We've been reporting on the massive volume of undersized conch found at Rainforest Seafoods in Independence village for almost a month now.
Well, after weeks of back and forth - the Fisheries Department and the Jamaican multinational have arrived at a settlement.
A release from the Ministry of Blue Economy and its Fisheries Department says, quote, "Extensive deliberations have taken place…After consultations with the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions, both parties have agreed to settle at BZ$760,899 dollars.
The Director of Fisheries held a press conference today to explain how they arrived at that figure:
It took a whole month to go through these huge bins, loaded with tens of thousands of individual conch at Rainforest Seafoods plant in Independence village.
At the end of it, they found 22,827 underside conchs weighing over three thousand pounds.
At $50 per conch, the fine would have been a minimum of 1.1 million dollars. Fisheries - on the advice of the DPP's office - settled at $760,899 dollars. Both parties signed the agreement today after weeks of intensive, high-level negotiations:
Rigoberto Quintana, Acting Fisheries Administrator, Belize Fisheries Department
"Today we signed a compounding agreement. This process has been guided through the office of the DPP and the Attorney General in Belize. So that is what the act calls for. There were a lot of deliberations as to the figures and how we come up with those figures."
But, is a three quarter million fine fair for this multinational when regular fishermen get dragged to court and end up with 6 figure fines for far fewer conch?:
Jules Vasquez
"People in the public will say well we have on the news the other day some regular fishermen who were fined a hundred thousand [dollars] for out of season or prohibited seafood and now we have a multimillion dollar multinational who should be fined a minimum of 1.1 million [dollars] yet they are only paying three quarter million. How do you justify that to the average fisherman or fisherfolk?"
Rigoberto Quintana
"With those fines for the regular fisher folks I think had been one case that was charged over a hundred thousand dollars. There was the question of possible shrinkage during the thawing process. The evidence that we have there were thaw that 2 times during the process and given the benefit of the doubt in the negotiation agreement, we look at the 2.9 weights that we had in the sampling forms and we came up with 8.2% of that. When you add those 2 figures you come up roughly about 33% plus. So, it's like one third reduction."
"And it is something consistent in although this is not a criminal case, in criminal law when you have settlements, I think they get around one third reduction also. It is consistent, I would say with other laws that are applied in the country."
Jules Vasquez
"But the average fisherfolk again will say, oh so, unu have science and all kind of thawing and the weight shrink by so much percent, when unu drag us to court, you don't have any fancy lawyer to bring in your board room, unu just drag us to court."
"I'm saying this is what the average fisherfolk will say, that there is no equitable treatment, because these multi-millionaires, these Jamaican multi-millionaires can hire the best legal counsel. So it's not a level playing field. I should say some animals are more equal than others. That will be the perception. How do you respond to that?"
Rigoberto Quintana
"I don't believe in Animal Farm, Jules. But the issue of the product itself, I mean when fishers land those products are very fresh, compared to you have gone through a freezing process."
But did Fisheries come under heat from Belmopan to agree to a settlement?
Jules Vasquez
"Was your office pressured by cabinet members? Rainforest Seafoods is a very big investor. I know the Speaker of the House is a management consultant who has been retained. These are big people, sir. Were you under pressure to reach a settlement rather than drag their directors to court?"
Rigoberto Quintana
"None at all, Jules. Actually, my minister stands on my side and the entire ministry."
So, what will happen to Rainforest Seafoods now?
Rigoberto Quintana
"Well they still continue to benefit from the license that they have to export lobster. We will make recommendations to cabinet regarding their future license for conch and then cabinet would take or not take that recommendation from the fisheries department."
Reporter
"Is a part of that recommendation suspending their licenses for conchs?"
Rigoberto Quintana
"It could be. I cannot say at this point. It could be suspension. It could be cancelling the license. It could be that they get their license again, but we will make those recommendations."
So, the best news coming out of this right now is that put of season conch soup could be coming to a charitable establishment near you:
Jules Vasquez
"So what will happen to all this conch?"
Rigoberto Quintana
"We will deploy it to the feeding programs in the coming 2 weeks."
Today's release says, quote, "products under the prescribed legal size may have been the result of a number of factors including repeated freezing and thawing of product…as a result of this concern, the department is prepared to conduct further analysis and assessment with the processing sector on the Act and its regulations to consider this concern for future seasons."
The fine is to be paid in twelve monthly instalments.
