St Barts Island :: Fisherman BlockadeÂ
On Monday, December 17th, I got the strangest phone call from a friend – he said that there was a blockade enforced on St Barts Island. What?!? It appears that local fisherman were more than a little upset over the news of the new fuel tax and they were protesting by using their tiny little fishing boats to block the mega yachts from coming in to port. The blockade even made it to the New York Post Page Six because it had the potential to disrupt the honeymoon of Harvey Weinstein and Georgina Chapman; can you even imagine?!
I really just have three things to say about this: First, St Barts is almost independent and the people voted for this! It’s no wonder that the “Collectivité” (the legal body) has to find the financial resources to finance the island budget; I mean, it’s not like money is falling out of the sky to pay for everything that runs this island. Being tax-free is an illusion, and the tourists cannot finance our entire yearly operating budget. Someone has to pay for our expenses.
Second, the fact that this made the New York Post Page Six is borderline ridiculous – the only thing more so is the quote in the article that talks about GQ models having to be smuggled on and off the island in the “cover of darkness” before the fisherman’s “stranglehold” was complete. It sounds so dramatic, doesn’t it? Which brings me to my third,and final, point. French fishermen are very prone to this behavior, they block ports every year in continental France.
