Fisheries Legislation in Haiti (I)
- The basic fisheries text is the decree of 27 October 1978, 147 articles under ten titles, which repealed the hunting and fishing law of the 1962 Rural Code.
- The report finds the 1978 decree does not reflect the framework of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea and lays no basis for stricter control of foreign fishing vessels.
- Many of its conservation rules cover species that do not exist in Haiti, and its penalties, including prison terms, are too heavy for the offenses.
- It recommends a simple, incentive-based law for an artisanal sector, with management plans, consultative councils, catch reporting and a licensing system applied gradually.
- Haiti had about 8,000 fishers, estimated catches of 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes a year, lobster catches of about 500 tonnes and fish imports of 12,000 tonnes a year.
The project assisted the Ministère de l'Agriculture, des Ressources Naturelles et du Développement Rural in drafting fisheries legislation and regulations; a second report was to carry the draft texts. Part I sets out the maritime zones under Haitian jurisdiction (the decree of 6 April 1972, the presidential declaration of 6 April 1977 and the decree of 8 April 1977 on the exclusive economic zone, and the maritime boundary agreements with Cuba in 1977 and Colombia in 1978), the fisheries texts of 1961, 1962 and 1978, and other relevant laws on vessel nationality, investment and import quotas. Part II finds the 147-article decree of 1978 too long, repetitive and poorly ordered, with definitions of little legal effect, conservation rules for species absent from Haiti, and penalties too heavy for the offenses.
Part III recommends a simpler framework suited to an artisanal sector: fisheries management plans, consultative bodies, catch reporting, a licensing system applied gradually, stricter conditions for foreign vessels, conservation measures, rules on prohibited methods, fish aggregating devices, marine reserves, product quality and sanitation, enforcement powers, administrative sanctions and the repeal of earlier texts. The introduction describes a sector of about 8,000 mostly part-time fishers, with total catches estimated at 3,000 to 5,000 tonnes a year and fish imports of 12,000 tonnes a year.
How to cite
Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), 1986, Fisheries Legislation in Haiti (I), https://openknowledge.fao.org/bitstreams/1b28bc19-714e-4d4a-a6fb-0f939de6f6e3/download
- Rights holder
- FAO