Anguillian fishermen travelling to St. Martin on their fishing boats and other persons from Anguilla operating passenger or pleasure vessels there must have the necessary documentation to the identify the nationality of their boats. If they fail to comply, they run the risk of being fined 600 Euros by the French Coast Guard.

This was pointed out by Anguilla’s Commissioner of Police, Keithly Benjamin. He was reporting at a press briefing on one of the matters which arose from the tripartite meeting of Police, Immigration and Customs officials held in Anguilla on Wednesday this week.

Mr. Benjamin further reported that the French St. Martin Coast Guard would soon begin taking action with fines for Anguillian fishermen fishing in their reserved areas. “Those reserves will be publicised so that persons will have a pretty good idea as to where they are located.

“Our Fishery Officer will re-enforce that persons from St. Martin who intend to fish in Anguilla must comply with the Fisheries Regulations or they too run the risk of being prosecuted for fishing illegally in Anguilla,” Benjamin said. “So we are on the same basis as far as that is concerned. We don’t expect to subject persons to any undue pressure and thus is why we want to communicate to the fishing community that there are regulations to follows and they should comply with them otherwise they will find themselves being exposed to the legal reforms.”

Mr. Benjamin also had a word of advice to all persons in Anguilla travelling to Dutch St. Maarten by boat. “The Dutch are beginning to impose some restrictions likewise and they have established ports of entry which are Great Bay and Simpson Bay,” he stated. “The authorities there prefer that the boats from Anguilla travelling to the Dutch side must enter at either of those ports and discontinue the practice of going down to Juliana Airport where they run the risk of being intercepted.”

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