Decline in fish sales after oil spill

“Whenever these things happen, customers stay away,” said fisherman Sunil Supersad.

“They do not want to buy anything because they are afraid the fishes are unsafe to eat. It is bad for us because we lose out and no one pays us any compensation for our loss of earnings.” Supersad operates at the Otaheite Fishing Depot at Bay Road in South Oropouche.

He believes because of the direction of the winds and currents at sea, the fuel did not wash ashore at Otaheite. Instead, it made its way to the south-western peninsula.

“It is 35 years now I am in this business.

Our men went out fish at Point (Fortin) this morning and spotted oil in the water. We want to know what chemicals Petrotrin is using to clean it and what effect it will have on the fish.” Another fisherman from Otaheite said the fish on sale were purchased elsewhere and not from the area.

Petrotrin estimated that an estimated 300 barrels of the fuel entered the Gulf of Paria after the leak. Since the discovery, officials from the Ministry of Energy and Energy Industries, Environmental Management Authority and the Institute of Marine Affairs together with other bodies engaged in clean-up activities.

Petrotrin, in a media release, said aerial and marine surveys revealed that the oil was moving in a west north-westerly direction.

There were also reports of oil in the Guaracara River. However, the company reiterated that the spill occurred in the port of Pointe-a- Pierre which is northwest of that river.

According to the Ministry’s head of corporate communications Rory Subiah, the ministry is employing the Incident Management System to manage the spill in coordination with Petrotrin and other government agencies. All of this, Subiah added, was in accordance with the National Oil Spill Contingency Plan.

At Coffee and Carat Shed beaches in La Brea, there were no visible indication of oil in the water.