Joint patrols to solve piracy problem

THE EDITOR: In response to Clint Chan Tack’s article dated Wednesday December 3, 2003, we the fisherfolk would first like to thank the reporter for highlighting the response of the Minister of National Security to the piracy problem in the Orinoco or Columbus Channel (not the Gulf-of-Paria as was stated). We want to make the public aware that the Minister knows nothing about or perhaps very little about piracy on the High Seas. He knows nothing about the Fishing Agreement between Tri-nidad and Venezuela. His suggestion that with the absence of guns there would be more Coast Guard patrols is nonsense.

The Minister does not know that our local Coast Guard cannot patrol Venezuela’s coastline without their permission. To do otherwise will be termed an act of aggression. The Minister should know that the common fishing ground in the Columbus Channel extends to about two miles from the coast of Venezuela. We would like the Minister to know that the most fish that is landed by our inshore fishermen come from Venezuelan waters and this will always be so. It is not viable for fishermen from the south to only fish in Trinidad’s coastal waters. We would like again to inform the Minister that one of the possible solutions to the piracy problem is, without doubt, joint patrols between Trinidad and Tobago and Venezuela’s Coast Guards on both side of the Channel, but to a greater extent on the Venezuela coastline.

Bona fide fishermen have their commitments both to family and bank just as anybody else, and piracy is no excuse for not honouring those commitments. Fishermen must feel secure in their working environment, thus bringing more food to the nation. We further state that in the history of Coast Guard operations no one on the south coast of TT has ever been rescued when in difficulty by the Coast Guard. They have never apprehended a pirate; how sad and outrageous. Finally we state that in the history of fishing in the Columbus Channel never has a Spanish or Guyanese vessel been pirated. Why Mr Minister? Should TT fishermen be the victims always? Is it possible that a 20th century solution that had failed miserably would succeed in the early 21st Century when most of the fishing is done in Venezuelan waters? Be realistic Mr Minister, and don’t try to give us a false sense of security resulting in major financial distress.

PETER BLANDIN
For and on behalf of
the fisherfolk of TT
Moruga