A key figure in the fishing industry is warning that a proposed move to make insurance compulsory for all boat owners could force small operators out of business.

President of the Black Fin Fleet Cooperative Society, Moonesh Dharampaul went further to describe the proposed legislation to mandate insurance cover for the owners of all fishing vessels as unjust and a bad deal.

He told Barbados TODAY: “The key issues that we face as a group…one of those is the mandatory insurance which we consider at this stage, to be an unfair decision; it is being put on us unjustly. We see it as an unfair practice, because, if you say insurance, it has to be all classes of boats. What is going to happen to a little man out there with a Moses now? If he has to pay insurance now, he is going to get vex and put down the boat.