La Brea Fisherfolk Association president Alvin La Borde is calling on the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and the Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) to disclose the results of their investigations into the fish kills over the last seven years.
La Borde made the call on the heels of the cancelation of a meeting with the south western fisherfolk and officials of the Ministry of Energy, IMA and EMA, which was carded for Saturday.
He said they were not told what the meeting was about or why it was cancelled.
However, he said: “We must make it clear that we are standing by our position that the public not just the fisherfolk need to be at the meeting to know exactly what is being said. We are looking at the fact that EMA and IMA have fallen short of producing certain information about what cause the fish death. After the 2013/2014 oil spill there was a task force set up. Why it is the then opposition which is the present government and the then government which is the present opposition have not make it public to date.
“We are calling on the Minister of Energy and the Prime Minister to intervene, if the Government is serious about stamping out corruption they need to come and demand the reports be made public.
“The upper management of EMA and the upper management of IMA need to be suspended pending an investigation like what they did with the Housing Minister when they did an audit. They have to investigate all of what happened from 2009 to date.”
La Borde said the $1 million assistance offered by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley would be insufficient.
When contacted via WhatsApp about the meeting, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said: “The meeting planned for yesterday (Saturday) was intended to give the fisherfolk an opportunity to address concerns to the Minister of Agriculture, EMA, IMA. The Ministry fo Agriculture was facilitating.
“The Cabinet on Thursday directed that Petrotrin reviews the concerns regarding hydrocarbons in the Gulf of Paria. Cabinet also requested that the Minister of Finance identify $1 million to assist fisherfolk in the Southwest.
“On the basis of those two decisions and the fact that the Minister of Energy was out of the country and would not have been able to meet with Petrotrin before the meeting planned for yesterday, the Ministry of Agriculture cancelled the meeting. If it becomes necessary to have the meeting later on it would be scheduled.”
In the interim, Rambharat said he will continue to meet with affected fisherfolk.