(Trinidad Express) They have been labelled the “devils” of the deep blue sea, but today local trawlers are willing to leave the business if the State agrees to buy them out.
Fuel costs and restrictions, a lack of berthing space and competition from trawlers from the eastern side of the world and from imported seafood have come to bear on the local industry, threatening to snuff it out, head of the Trinidad and Tobago Trawlers Association Shaffi Mohammed said last week.
Business is no longer profitable enough to make it worth their while and most local trawlers are ready to settle for adequate compensation.
“They did it with Caroni (1975) Ltd, they can do it with us,” Mohammed said last Thursday at a news conference at the Orange Valley Community Centre.
“We will find something else to do.”
Should a buyout come to pass, it will be for many the second time they are starting over, having been retrenched from Caroni (1975) Ltd.
“Fishing absorbed a lot of former Caroni workers,” Mohammed said.
“What we have to ensure is that there is a plan and that people do not find themselves living off their compensation until it finishes. Which many former workers of Caroni are facing today.”
Mohammed said the impression remained in the public that trawlers and fishermen made an obscene amount of money, but this was not so.
“There are vessels waiting for up to a month for fuel,” he said.
Since cracking down on illegal fuel bunkering, the State has imposed rules on the buying and selling of fuel—with individuals being allowed only up to 100 litres in approved containers.
Finding approved containers in sizes larger than 20 litres is difficult, and return trips to a fuel station are time-consuming, Mohammed said.
When a vessel is finally put out to sea, fishermen must contend with territorial restrictions from oil companies that have peppered the marine landscape with rigs.
They share the limited space with trawlers from as far Thailand, Mohammed said.
They return to land with their catch and must then compete with vendors offering imported seafood at much lower prices.
“We feel as if there is a movement to destroy the fishing community as a whole,” said Michael Ramnath, head of the Otaheite Fisherfolk Association.
“We don’t know for what purpose, but all fisherfolk are facing challenges that are becoming insurmountable. We don’t believe the Government understands the significance of the contribution fisherfolk make.”
The fishing community is estimated to involve more than 10,000 citizens directly.
In Otaheite, the association has registered over 120 fishermen, who employ over 500 workers.
“That’s 500 families we are talking about,” Ramnath said.
The circle moves out to include vendors who buy wholesale from fishermen, transporters and even the business who sell ice to the fishermen and vendors.
Otaheite fisherman Raffick Khan said the proposed removal of the State’s subsidy on fuel, including the diesel that propels most vessels, would be the final nail in the coffin for the fishing community and will affect all downstream dependents.
“We are ready to move on,” Mohammed said.
“We are ready to engage in dialogue and we are asking the State to buy our boats and buy the rights to trawling locally.”
Belize became one of the first countries to ban all forms of trawling in its waters, when that Government bought out the industry in 2010.
The end of trawling in Trinidad and Tobago would mean a victory for environmental advocates who have long decried the debilitation of fish and shrimp grounds by bottom trawling, a method that drags a net for miles along the ocean floor.
In addition to the collapse of local shrimping grounds about three years ago, trawlers gather thousands of pounds of by-catch that include endangered marine species—sea turtles included.
Local trawlers are generally not equipped with the compulsory Turtle Exclusion Device (TED), which Mohammed said are near-impossible to buy locally.
“We are required to have them, but we do not have access to them,” he said.
Food Production Minister Devant Maharaj said last week he believes this call for a buyout is in response to moves by the State to regulate trawling.
Maharaj said the “rape of the sea” has been allowed to flourish for too long, and referred to trawling as a “prehistoric” form of fishing.
“The issue of trawling is, in fact, before the Ministry now,” Maharaj said, adding that local environmental groups have been consistent in calling for a ban on trawling.
“The regulations have been there for years, but were never enforced and just as parking laws are being enforced in Port of Spain, we are going to enforce the law across the board.”
The State has not been officially approached for a buyout, Maharaj said.
“If a proposal is put before me, I will look at it,” he said.
“We understand that, as has happened in other countries where trawling has been banned, the State must ultimately buy out the industry. Should we reach that point, it is something that would require Cabinet approval, as it would involve a lot of money that was not budgeted for. But yes, it would be considered, if the proposal has merit.”
