Rambharat hopes ibis poachers will be fined under new legislation

Neither game wardens nor the Environmental Management Authority (EMA) were aware that the designation of the scarlet ibis as an environmentally sensitive species (ESS) was officially gazetted on October 11.

This resulted in the three men who were caught with the carcass of a young ibis being charged under the existing legislation.

The three, a Chinese restaurant manager, a Chinese cook, and a Trinidadian handyman, were arrested at a roadblock in El Socorro on Saturday with the body of a young scarlet ibis. They were each fined $800 for being in possession of the bird and given two weeks to pay.

Speaking at the launch of World Food Day 2018 at the Mid-Centre mall carpark yesterday, Agriculture Minister Clarence Rambharat said the EMA had only been notified about the official gazetting on Monday.

“If we had known that, and the game wardens had known that, they would have charged the persons. But the reality is the game wardens did not know, they had no means of knowing. Not even the EMA knew. The EMA got the notification yesterday and passed it on to me.

"But the fact is the next person found in this country with the scarlet ibis, I hope will be called upon to pay not $800, but the $100,000.

Rambharat said the change in the fine was gazetted on October 11, but that information was only passed on to the EMA on Monday.

"So when our game wardens contacted the EMA on Saturday, they were told it was not gazetted as yet. I suppose they didn’t have the opportunity. It has to go to the government printer and that is the way it is gazetted...up to last night online it wasn’t there, so it may be added sometime.

"We’ve gone past that: it’s gazetted now, and of course we continue to look out for it, patrol and continue to protect.”