address scuba diving equipment with the fishing amendment may still exist.

This week, we welcomed the new Director of the Overseas Territories Department, Mr. Robbie Bulloch OBE.  We hope he has had good and relevant discussions and that he exhibits some concern for our economic survival.

But if in the end he treats us in the manner that we are treating the fishermen, we should have no arguments.  We cannot expect the justice that we deny.

And His Majesty made us proud on Tuesday with his address to the joint session of Congress.  His Impactful punches were well wrapped in the language of diplomacy.

The speech was ‘simply’ masterful and its plea for solidarity, reconciliation and collaboration for the greater good, was timely.

It played up the historical relationship between the US and the UK and the positive results that accrue when that relationship works.

His Majesty’s feat was brilliant.  We hope it bears fruit.

That is a wave that our leaders should catch.  For “Government is a Trust; The Officers of Government, Trustees.  And both the Trust and the Trustees exist for the benefit of the people.”

And Fridays can exist to allow us to exercise emotional intelligence over our surroundings and take stock.

Happy Friday!