Bdos: Mine is mine, and some of yours is mine, too

Apparently the position of the Barbados government on the fishing dispute with T&T is simply this: my territorial waters are mine, and everything in between yours and mine is mine, too.

Here's this from the Nation:

Government has told local fishermen they should feel free to go where they have gone before – after flying fish on their migration path off the coast of Tobago.

But Attorney-General Mia Mottley warned that if the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard arrested any Barbadians for fishing in the disputed area between the two countries – outside Trinidad’s 12-mile territorial boundary – while the matter was before an arbitration committee, Barbados would respond in the strongest possible terms

The rest of the story contains pretty much the same information as found in the text from the Barbados Advocate below. However, it also conveys more clearly the attitude of the Barbados government to T&T's territorial concerns.

BARBADIAN fishermen who have been held by Trinidad & Tobago’s Coast Guard authorities have not been fishing illegally, since the waters in question are in dispute.
...
“In every instance, where we have contended that Barbadian fishermen have been fishing legally, it has never been a case of Barbadian fishermen traditionally fishing within the territorial limits of T&T,” Mottley explained. She added that under the Law of the Sea convention, the area between Barbados and T&T’s respective 12-mile territorial limits remains in dispute, unless there is an agreement setting out a boundary or unless there is a tribunal decision declaring a boundary.

“Hence the contention by the Barbados Government that Barbadian fishermen have simply been traditionally fishing in the areas where they have historically fished,” she added.
...
“Barbados intends to defend its territory, because we believe that is the heart of the matter (and) to that extent, fishing rights and other rights flow from the defence of that marine territorial claim,” Mottley added.

If the place where the fishermen were taken were outside of the twelve mile territorial waters for each country, then what territory does Barbados have to defend since it claims the territory in question is neutral? Apparently, according to this article, Barbados is attempting to assert a territorial claim to neutral waters on the ground that its fishermen have "historically fished" there.

What this argument comes down to is simply this. T&T is limited to 12 miles of territorial waters, and Barbados is free too utilize the remaining 2,000 square miles as it sees fit.

Then, one wonders if, at the root of it, this dispute is more about oil than about fishing rights, considering that Barbados went behind T&T's back to ITLOS in November, 2003, and now toUNCLOS. The following makes it rather difficult to believe that all of this legal maneuvering, done so much in the dark, is really about flying fish.

Dr. [Don] Marshall [of UWI, Cave Hill] said he wanted to know how long the information about the Venezuela-Trinidad treaty was known to Barbados, “because I would not like to think we would have had this intelligence for 14 years and not sought resolution within CARICOM”, he said.

While he does accept the position that CARICOM does not have the mechanisms to adequately arbitrate on this matter, he still believes, “however, there is a space for a negotiated settlement, moral suasion and other kinds of measures to be put to Trinidad and Tobago if found to be party to a dubious agreement with Venezuela”.

Dr. Marshall said if Barbados knew about the information, he would still like to know about the results of the seismic survey and subsequent oil exploration undertaken off Barbados by Conoco, the American-owned oil company.

Furthermore, the dispute, now taken to the international court, will have far reaching implications for both Barbados, T&T, and their neighbors, particularly for Guyana. This is a high stakes game that Barbados is playing, and its one where the cards that are on deck, the fishing treaty, the raison d'etre for the action, are but a blind hiding the cards up Barbados's sleeve.

Carl Ince, a prominent international lawyer and a former senior Barbadian Government official who has been involved in maritime negotiations in the past explains: “Countries which may have long proffered claims to maritime territories can lose them in a final UN decision. And no one wants to lose resources that the sea potentially holds – particularly if its something that is not yet discovered, but which may later prove lucrative, for example, magnesium nodules within your territory.”