Plenty more fish in the sea?

In the case of TT, the waves of half dead and very dead fish of all varieties that have been washing up on our leeward coastline is nothing short of an environmental disaster that threatens our well-being.

Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) has been warning us for years of the damaging effect of a lack of effective strategies for marine conservation and fisheries management but there seems to be an inability on the part of successive governments to wrestle with the problems we face.

It is not a little problem, for sure, but we have to start somewhere.

How about with the facts of the current crisis? Clear evidence exists that the dead fish was not dumped, as previously claimed by the Environmental Management Authority and the Institute of Marine Affairs, institutions supposedly acting in our best interest and securing our environment.

Instead, the video recordings by the FFOS show that some of the fish are in the process of dying on the shore and some of them display signs of chemical burning on their bodies that is consistent with the effect of chemical contamination by Corexit, in particular, which was reportedly used to manage the Petrotrin oil spill nearly three years ago in the current disaster area.

Since then, according to FFOS, tens of thousands of fish, corbeaux, pelicans, crabs and dolphins have washed up there.

This crisis should concern us all, including its mishandling.

Firstly, the authorities and the fishermen have been misleading the consumer and insulting our intelligence.

We all understand that the fishermen deny contamination because they have to feed their families but does anyone imagine that we would choose to eat fish while nobody can agree on the source of the disaster? Secondly, in making public the FFOS’s findings, the NGO released insufficient information about which fish are affected. Is it all fish on sale everywhere? Consequently I, for one, have boycotted all fish, and that may not have been necessary.

We can only guess at the accumulated cost to the fishermen, fishmongers and restaurateurs.

However, still more important is the nature of the terrible illnesses in store for us in the long term from having consumed toxic fish over many years.

In an advanced country the population would be up in arms, instead of implementing just the silent boycott, and there would be legal action in due course against the government agencies that have, as it appears, colluded with big and small business to allow us to endanger our lives.

A discerning lawyer could start planning now for the proven cases of rare illnesses that will begin to appear in time. It would behove us all to monitor our ill health closely.

Of course the myopic fishermen are killing the goose that lays the golden egg. Their self-interest should not be short term, but rather focused on the goal of preserving their livelihoods. They should not let the fear of no cash tomorrow prevent them from defending what is right.

I have stopped recommending visitors to the Bird Sanctuary because I feel both sick and embarrassed by the foul-smelling pollution of the mangrove, coated in thick black sludge that looks like leaked oil. I am ashamed too that the operators seem not to notice or care. It is a brave person who eats a fish, oyster or crab from those habitats.

We should start acknowledging that fish is a vital source of nutrients for human beings and s e r i ous ly begin fish conservation.