Members of the San Fernando Fishing Co-operative said the $1 million payout for fishermen from the Government had not solved the fish kill problem.
President Salim Gool said their livelihood is still at stake.
He said the payment was just a temporary balm and members of his co-operative have not benefitted from the compensatory package.
Gool said they wanted a permanent solution.
According to Bobby Sooklalsingh, the fish kill has affected the industry across the island, yet only selected people are benefitting from the compensation.
However, Gool said he was assured by Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi, who is also the Member of Parliament for San Fernando West, that the San Fernando fishermen would get their dues.
“The fish kill was not solved by the million dollars. It helped some people who were struggling to make a dollar,” Gool said.
Local fish consumption which has been on the decline since a fish kill was first reported on the Mosquito Creek, La Romaine, in July and subsequent sightings at La Brea and Vessigny beaches, has not improved.
Now after months of wrangling between the various State agencies and fisherfolk to get to the root of the fish kill, the Ministry of Planning and Development, agreed on Monday to send fish samples of the Food and Drug Administration laboratory in the United States for testing.
At the meeting with representatives from the various agencies, including the Environmental Management Authority (EMA), Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA) and the Caribbean Industrial Research Institute (Cariri), it was agreed that various species from 12 geographic areas where landing sites were located would be tested for heavy metals (lead, copper, mercury, zinc) as well as poly aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs).
Gool said he was not certain this would improve their situation and also questioned whether the samples would be from the July fish kill or from the present time.
“We want to know what caused the fish kill, if they could stop it so it would not happen again and our livelihood would become steady.”
Dumping fish every day
Another member of his organisation, Steven Marlon Taylor, said that decision would further hurt the fishing industry.
“That is dread news. The way that news come out is that fish has poison and chemical and that could kill the whole industry.
“Right now people not buying fish and now it will only get worse and people will not buy until the results come back clean. But that results could take months, years to come back and what would happen to us in the interim,” he said.
Taylor who has been fishing for the past 35 years, said he worked hard to uplift himself and made a heavy investment in fishing by way of a boat and equipment and in the employment of others.
“Right now my equipment need fixing but the money going down, down, down, yet I still have to reach into my pocket when my employers come looking for something.
“We not selling. Everyday I throwing away thousands of dollars in fish. Some days I don’t have the heart to do it and I ask the other fellas to throw it away for me because is money I throwing away.”