Fishers not benefitting from law that was passed for them

Territorial At-Large Representative Neville ‘Sheep’ Smith has called on the government to revisit the Food Security & Sustainability Act (2022) to ensure it is working for local fishers.

The law was passed in April this year and aims to put a number of measures in place to improve fishing and farming locally.

But during a recent sitting of the House of Assembly, Smith said fishers are not benefitting from many of the improvements the law was supposed to bring.

“Up to now, I haven’t seen or heard a policy and what is going on. And the fishermen are really asking for some help,” Smith said.

He said the government should do some follow-ups to ensure that the policies in the law are implemented. He mentioned that the law had promised to implement a policy to address spearfishing so fishers can benefit from the use of that technique.

But to date, Smith said this policy isn’t in place because the law hasn’t been fully implemented.