 The government of St. Lucia is committed to ensuring fisherfolk understand their recent decision to temporarily suspend fishing licenses as part of the efforts to protect the entire island from the spread of COVID-19. Prime Minister Hon. Alan Chastney at Monday's press briefing said the decision was not an easy one. The Prime Minister cited overwhelming evidence suggests that persons continued to enter St. Lucia illegally, and a recent lockdown in Martigny could mean that more persons would be eager to come home. The decision or the need to make an immediate decision came out of two factors, well actually three factors. One was that Martigny announced a close down of its own borders, and we felt that that would increase the number of persons who wanted to come to St. Lucia. Secondly, in the investigations that we have been undertaking, reports continuously come back to us that persons are bringing people in illegally up to last week, and I find that shocking. Ahead of the media briefing, Prime Minister Chastney held a meeting with some fisherfolk representatives, and talks are expected to continue into Tuesday 3 November 2020 with more representatives from the Fisher Society and Fisheries Department. The need to have suspended licenses was important to allow the Marine Police to get back on top of the situation, and to have dialogue which already started today and over the weekend with the fisherfolk on how we're going to collectively resolve this issue. They have some concerns with regards to economics, which we will address, but we also have concerns as a state from a security perspective. The state, it's no secret, by itself cannot manage the borders by ourselves. And the fisherfolk need to act as part of our security force. And we're hoping that we can convince them that as solutions, that their priority would be for St. Lucia, and for their own families. And so we are going to have a meeting tomorrow morning at 8.30. I know that the ministry is meeting with them today as well. I know that they had some meetings themselves over the weekend, and hopefully by tomorrow we would have this issue resolved and that we would be collaborating both as a state as well as the fisherfolk to resolve the issue. The Government of St. Lucia is committed to addressing the health crisis while protecting livelihoods. The Prime Minister met last week at the Chamber of Commerce, and the National Emergency Management Advisory Committee, NIMAC, in consultative meetings on the latest protocols. There are also follow-up meetings this week with hoteliers and restaurants and bar owners on recent protocols. Reporting for the Office of the Prime Minister, I am Danielle Dubois.