Caribbean & Central America - April 2006 (ISSN 1741-4458)

On 11 April a long-running maritime boundary dispute between Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago was settled by a court for international arbitration based in The Hague. Both countries claimed the ruling as a victory, but the court claimed it lacked jurisdiction to arbitrate on one of the most contentious issues: the right of Barbadian fishermen to fish in Trinidad and Tobago's waters. This could mean the dispute between two founding members of Caricom will flare up again in the future.

Barbados began arbitration proceedings at the International Dispute Resolution Centre in February 2004 following a diplomatic row between the two countries after coast guards from Trinidad and Tobago arrested two Barbadian fishermen and charged them for fishing illegally in Trinidadian waters. Coupled with this was Barbados's irritation with Trinidad and Tobago for allowing a gas pipeline it was building to Venezuela to encroach on Barbados's exclusive economic zone.

Energy

The court established a median line representing the half-way point between the two exclusive economic zones of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago. The Barbados Advocate said that the ruling also allows Barbados to exploit hydrocarbon resources up to 150 nautical miles beyond the line. 

The Barbadian energy minister, Elizabeth Thompson, said that the decision had expanded the country's economic viability. "Now that we have access to a much larger marine space, it allows us to put out that space for bids by international companies to exploit hydrocarbon resources. That makes us very attractive to a number of companies," she said.

Fish

The Barbadian deputy prime minister, Mia Mottley, said the ruling was exactly what Barbados had sought and the court had only made a slight variation to what her government had said should be the boundary line between the two nations. The Trinidadian media, however, claimed the court had "rejected each and every claim" made by Barbados and drew attention to its neighbour's failure to secure fishing rights for an area south of the median line which Barbadians regard as its traditional fishing ground.

Crucially the court did not rule on the precise rights that the exclusive economic zones confer on the countries. Instead it stated: "Trinidad and Tobago and Barbados are under a duty to agree upon measures necessary to coordinate and ensure the conservation and development of flying fish stock, and to negotiate in good faith and conclude an agreement that will accord fisherfolk of Barbados access to fisheries within the Exclusive Economic Zone of Trinidad and Tobago." The prime minister of Barbados, Owen Arthur, says his government will move urgently to conclude these fishing negotiations with the twin-island republic.