We have reported on countless illegal fisheries busts â€" including the over 3,000 undersized conch we told you about last night. There has also been a number of reports on forestry offenses especially illegal logging. But there is more to these cases than just the initial confiscations â€" there are the charges, fines and more importantly, the court proceedings. And today at a Magistrate’s information session held at the Biltmore, the coordinators discussed the importance of collaboration between the magistrates and both the fisheries and forestry departments. Courtney Weatherburne has more details.
We apologize for that break in transmission- due to a system failure. We resume with our story on the magistrate’s training.
For the first quarter, the fisheries department has seized about 5,000 individual undersized conch. That number includes the 3, 300 that were confiscated last Friday. The persons caught with illegal catch are charged, fined and penalized. The fines range from $100 to $500. But according to Fisheries Officer Mauro Gongora, those fines aren’t stiff enough.
Mauro Gongora - Fisheries Officer
"With repeat offenders we do find that the fines that are applied by the courts, many a times do not act as full deterrents because many of these fishers would pay the fines and then just go about their business."
And that was one of the concerns discussed at today’s consultation. City Magistrates, along with representatives from the Fisheries and Forestry departments met at the Biltmore for a second session on fisheries and forestry crimes. Regarding cases from the fisheries department, the main focus is having magistrates understand the various fisheries laws and how they factor into the court proceedings.
Mauro Gongora
"The sensitization exercise that we are doing with the magistrates this morning, it really is to enlighten them in terms of what is the situation with our commercial fisheries particularly the commercial lobster and conch and to try get them to understand the rationale behind the different legislations that we have in place."
The magistrates also have to work closely with the forestry department when dealing with forestry crimes especially when it comes to illegal logging.
Wilber Sabido - Chief Forest Officer
"For instance identification of a timber specie, in the case of the forest department where we are citing that it is Mahogany that an individual is caught with illegal possession and us then having to demonstrate to the Magistrate in as far as whether a particular species is Mahogany because in as far as we are concerned especially with the amendment to the forest act which was recently done, the fines for each specie vary."
While court proceedings are a separate process, Chief Magistrate Anne Marie Smith concedes that all this information is crucial to the outcome of these cases.
Ann Marie Smith - Chief Magistrate
"We as Magistrates have these cases and I notice that the face of criminality is changing in relation to environmental offenses so I figured we needed some more information and some more knowledge. Well just today we learned about how certain trees are stamped if a tree a tree is legally cut down it has a particular stamp by the forestry department, we didn’t know that and so now we know what to look for and we know what to ask the forestry department to provide to the court when they come to the court."
"In terms of fisheries we learned in relation to conch, in particular what is an undersized conch, we had a demonstration by the fisheries department, what to look for and in terms of the expertise of the prosecutors, we now know what questions to ask the prosecutors when they come to prosecute these matters. We also learned in relation to what are the protected areas in the sea where fishermen are not supposed to go and fish and so we learned all of that today."
Courtney Weatherburne
"Great and those are very important details, specifics in cases."
Ann Marie Smith
"Extremely important for us yes, definitely."
Wilber Sabido - Chief Forest Officer
"The point of this is the fact that it is a partnership between the forest department, fisheries department, the police department as well that also provides support in as far as prosecution but also in as far as the judiciary in this case the magistracy understanding the extent of our laws, understanding the offenses and penalties that they have to look at but also ensuring that as far as us as departments bolstering our positions in as far as prosecutions is concerned."
This is day 2 of the consultation. The first session was held in Belmopan among Magistrates from the North.
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