Balford Henry, Staff Reporter
CONCH FISHING could resume as early as next week, after a two-year break triggered by a legal dispute over the Minister of Agriculture's right to issue export quotas.
Minister of Agriculture, Roger Clarke, told The Gleaner yesterday, that he is already accepting applications for licences and quotas, after reaching an out-of-court settlement with leading conch exporter DYC Fishing, in their suit against him.
"We have ironed out a solution and by next week we hope to be fishing conch again," Mr. Clarke told the House of Representatives. He was speaking in the 2001/2002 Budget Debate at Gordon House, yesterday.
He said that conch was too much of a valuable industry to be ignored any longer, with its potential to earn US$20-$30 million annually from exports, and his Ministry needed to ensure that it gets back on track.
Mr. Clarke did not disclose the details of the settlement with DYC, but the company's managing director, Frank Cox, told The Gleaner that he withdrew his suit against the Minister in court yesterday. He said, in return, he expected the Minister to operate within the confines of the fisheries laws as DYC has requested.
Conch has not been fished or exported from Jamaica since the legal battle started in 1999, costing thousands of jobs and over US$60 million in export earnings. In the meantime, vessels from Central American countries like Honduras and Guatemala, have been poaching conch illegally in Jamaican waters. The Coast Guard has been unable to deal with the problem, because of its lack of modern boats.
The last action taken in court was in July 2000, when Mr. Justice Paul Harrison granted a stay, effectively barring the Minister from issuing quotas to conch exporters, until DYC Fishing's appeal against a Supreme Court ruling was heard.
DYC Fishing had applied to the Court of Appeal for a stay of execution against an order made by Mr. Justice Ellis in the Supreme Court in June, 2000, giving the Minister the go-ahead to issue quotas. Previously, Mr. Justice Courtenay Orr (now deceased) had granted an injunction barring the Minister from issuing quotas in March, 2000. Mr. Justice Ellis had set aside that injunction, after hearing arguments in chambers. DYC Fishing appealed on the ground that Mr. Justice Ellis erred in refusing its application for Mr. Clarke to be cross-examined upon the facts contained in his affidavit.
DYC also contended that fresh evidence introduced in the Minister's affidavit was insufficient to amount to any adequate reason for the removal of the stay. They had also planned to argue, on appeal, that the judge in setting aside the injunction, took into account matters which he ought not to, and failed to take into account matters which he ought properly to have done.
The issue started in 1999, when the Court of Appeal supported DYC Fishing's claim that under the Fisheries Industry Act, the Minister did not have the legal authority to issue quotas. The Minister then passed regulations in March, 2000, giving him the power to issue the quotas.
