00:00On Wednesday, stakeholders comprising reef associations, taxi drivers, fishermen and even fish processors gathered outside the Pigeon Point Heritage Park,
00:11calling for consultation from the THA on the Tobago Marine Park Bill before it goes to Parliament.
00:17Captain and tour operator Mario Solomon is calling on Prime Minister Kamala Fasad-Bissessa to not pass the Tobago Marine
00:24Park Bill when it reaches Parliament.
00:26The bill was passed at the Assembly Chamber last Thursday and now goes to Parliament according to Chief Secretary Fahli
00:34Augustin.
00:35The Honourable Mrs. Fasad-Bissessa, right, that nonsense that they draft and bring forward and trying to push down Tobago
00:43-Nian's throat for you, right, to make it sound like it is the voice of Tobago.
00:49That is what Tobago people want. Tobago people don't want that. We don't want that at the end of the
00:54day.
00:54So the ball is in her hands or in her court at this present point in time, and I think
01:00as political leader, the people have the say, not the 15 have the say.
01:05Vendor Lincoln Potts said the Chief Secretary is to be blamed in the matter, and the stakeholders alone should not
01:12be held to account.
01:13Mr. Augustin is to be blamed. You know why? Mr. Augustin only picked this up because somebody's dead. But this
01:23thing was here long before where Mr. Sandy put it there, right, and nobody picked it up until somebody got
01:31killed.
01:32Stakeholder Terence Pitt wants the THA to be fair in the matter.
01:37We've been asking that all the demarcation to be properly lit.
01:42When you go to the Coral Garden, the captains have been complaining that the buoys have been burst and the
01:49buoys are no more for years now.
01:52No buoys, no demarcation. We talk about the no-man's land has become a popular destination.
01:59There is a people are bathing in no-man's land. We ask for demarcation to be placed in the no
02:05-man's land. We haven't got it.
02:06Reef tour operator Sherman Marcel is warning that tourism would suffer in Tobago if the bill is passed.
02:13Because this marine park belongs to Tobago. It does not only belong to the THA or the Canaan-Burn Accord
02:20community.
02:21It belongs to us, and we share it with the people outside there in the world.
02:25OK? So basically, there's a lot of defects in this new bill that we are trying to prevent from passing.
02:32But not so fast, says Chief Secretary Fahli Augustin, as he spoke on Thursday in Tobago East.
02:38Mr. Augustin said the regulations enforced to maintain Tobago's tourism thrust remain key.
02:44And as an island where we are at a crossroad, where we are trying to determine whether or not we
02:52ought to regulate the spaces that we love,
02:55we must appreciate that regulation is not saying that you cannot use it.
03:01Regulation is saying how it ought to be used, so that the next generation and the generations that follow the
03:09next generation will continue to enjoy what we have today.
03:13The THA has filed a High Court action in the matter, which would be heard on Friday.
03:19Some jet ski operators and other stakeholders were served by the THA and Pigeon Point Park Ltd. in the matter.
03:27Elizabeth Williams, TV6 News.
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