The Mia Mottley administration is set to tighten regulation of its marine resources, as one Cabinet member says the waters around the island are “ripe for exploitation”.
St Peter Member of Parliament Colin Jordan advocated for a strengthened regulatory framework governing Barbados’ territorial waters, particularly in light of expectations that significant hydrocarbons may be present.
Speaking in the House of Assembly on Monday as Parliament debated the Seaport Industry (Management Operations & Development Bill) 2025, Jordan stressed that while the island’s land space was small, its territorial waters were extensive and filled with various resources.
“As a small state . . . it is important that we have a regulatory framework built around our ocean resources, so that we are able to address matters like the resources that lie in terms of fishing. We are able to address matters with respect to things like international trade, and we are able to address any minerals that may lay in our waters and in our seabed,” he said.
He noted that many new pieces of legislation introduced recently by the government were necessary to codify the island’s international obligations.
In his presentation to the House, Jordan said: “Our ocean space has not been fully . . . interrogated. We have not sought yet to determine fully what are those resources that lay within our ocean space, except for the fact that we are relatively sure that there are carbon and fossil fuel deposits, we believe, in that space.
“As more and more exploration is done in various places, we’ve come to know that beside hydrocarbon deposits, in these waters there are living organisms. . . . We have come to this Parliament before to manage how we fish, how we exploit that resource. We know there could be mineral deposits; we don’t know for sure, but we have enough space at the lowest to do the investigation.”
According to the St Peter MP, the blue economy holds significant potential and was “probably ripe for. . .exploitation”.
“I use the word cautiously because exploitation is normally a negative word. But the exploitation that I’m speaking about is the matter of using the resources for the benefit of the people. Now, if that is to be done, if the resources we have around us are to be used for the benefit of the people, then that use must be regulated,” noted the Minister of Labour, Social Security and the Third Sector.
“Whether it is by mining, whatever form the exploitation takes, it [must be] regulated so that the benefits accrue to the people of the country.”
Jordan, who is a former senior hotel executive, also touched on the issue of cruise calls to the northern commercial centre at Speightstown, St Peter.
While he was pleased to have two cruise vessels call at Speightstown during the cruise season, he was concerned about port calls on Sundays when most businesses in the northern town were closed. He therefore called for greater coordination with businesses operators in the area.
“We know that given the size of the town, we are not able to accommodate large numbers from larger vessels. And so, the smaller ships, the mega yachts. . . the ships of that size — 200 persons, 250, maybe even up to 500 [people] — are the size that a town like Speightstown can accommodate.
“They would not want ships larger than, say, 400 or 500 persons because there needs to be sustainability. In our tourism development, we have to make sure that there is a happy balance between the visitor and those of us who are from here, who live here and who operate in this space. And so those smaller ships coming to Speightstown are precisely what we need,” Jordan added.
(IMC1)
The post Jordan: Blue economy ‘ripe for exploitation’ but regulation key appeared first on Barbados Today.
