Honduran fishermen fined, two in quarantine due to malaria

Two of the 131 Honduran fishermen who were detained on December 11 for illegally fishing in Jamaican waters have contracted malaria and are now in quarantine at a hospital.

This development came after crew members were fined by a court last week.

King's Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson, who represented the fishermen, said today that last Friday the fishermen pleaded guilty to breaches of the Fisheries Act.

Six of the members, who are minors, were admonished and discharged while the other 125 were fined $40,000 each or two months imprisonment.

The captain of the vessel, who was charged for damage to the Coast Guard vessel Nanny of the Maroons, was fined $3 million or three months imprisonment. 

In addition, he was fined $150,000 for breaching the Fisheries Act, namely fishing without a licence, and $2,000 for failure to obey the command of the coast guards to stop.

The court was held at the Marine Police headquarters and Parish Judge Leighton Morris imposed the fines.

No application was made for the forfeiture of the vessel.

Tavares-Finson said today that as soon as the men receive the money from Honduras to pay the fines, they will leave Jamaica. 

In the meanwhile, they remain on the vessel at the Coast Guard facility at Port Royal.

Tavares-Finson and attorney-at-law Marcus Moore had filed an application on December 21 for a parish judge to issue an order for the fishermen, who have been detained since December 11 and are in the custody of the JDF Coast Guard and the Marine Division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, to be taken to court.

They complained that their clients were being kept on the vessel in deplorable conditions and that there were fears of an outbreak of disease.

The JDF Coast Guard had intercepted and seized the Honduran fishing vessel, Miss Babs, at Pedro Banks because the boat was in Jamaica's Exclusive Economic Zone.

After the men pleaded guilty, the facts of the case were outlined to the court by Ruth-Anne Robinson, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions.

- Barbara Gayle

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