For more than a week now, we've been reporting on the situation with the 22,000 plus undersized conch found in an export bound shipping container at Rainforest Foods in Independence Village. As we showed you last week, the general manager and the attorney for Rainforest Foods has been in meetings with the Fisheries Department negotiating in the background of what could be a fine in excess of a million dollars.
Well, today the Belize Federation of Fishers sent out a strong, scolding release. They are calling, quote, "on the MINISTER and the MINISTRY of BLUE ECONOMY and CIVIL AVIATION to PUBLICLY ADDRESS the issue of the purported ILLEGAL CONCH in the POSSESSION of Rainforest Seafood Ltd..." End quote.
They say the 3,000 pounds of products would be in recent memory the largest illegal haul of seafood products and, in this regard, they note that regular fishermen have faced stiff 6 figure fines over the past few months.
They close by calling on the minister for an urgent update on the matter.
