The Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) is denying that there is a fish kill at La Brea, insisting instead that it is a case of fishermen dumping an unwanted catch of low demand fish.
Further to the IMA’s preliminary findings, La Brea Member of Parliament Nicole Olivierre is now instructing the organisation to conduct toxicology testings on the carcasses to determine the cause scientifically.
“The first step that has to be taken in trying to ascertain the source of the fish kill is to actually have the IMA do some sampling of the fish that came up and do some toxicology testing to determine exactly what it is that has caused the fishes to die.
“Once we have ascertained that, then we will be able to work backwards and see exactly what the source of that toxicology substance is, so we could then take steps to identify the source of any pollution that is out there,” she said.
Olivierre, who is also the minister of energy, responded to questions about the troubling issue in her constituency, during a site visit to Wells Services Rig 4 located in the Petrotrin Field at Sudama Trace, Fyzabad, yesterday.
La Brea fisherfolk are speculating that toxic waste being dumped from one of the companies operating along the Gulf of Paria may be responsible for the dead fish washing ashore.
However, the IMA, which visited one of the affected beaches, Carat Shed Beach, La Brea, earlier this week, released its preliminary findings which suggest the likely cause of the fish kills is the dumping of unwanted catch by an unknown party or parties.
The IMA based its findings on the fact that the most popular specie of fish which washed ashore was mullet which preliminary market data indicates there is a low local demand for at present.
The institute said it also observed, during the investigation, that fishing was taking place within the same area, with live healthy salmon and blinch being caught by fishermen and that there were no abnormalities relating to water quality at the sites in question.
Quizzed about the claims of fishermen, Olivierre said, “Fish kills are a major concern because La Brea is a fishing community. So we want to make sure that the fish that is caught in the area will be safe.”
To this end, she said, she would make every effort to ascertain the source of the toxin, if any, which was causing the death of the marine life in that particular area.
Without empirical data, she said, they could not assign blame to any company or individual.
In response to claims that toxicology tests done last August, when a dolphin and other species of fish washed ashore, were never released, Olivierre stated that she has asked a representative from the ministry to contact the IMA to obtain those results.
“So we can look into it, to see exactly what findings came out of it, to determine the source of the substance that is leading to this fish kill because we want to make sure fish caught in this area are safe.”