More pain for fisherfolk, says councillor for Perseverance/Waterloo Dubraj Persad as Sunday’s oil spill in the Gulf of Paria threatens the livelihoods of fisherfolk in the area and environs. Persad says the fallout from the spill will negatively impact fisherfolk and their families, surrounding communities, and the environment if clean-up exercises are not done properly. In a media release yesterday, Persad said many fishermen are out at sea as soon as the 5 a.m. curfew is lifted to make an honest living. Apart from the pandemic, fisherfolk have had to face piracy, increased fuel cost, and a lack of security on the open seas, he said. He said corporate secretary of the Fishermen and Friends of the Sea along Gary Aboud with Imitiaz Khan, president of the Carli Bay Fishing Association on Sunday conducted a site visit in the Gulf of Paria in the vicinity of Pointe-a-Pierre where an oil spill was seen. He said the spill spread rapidly towards Brickfield situated in his electoral district of Perseverance/Waterloo and fishermen were unable to conduct their normal fishing activities as their equipment (nets, engines) are at risk of irreparable damage. Noting this is not the first time they have had to deal with an oil spill in their community, Persad said he is standing firmly with his burgesses, the fishermen, and their families, who continue to bear the brunt when a situation like this occurs. He asked the following questions: 1. Where are the preventative measures on these occurrences?” 2. Would anyone be held accountable? 3. Would compensation for their equipment be meted out to them?” 4. What about our environment?” 5. Where is Paria Fuel Trading on all this?”
Persad has also called on the management of Paria Fuel Trading Co Ltd and the Minister of Energy Industries to compensate the fishermen for their equipment losses. “I further call for compensation for the days they will be unable to conduct their trade,” Persad said. Increased prices President of the Carli Bay Fishing Association, Imitiaz Khan, said he received reports about the oil spill on Sunday and he went out to the site with Aboud to see what was happening. Khan said when he saw the amount of oil he was rendered speechless. “I was wondering what was going to happen to the fisherfolk? What will be the environmental impacts, and what will this do to fishing in the Gulf? The Gulf is the nursery of our fisheries, and with the amount of oil we were seeing and the way they (Paria) were handling it, there is a grave concern. Instead of containing it, there is a video where their vessels are spinning in the oil to break it up, and that is not the way it should be dealt with,” he said. Khan said while he saw media reports with Paria stating they had booms to collect the oil, he and Aboud saw no evidence of that on Sunday. “We had a similar incident in 2018 in Orange Valley, and it negatively affected fishermen as fish prices went down because a lot of people were concerned about eating fish from the Gulf. Seventy-five per cent of the fishing in this country happens in the Gulf, so this is a major concern for us,” he said. Consumers’ concern Vice-president of the San Fernando King’s Wharf Fish Vendors’ Association Glen Jumrattie says the oil spill would not only affect marine life, but it would affect the environment too. According to Jumrattie, media reports on the oil spill also affect sales for fishermen as customers no longer come to buy because they are concerned about the health risks and contaminated fish. He says while most vendors at King’s Wharf get their fish more along the East Coast and Las Cuevas, there is a sizeable fishing community in Trinidad and, as such, the environmental and economic impact from this oil spill will affect many people and their livelihoods.
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