Scarborough fishermen, ATFA quarrel over fishing depot

Sinks remain unused inside the Scarborough Fishing Facility.
Sinks remain unused inside the Scarborough Fishing Facility.

A heated argument broke out between Scarborough fishermen and All Tobago Fisherfolk Association (ATFA) President Junior Quashie and Vice President Curtis Douglas minutes before a press conference was to be held by ATFA at the Scarborough fishing depot with the fishermen contending that Association keeps using the facility to air concerns about the industry but persistently ignores pressing and immediate concerns affecting their livelihood, right at that site.

“What allyuh doing here” Only using our area to do your thing, why not stay up Castara?” one fisherman shouted angrily to Quashie and Douglas.

President of the Scarborough fisherfolk, Kerry Makoul, told Newsday Tobago that the fishermen were angry that AFTA consistently uses the depot to host its press conferences but never consults with them or informs them that they would be doing so, and has never addressed issues affecting them but rather creates problems for them.

Makoul recalled an instance when the fast ferry was blocked by fishermen, led by AFTA, but which did not involve the Scarborough fishermen. He said he was forced to approach a Coast Guard official to explain that Scarborough fishermen were not involved in that action.

He also said the fishermen were never informed nor invited to be involved when Minority Leader Watson Duke and Douglas staged a swim protest from Tobago to Toco, with the depot as the gathering point for Duke and his supporters. He recalled that police officers were called in to wreck a truck which was damaged and blocked by people who had gathered for that event, and that the ensuing chaos angered the fishermen because it gave them a bad reputation in the public’s eye.

He said the fishermen have become disillusioned with the ATFA executive because of this continued disrespect, compound by the fact that ATFA has never brought the matter of the inhumane conditions under which the Scarborough fishermen operate, to the attention of the authorities.

Makoul pointed to the dilapidated state of the Scarborough fishing facility - doors to the washroom facility are broken, the washroom facilities do not work, a security booth is used as a storage area and an unbearable stench surrounds the building. Built from containers as a temporary structure back in 2015,

the fishing facility is rusted, and the wooden table used for handling fish is rotting away, plus the aircondition is non-functional.

Despite the altercation, and the reasons for the fishermen ire, Quashie and Douglas nevertheless proceeded to hold their press conference, and completely ignored the problems facing the Scarborough fishermen.

Instead, ATFA executives wanted to know why the Tobago House of Assembly’s Fisheries Department wanted the Association to return the keys to a building in Studley Park given to fisherfolk by former Chief Secretary Orville London.

Said Quashie: “I feel hurt to know we were given a building and the Director of Fisheries is asking back for the key. I am going to give him back his key, but he has to take it back through the media since they gave us it in presence of the media.”

Quashie also spoke about what he said was unfair treatment being meted out to Tobago fishermen as regards gas and fishing equipment subventions.

“We have a document that tells us that in order to get this subsidy, we have to go to Trinidad, and do up an application before we can benefit from this. This is one of our many concerns in Tobago; we want the same deal as Trinidad.” He did not say what obtained in Trinidad.

Quashie also complained that Secretary of Food Production and Fisheries, Hayden Spencer has shown no interest in addressing the fishermen issues over the past four months.

“I am asking Secretary Spencer to get up and deal with our issues. Monthly meeting with him (Spencer) were cancelled

because of him, the meeting is always called off a day before or on the day we need to meet,” he reported.

Comments

"Scarborough fishermen, ATFA quarrel over fishing depot"

More in this section