They came with eager faces yesterday, hoping to get a pittance to send their children to school next week. But many fisherfolk left dejected when they were told it would be three weeks before they receive any of the promised funds from Government.
Over 200 fishermen, fish mongers, crab catchers and oyster vendors turned up at the South Oropouche Community Complex to apply for part of a $1 million financial assistance promised by Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley last week.
Fisherman Kumar Cyril and his wife Lutchmie said since fish sales slumped because of the recent oil spill and fish kill, they have not been able to afford to buy milk for their 11-month-old baby Cameron.
“Luckily, I still breast feed him but he is still underweight. Right now we struggling to buy uniforms and books for the other children (Kamal, eight and Kareem, four),” she said.
Kumar said even though fishermen were going out to catch they were not selling their hauls.
“People are scared to buy. When we put out our goods people stopping and asking if we trying to poison them. The fishes wasting and its been more than six weeks that we have no income,” he said.
Christopher Mahatoo said he was grateful for any assistance that the Government gives. However, he said it would have been better if the monies were distributed before the start of the new school term.
President of the Otaheite Vendors’ Association, Clement Charles, said people have been waiting for financial aid for the past two months.
“So what if we wait a few more weeks? It makes no difference except that people will be on a little more strain because the school term is opening next week,” he said.
Trawler captain Pooran Balkissoon said he hopes that the public could resume fish consumption so that the fishermen, crab catchers and conch vendors could continue to earn a livelihood.
Another fisherman, Ashook Lalman, said although he could not afford to buy all his children’s books, he still planned to send them out to school.
“I sell only one batch of crabs for the week, but books or no books, my children will go out to school next week. I still sending them,” he said.
Deputy permanent secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Claudelle Mc Kellar, said yesterday that it may be more than three weeks before any funds are distributed. He said the Ministry of Fisheries will provide the names of bonafide fishermen, along with officials from the various fishing associations. He also said the Ministry of Social Development will provide counselling to some of the applicants. But Mc Kellar said only fisherfolk from the Otaheite, La Brea and Vessigny will be registered in the initial phase.
Manager of the Main People's Issues Resolution Coordinating Unit (M PIRCU), Asauph Ghany, also said that a needs assessment will be done on applicants who are deserving of assistance. Asked whether any temporary foodcards were distributed yesterday, Ghany said no.
We were left out!
Meanwhile, fishermen from the fishing communities of St Marie, Bonasse, Granville and Bamboo, Icacos and Fullarton questioned why they were left out from the assistance programme.
President of the Cedros Fishing Association, Esook Ali, said La Brea and Vessigny only had a few fishermen compared to the hundreds who fished for a living in the Icacos/Cedros region.
“We should have gotten first priority. We don’t know if we were exempted from the financial assistance programme or if more money will be allocated to us,” Ali said.
He added, “Our fishing grounds have been taken away from us by Petrotrin and now Government is sidelining us. We are facing a really difficult time now and we deserve equal treatment.”
In an interview yesterday, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said the ongoing exercise was a registration process that targets areas directly impacted by the recent fish kill.
He added that the current exercise was to identify fisherfolk who require urgent assistance with back to school and household expenses.