The Flying Fish Dispute was a conflict between the Caribbean nations of Barbados and Trinidad and Tobago in the early 2000s. It was sparked by the changing migratory patterns of flying fish which saw this species move away from Barbados and into the waters of Trinidad and Tobago. As flying fish are important to both the economy and culture of Barbados, this led to a significant disagreement between the nations, which required the intervention of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in the Hague, Netherlands, to resolve. However, in 2023, the dispute reignited, and, at the time of writing (in early 2024) remains unresolved.

Flying fish are not a single species of fish. Indeed, there are over sixty species of flying fish worldwide, with all living in tropical and sub-tropical waters around the equator. All are silvery in appearance and look somewhat similar to herrings with the addition of the large pectoral fins that act as wings. Flying fish fly (or at least glide) by building up speed just below the water’s surface and then jumping out and using their adapted pectoral fins to travel through the air. They can remain airborne for around thirty seconds, reach heights of five to six metres and cover distances of up to fifty metres before returning to the water. This ability is thought to be an adaptation to escape predators which include tuna, marlin, billfish, sharks, killer whales and dolphins.

Barbadians have fished for this species for several hundred years, meaning that the flying fish is not only highly commercially important but has also become intertwined with the island’s history and culture. Barbados often refers to itself in tourist literature as ‘The Land of the Flying Fish,’ cou-cou and flying fish is a traditional Barbadian recipe which is the nation’s national dish and a flying fish features on the Barbadian one-dollar coin. Flying fish are therefore important to Barbados not just economically in terms of employment and fishing jobs, but hold deep cultural significance to the nation.
Trouble started in the early 2000s when flying fish began to change their migratory patterns, meaning that they were becoming less common in Barbadian waters and increasingly moving several hundred miles southwards towards the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, possibly due to global warming or other aspects of climate change. With much of their small-scale fishing industry based around catching flying fish, Barbadian fishermen had no choice other than to follow the flying fish into the territorial waters of Trinidad and Tobago, sparking the dispute.

The Barbadian fishermen argued that flying fish were so important to both their livelihoods and culture that they had the right to fish for them wherever they were, while the Trinidad and Tobago fishermen stated that the boundaries of their fisheries must be respected and the Barbadian fishermen had no right to fish within Trinidad and Tobago’s waters. Gerald Thompson, a legal officer at the Foreign Ministry of Trinidad and Tobago stated:
“The stocks [of flying fish] in Barbados waters have been grievously depleted, and we didn’t want a large number of vessels from the Barbados fleet, the largest in the region, descending on our waters.” [Source]
But Barbadian fishermen hit back, claiming that flying fish were not important to the people of Trinidad and Tobago on either a cultural or economic basis and that the fishermen of Trinidad and Tobago were opportunistically catching this species to simply sell back to the Barbadians. It was also pointed out that Trinidad and Tobago was a relatively rich nation, being the Caribbean’s leading producer of oil and gas, and therefore could not justify catching this species on an economic basis. Tensions were raised when the Trinidad and Tobago coast guard arrested two Barbadian fishermen who had encroached into waters near Tobago to catch flying fish. The fishermen were fined and had their catch confiscated. This raised the stakes of the dispute considerably with Barbadian fishermen becoming furious that direct action was being taken to stop them from catching flying fish.

If the dispute had been allowed to drag on, it could have caused serious implications for the fishermen of the two nations and possible knock-on implications for the lucrative tourist income of the region. For this reason, both parties sought to settle the dispute through diplomatic means and, in 2004, appealed to the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague in the Netherlands. After reviewing the dispute the court ruled on a compromise decision. It was decided that the exact lines of the EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone) of the two nations would be established, meaning that each nation would have clearly defined areas in which they could catch flying fish. However, Barbadian fishermen would be permitted to fish in a section of waters belonging to Trinidad and Tobago with the permission of the latter nation’s government. While a compromise had been reached the agreement meant that both parties could claim some sort of victory, and both peace and fishing returned to the waters of the Caribbean.
While the stand-off between these countries was never as tense as those between Britain and Iceland in the Cod Wars or Canada and Spain in the Turbot War, the dispute still showed how tensions can become raised over fishing rights. It also showed that fishermen and the wider community will fight to protect their ability to catch a species which is seen as economically and culturally important. The Flying Fish Dispute also highlights the impact that changing migratory patterns of fish can cause. With climate change and the altering temperature of the world’s seas and oceans becoming more prevalent we may see disputes like this becoming more common across the world.
The Dispute Restarts
In 2023, news emerged that the Flying Fish Dispute had reignited. Curtis Douglas, president of the All Tobago Fisherfolk Association (ATFA), told the website Barbados Today that there had been an increase in Barbadian fishermen operating in the waters of Trinidad and Tobago, and this constituted “overfishing”, which was damaging the livelihoods of Trinidad and Tobago’s fishermen. A 2024 article in the Guardian, stated that Trinidad and Tobago-based fast food restaurant chain Royal Castle had withdrawn flying fish sandwiches from its menu due to uncertain supplies of the species. In the same article Junior Quashie, the vice-president of the ATFA, said: “their boats are larger, and they fish night and day while we only fish in the day. In night fishing, the light attracts all of the flying fish [to their boats]” he also said that the Barbadian fishermen used large hanging nets, which caught large numbers of flying fish, whereas the Trinidadian fishermen used much more sustainable hand lines.
As of early 2024, the dispute remains unresolved.