Maritime dispute turns uglier
-T&T deploys aircraft; Arthur cancels visit
Stabroek News
February 20, 2004
Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur has abruptly cancelled a visit to Trinidad and Tobago over the discovery that Port-of-Spain has been quietly negotiating with Venezuela over mineral rights in disputed waters.
Today's Barbados Nation says that Barbados, which said it was deeply disturbed by the development, yesterday wrote some of the world's major oil companies advising against any exploitation activity in the disputed waters. This is while apprising them of the dispute between the two countries and the activation of a dispute-resolution mechanism under the United Nations Convention on the Laws of the Sea (UNCLOS).
The Trinidad Express is reporting today that Trinidad and Tobago yesterday deployed helicopters and fixed-wing aircraft over the waters off the coast of Tobago. Reports indicate that this move was in response to statements by Barbados' Deputy Prime Minister Mia Mottley indicating that her country would respond in the strongest possible terms if its fishermen were arrested while the dispute was being decided at the UN level.
The two countries are yet to agree to a fishing agreement because of a Maritime Delimitation Treaty between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela.
The treaty also has implications for Guyana since it implicitly recognises a claim by Venezuela on part of Guyana's territory. Guyana's Foreign Minister Rudy Insanally has said that the dispute is being closely watched so as to preserve this country's interests.
According to the Nation report, Mottley, at a hastily arranged conference in the middle of yesterday's meeting of the Cabinet announced that a diplomatic note was sent to Trinidad informing it of the latest development. She said Barbados had become aware just yesterday that while it was in discussions with Trinidad, that country had in August 2003 signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Venezuela on how the two would exploit mineral resources in Barbados' Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). Observers noted it was possible that that agreement also has implications for Guyana.
The members of the Trinidad team, particularly its Director of Legal and Marine Affairs, Gerald Thompson, who were directly involved in the discussion with the South American oil-producing nation, never disclosed the development, she added.
Of greater concern, she added, was the fact that Trinidad Prime Minister Patrick Manning never disclosed this last Monday when he met with Arthur at Villa Nova in St John, Barbados.
"There are elements of it that are of deep concern to us and we would have written ... by diplomatic note seeking ... a number of pieces of information, most important of which is the MOU...
And while we are not party to it, our interests are affected by it, to the extent that it speaks to a framework for concluding a unitisation agreement between Trinidad ... and Venezuela [which would allow them .. to be able to jointly exploit the mineral reserves along the border line of the treaty..." Mottley is quoted as saying by the Nation.
Mottley also said that it was communicated to the Trinidad Government that it was unfortunate that it was not brought to the attention of the Barbados Government, after five rounds of maritime discussion and four rounds of fisheries discussion.
"At no stage during these discussions, including last year when this MOU was signed, did they bring to the attention of the Barbados Government, in good faith, that one of the very things which was the major stumbling block to our reaching an agreement was being acted on in a commercial way between them and Venezuela," Mottley said.
"We consider this lacking in good faith. It was also regrettable that the matter was not raised either in the face-to-face meeting between the leaders of the two countries at Villa Nova on Monday," she said.
She described the development as unfortunate, particularly since Barbados only learnt of the arrangement through its own research.
Arthur was scheduled to have left Barbados yesterday afternoon to go to Trinidad with a team of officials. But after the discovery, it was indicated in the diplomatic note that the Prime Minister would still be available to travel to Trinidad to meet with his counterpart, but it would be subject to the receipt of the information on the issue. Mottley said acquiring and studying a copy of the MOU before Arthur meets Manning was critical.
Manning at a press conference yesterday in Port-of-Spain said that the Government intended to protect its natural resources while the Coast Guard warned it would arrest Barbados fishermen found carrying out their trade in Trinidad's territorial waters.
And while the Coast Guard says it does not intend to escalate the raging dispute between the two Caricom member-states, it stands ready to defend the territorial integrity of Trinidad and Tobago, according to the Trinidad Express.
At yesterday's post-Cabinet news conference at Whitehall, Manning initially refused comment on statements made by Mottley to her country's fishermen to catch flying fish on their migration path off the coast of Tobago, but said: "Our intentions are clear. We intend to protect our natural resources."
Manning added that Cabinet "is resolute in its determination to protect the country's natural resources whether it be oil, gas or fish."
Spokesperson for the Coast Guard Commander Kirton Huggins told the Express the Coast Guard would enforce the law unless it was directed by the government to allow the Barbadian fishermen in.
He said: "It is our duty to protect the fishing resources of Trinidad and Tobago and if Barbadian fishermen are in breach of the law we will arrest them and their boats. It is for the political directorate to give us other instructions and so far they have not indicated to us any change of policy."
Commander Huggins said the Coast Guard has not increased its resources in Tobago but it continued "rigorous enforcement" of the country's territorial boundaries.
He added: "We have continued our patrols and air surveillance off the coast of Tobago with the same resources we have been using."
Highly-placed sources indicate that several sorties were conducted yesterday in the waters separating Barbados and Tobago, using both fixed-wing aircraft and national security helicopters.
Yesterday the leadership of the Coast Guard held a marathon meeting at its Staubles Bay Headquarters in which the matter was discussed.
It is understood that an assessment of the threat was done and the Coast Guard is to conduct an analysis of how they should respond if called upon.
Commander Huggins said the Coast Guard would not be drawn into politics or be fazed by what is said in the newspapers because "one had to consider what are the capabilities of the Barbados Coast Guard."
He said it was unlikely that the Barbados Coast Guard would want to accompany their fishermen into the territorial waters of Trinidad and Tobago and added that in any case there were laws which were clear and clear rules of engagement.
Huggins said: "But we do not think it will require a military response. It will not come to that."