Couva North MP, Hinds discuss pirate attacks

FOLLOWING recent pirate attacks against fishermen, the presidents of two fishing associations along with Couva North MP Ravi Ratiram, met with National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds to discuss the way forward.

In a press release on Tuesday, Ratiram said he met with Hinds, Carli Bay Fishing Association president Imtiaz Khan and Claxton Bay Fishing Association president Necolson Seecharan on Monday.

Last Wednesday, there was a series of pirate attacks in the Gulf of Paria.

A Claxton Bay fisherman's boat was stolen and was eventually recovered minus the engine.

In another incident, boat captain Desmond Belfast was reportedly thrown overboard and his pirogue and engine stolen. This vessel has also since been recovered.

In a separate incident, father and son Tarabath and Sonnylal Balkaran were thrown overboard while fishing at Otaheite around 9 pm.

Then, around 9 pm on Sunday, Pleasantville fisherman Andy Volman was held at gunpoint and thrown overboard in La Brea. The body of the 62-year-old man washed ashore at Station Beach, La Brea on Tuesday morning.

The press release said the meeting was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of National Security and members of the Coast Guard.

They met at at the ministry's headquarters at Temple Court, Abercromby Street, Port of Spain.

Ratiram said, "At this meeting, we discussed several issues that have been affecting our fishermen for some time. Recommendations were advanced by myself and the representatives of the two fishing associations.

"Arising out of these recommendations, several commitments were given by the minister and his team. It was evident that there is a lot of outstanding work to be addressed and I do hope that the discussions will bring about some positive outcomes.

"It is certainly a work in progress that we will continue to pursue to ensure that the challenges faced by our fishermen are alleviated so that no more lives or livelihoods are lost."

Some of his recommendations included a mandatory fishing voyage notification procedure to alert the Coast Guard "an established procedure" for fishermen to apply for permits to buy flare launchers, a photographic log of all registered fishing vessels in the country, the installation of CCTV cameras and a security booth at the Carli Bay Fishing Facility, GPS trackers for vessels and engines, among other things.