By Clint Chan Tack, Newsday TT

OPPOSITION LEADER Basdeo Panday yesterday warned Barbadian fishermen that the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard will arrest them if they pursue flying fish into local waters and condemned Barbadian Attorney-General Mia Mottley for encouraging them to do so.

On Wednesday, Mottley said under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, every nation is entitled to 12 miles of territorial sea. She said under this law, the waters between the 12-mile limits of both nations remained in dispute and "Barbadian fishermen have simply been traditionally fishing in the areas where they have traditionally fished." Mottley stressed that Barbadians have never fished within the territorial limits of TT. However, Panday told Newsday Mottley could not unilaterally order her countrymen to go fishing in TT waters. "If they do that, I hope our Government will enforce the law. I expect the Coast Guard will enforce the law. That cannot be. That is totally wrong in law and in practice," he declared.

Panday reminded Mottley that it was a breach of international law for Barbadian fishermen to fish in TT's territorial waters. The UNC leader wondered if this meant AG John Jeremie could order TT nationals to fish in Barbadian waters and there would be no repercussions from Bridgetown. Earlier this week, police sources claimed charges against two Barbadian fishermen for illegally fishing in TT waters were dropped on the orders of Foreign Affairs Minister Knowlson Gift. Panday slammed Gift's alleged action as "dictatorship of the highest order" and called for his immediate dismissal from the Cabinet.

He said the rift between TT and Barbados centred around two issues - TT's 1990 Maritime Delimitation Treaty with Venezuela and the Barbadians pursuing flying fish into local waters - and the two were being confused. Panday explained that the former could be solved according to the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and the latter could be solved bilaterally. Barbados has referred the matter to the UN and the International Tribunal on the Law of the Sea. Panday said the reason why fishing talks in Barbados never materialised on Tuesday was due to "the incompetence of our Government" but he said he remained optimistic that Barbadian PM Owen Arthur's arrival in TT today could calm troubled waters between the two nations.

"I just hope he (Arthur) is not just coming for Carnival," he said. Panday was unclear about the reason why Guyana and Venezuela were holding discussions yesterday on the 1990 TT-Venezuela Maritime Delimitation Treaty, or if there was some connection with the ongoing TT-Barbados fishing dispute. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez and Guyanese president Bharrat Jagdeo were supposed to meet in Georgetown today to discuss that Treaty. Prime Minister Patrick Manning said unilateral repudiation of that treaty will lead to a major diplomatic row with Venezuela and other Latin American nations.