Flying fish fiasco
Arthur gunning for TT a long time

By FRANCIS JOSEPH, Newsday TT

BARBADOS had been planning since November last year to take Trinidad and Tobago to the International Tribunal for the Law of Sea (ITLOS) to settle the fishing and maritime disputes.

Although Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur only revealed on Monday night that his country was going to ITLOS, Newsday reported exclusively last November 25 that Barbados was planning to take TT to ITLOS in Hamburg, Germany. Barbados, according to reliable sources, had been consulting a team of international lawyers to contest the matter at ITLOS headquarters. They did so while they were holding so-called adjudication meetings with TT, one of which is being held today in Bridgetown. ITLOS is an independent judicial body established by the United Nations to adjudicate disputes arising out of matters involving maritime boundaries. Disputes before the Tribunal are instituted either by written application or by notification of a special agreement.

Retired TT Appeal Court Judge Anthony Lucky, now a Judge with ITLOS, will be one of the 21 adjudicators to the dispute. Newsday learned that Judge Lucky has been summoned to Hamburg by March 15 to adjudicate on matters including the Barbados/TT dispute. Barbados does not have a national on the ITLOS panel, but that country will be entitled to select an “ad hoc judge” to form part of the panel. According to ITLOS, “if a tribunal or a chamber does not include a judge of the nationality of a party to the dispute, that party may choose a person to sit as a judge. Should there be several parties in the same interest, they are considered for this purpose as one party only. They participate in the case for which they are chosen on terms of complete equality with other judges and take precedence after the members of the tribunal and in order of seniority of age.” There were six cases at ITLOS where parties selected “ad hoc judges” who were not nationals of the countries involved in the dispute. An ITLOS official told Newsday that Barbados may not select a national of that country, but may decide to go for an expert in international and maritime law.

With Barbados making a formal complaint to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the president of ITLOS has been officially informed. The president of the Tribunal is Dolliver Nelson, a Grenadian by birth, but who now lives in England. Nelson will preside over the Barbados/TT dispute with vice-president Budislav Vukas, of Croatia. The president of the Tribunal will inform the registrar this week and the Tribunal will await the written application from Barbados. Once the application has been received, the registrar of the Tribunal will fix a date for the hearing of the dispute, which will entail written submissions and a host of national and international personalities assembling in Germany. Last November, PM Arthur said that until the fishing dispute is resolved, his country was not considering deepening political ties with Trinidad and Tobago. On February 7, two Bajan fishermen were caught by the Coast Guard illegally fishing in Tobago waters. They were taken to court two days later, but freed after the court prosecutor informed the court he had instructions not to proceed with the case against the Bajans. The fishermen left Tobago with their catch. Last week, Arthur went further and said Barbados was considering licensing TT goods entering the Bajan market.