Newsday TT

Now that Barbados has taken Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea - a plan that country has been planning for a very long time while we apparently sat back and believed that God is a Trini, what is our plan now? Do we have a plan?

If it is now already crystal clear to our government what we need is not teams of politicians who obviously do not know what they are talking about and are clearly out of their depth, but the best team of attorneys we can get to represent us in a matter that has serious repercussions for our economic future. The Barbadians have a plan in place, attorneys, experts and are gunning for us.

We have to be properly prepared for the hearing of this matter and to defend ourselves as forcefully as we can. Our politicians, including our Attorney General are out of their depth in this matter. Experts in the know tell us that flying fish is the least of our problems. While the Barbados government in its claim to the UN talks about traditional fishing rights as it seeks a single unified maritime boundary line, delimiting the exclusive economic zone and continental shelf between itself and Trinidad and Tobago, it is yet to give particulars of this claim. It is only when the matter arrives at the arbitration stage we will find out. If we do not get our act together, it will be too late.

What really is Barbados after we should ask ourselves. Why is it they want the widest maritime area in the East and South East coast off Trinidad and Tobago? Why are they not interested in our West or North or South maritime boundary? The answer is obvious and we would be foolish to continue to play ostrich in this serious matter. With Guyana and other nearby neighbours such as Grenada beginning to make noises we should wake up and smell the coffee. The real intention is to box Trinidad and Tobago into the smallest area possible, which could end up denying us access to those natural resources that have benefited not only ourselves but also the same people who are now trying to do us in? But that is the way of the world and we must be prepared to fight it to the bitter end.