Confiscated Rainforest Seafoods Shrimp to be Donated
According to Quintana, while the department may be criticized for the manner in which it handled this case, the settlement ultimately saved the government time from having to go to court. He added that recommendations were also made for the department to amend its regulations so as to differentiate between the stipulations that speak to small-scale fisher folks and those that address matters pertaining to large processors like Rainforest Seafood Limited.
Rigoberto Quintana
Rigoberto Quintana, Fisheries Administrator, Belize Fisheries Department
“Bear in mind also we have to be transparent and fair when applying the laws in this country, tomorrow it could be the other processing facilities. I am sure I will hear different public views if in this case it would have been somebody else being charged.”
Reporter
“You understand the average fisher folk would say oh so you have science and all kind of thawing and the weight shrink by so much percent, when unu drag me dah court we don’t have any fancy lawyer to bring in your board room.”
Rigoberto Quintana
“The issues of the product itself, when the fishers land those products are very fresh compared you have gone through a freezing process. When you those CITES inspection we will do random sampling of the products that you have for export and then we will thaw out those products and then we do those sampling. I don’t know of any fisherman that freezes products. But it is something we will consider in future amendments. If you look at it on the positive side of things it will save government time for any litigation or carrying this matter in court, carrying it for another six months or a year when there are means for settlement and we decided to go that route.”
Quintana informed the press that the confiscated goods will be donated to feeding programs across the country.
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