Fishermen claimed yesterday they were to blame for schools of dead fish washing ashore in the southwestern peninsular.
The admission came almost a month after reports of dead fish washing ashore and claims that they were poisoned from oil spills.
The fishermen said they have seen others dumping herrings, cat fish and mullet, trapped in their nets, back into the ocean.
The mystery fish kill which surfaced last month has already eroded the public’s confidence in the consumption of fish.
Fish sales also declined drastically when secretary of Fishermen and Friends of the Sea, Gary Aboud, called on the public not to purchase bottom dwelling fish caught in the Gulf of Paria saying total petroleum hydrocarbon levels were too high.
However, at the Claxton Bay fishing port yesterday several people admitted to dumping by-catch, saying it was not true the dead fish surfaced because of pollution and toxicity in the Gulf.
Desmond Belfast who has been fishing for over 20 years said their nets often bring in unwanted catch. He said those who use the Italian seine and seabed trawling were usually the culprits.
“People do not buy herring, mullet and catfish. They want cutlass fish, king fish, salmon and carite. Right now we are in a leap year and it is the most productive time of the year so we are catching a lot of fish. The waters are cold and the fish come to the shallow,” Belfast said.
He said he had often seen the Italian seine operators dumping buckets of dead herrings and sardines at sea.
Another fisherman, Lawrence Bailey, agreed with Belfast saying: “Even the trawler operators dump fish.Thousands of fish pass through the nets, especially in the warm shallows so when they get caught, they are thrown back in the water.”
Denying the fish were being wasted, Bailey said birds and other fish consume the dead fish. However, he said, because of the unusual west wind, the dead by-catch had been washing ashore, making people believe that the fish died from poisoning.
At the Carli Bay fishing port, one Italian seine operator said the herrings which became caught in their nets were usually thrown back alive. Captain Ashmead Khan said: “The trawler operators throw back dead fish in the sea. The trawlers need to be regulated.”
Boat owner Fawaz Khan said he did not believe the recent fish kill was caused by high toxicity levels in the Gulf.
“We have seen people dumping the fish. Why don’t the EMA and Cariri take samples of live fish to test toxicity rather than test dead fish,” Khan asked.
Vendor Rishi Sahadeo said he had to dump $5,000 worth of fish because of declining sales.
Meanwhile, chairman of the EMA, Nadra Nathai-Gyan, said the Ministry of Planning was co-ordinating with the Public Health Department to do further testing abroad.
She said the minister had asked the Public Health Inspectorate to go out and do further testing which would be sent to an international laboratory.
Managing director of the EMA,Gayatri Badri-Maharaj, said the EMA would be continuing tests and would be collaborating with the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) to do a deeper analysis of tests.