Fishermen have voiced confidence that they can salvage a deal with the Government over final sticking points in a marine conservation plan for the island.

Allan Bean, the president of the Fishermen’s Association of Bermuda, said the group was “re-engaging” in talks over the Bermuda Ocean Prosperity Programme after discussions with Walter Roban, the Minister of Home Affairs.

“The minister is adamant that we will work out a resolution that can keep everybody happy,” Mr Bean said of the negotiations over a memorandum of understanding between the industry association and the Bermuda Government.

“At the end of the day, we all want what’s best for Bermuda. There might be differences, but we have to sit down and talk.”

The BOPP was approved in 2019 in a tripartite agreement between the Government, the Bermuda Institute of Ocean Sciences and the Waitt Institute, a US-based environmental group committed to ocean conservation.

Under the proposal, 20 per cent of the waters in Bermuda’s offshore exclusive economic zone would be placed under full protection, with no fishing permitted.

Mr Roban has defended the agreement as a fitting compromise for Bermuda, with Britain already committed to set aside 30 per cent of its waters for conservation.

Although the FAB announced this month it was walking away from negotiations over the management plan, Mr Bean said yesterday that the dispute had boiled down to “the technical wording of our MOU”.

“In our conversations with the minister, we agreed that we had finished the hard part and it was felt that he would not need to be present at the next round of discussions, as Mr Roban is not a marine person.”

But he said fishermen had subsequently hit an impasse with officials at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

“Things went sideways,” Mr Bean said. “Fishermen felt disrespected — our feeling is they need to go out in the field with us, get their feet wet and their hands dirty and learn from people who are in the know.”

Fishermen have previously objected to the mapping of protected areas and felt maligned under the plan.

The FAB threatened legal action over the programme last November, and drew up a petition against it in January.

Mr Bean said the FAB and Mr Roban had agreed to meet directly for an agreement.

“Just as the Government had their tripartite agreement with Waitt and BIOS, we felt it would be best for us to have our own MOU so that going forward we would have an understanding.

“Up until a few weeks ago we were having regular meetings with the minister and permanent secretary to work through issues.

“The minister and I have agreed we need to have another meeting with a view to coming to common ground.”