MP: La Brea beach a receiving point for garbage

After the fish kill at La Brea beaches, MP for the area Nicole Olivierre visited the affected areas on Sunday.

Accompanied by the president of the La Brea Fisherfolk Association, Alvin La Borde, the MP walked the shores looking at the impact of the dead fish. Olivierre is convinced the fish kill is a case of dumped fish and not fish that had been killed by some chemical. “The fishes are washing ashore daily and it is rotting on the beach causing a stink here,” she said.

She looked at the beaches at Carat Shed, Point Sable, Gonzales and Coffee Beach and noted there was garbage everywhere.

“La Brea beaches have become a garbage dump in recent times,” Olivierre said.

“A lot of dead fish washing ashore; in addition to that, there is a lot garbage that comes ashore as well.”

Lots of garbage bags come in with the tide, she said, and are semi-buried in the sand. She also noticed bags of garbage floating at the shoreline.

“Based on the slow pattern (of currents) in the Gulf of Paria, I would assume that the garbage would have entered the gulf through waterways, from San Fernando, Pointe-a-Pierre,” Olivierre said, adding that La Brea has become the receiving point for refuse that is thrown into waterways in central Trinidad.

She said if one were to look at the oil spill that took place from the Pointe-a-Pierre line, it is the same pattern that would have deposited this oil in La Brea that is taking the garbage to La Brea daily.

Olivierre said she had spoken with the heads of the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) and Institute of Marine Affairs (IMA), and after her visit to the beach she will now call on the IMA to trace the source of all the debris that ends up in La Brea.

She said she spoke with Minister of Planning Camille Robinson-Regis about doing a study to determine the source of the problem.