FISHERFOLK CALL OUT THE THA

CCNTV6

Close to fifty members of the Tobago Unified Fisherfolk Association (TUFA) are calling for outstanding compensation following the February 7th oil spill disaster in Tobago, last year They are threatening  to withhold their votes if their outstanding claims submitted to the THA are not met. The group held a media conference on Monday in Lambeau. More in this Elizabeth Williams report.

Transcript

00:00You're supposed to be leading by example, not curry favouring who you want or who looking

00:05to be a political raging party for you for this year, but I tell you, you ain't getting

00:09my vote again.

00:10You ain't getting my vote again.

00:11So, at the end of the day, let the fishermen here now talk, because they want answers.

00:18They need to know that here what's happened.

00:19We put somebody to stand up, militant and strong for we, none of us saw a thing.

00:24Marine Barry St. George said he has suffered thousands of dollars in losses and has bank

00:29loans and other bills outstanding.

00:32St. George said all the necessary documents were submitted to the THA.

00:37Some sections of the waters off Tobago East were also affected by the oil spill.

00:43It cost me $25,000 to paint the bottom of my boat, $25,000, so on those two occasions

00:52I could quantify my loss reasonably at close to $100,000.

00:57I know I'm not going to get any $100,000, so I quantified it as the loss of two sets

01:01of bait, $4,000, and $10,000 in fishing time and money and fuel, $24,000, that's all I

01:10want.

01:11Fisherman Richard Boris said even as they await outstanding monies, illegal fishing

01:17in Tobago waters continues.

01:20It's a disrespect to fishermen.

01:23The answers I'm not getting neither is that we have organised bodies like fisheries here

01:26who are doing nothing for us here.

01:29I will strike a photo, even with the boats, Spanish boats, Belgian boats in our waters

01:35right now, fishing right here, and nothing happening.

01:40The only thing they call the Coast Guard, sometimes they tell you, they can't let them

01:44cross trade.

01:45They are the ones who own these Spanish boats, but who is to know?

01:48Who is checking them?

01:49Who is checking the Belgian and them to know if they have passed the fishing here?

01:54The only time the Coast Guard is going to come out and say, you can't, they may say

01:57about your drugs, the Coast Guard is going to come.

01:59When contacted, Director of Fisheries Garth Otley said a meeting is to be held before

02:05the end of the week to discuss outstanding compensation.

02:08Mr. Otley was the Deputy Chairman of the Oil Spill Committee, whose term has since ended,

02:15and according to the committee list, the Tobago Unified Fisher Folk Association was a part

02:21of the committee.

02:22The committee has ended, the report was submitted to the line secretary, so we are in the process

02:35of honouring the report from the committee.

02:40In terms of, when you say honouring the report, what do you mean?

02:44In terms of the fisher folk, those who were impacted, the division will be meeting tomorrow.

02:52I think the assistant secretary, secretary of the administrator, myself, I just got the

02:57call today.

02:58Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.

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