Hinds: Search for Cedros fishermen still on

National Security Minister Fitzgerald Hinds has said the Coast Guard (TTCG) and other agencies are still searching for five missing Cedros fishermen, as he denied the families' claim that Coast Guard boats were not working.

In Parliament on March 1, Hinds was responding to Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Moonilal's request for an update on the Coast Guard's and other agencies' search efforts.

Hinds responded by first clearing up what he called "false reports" that the men's families contacted the TTCG Cedros Maritime Operations Co-ordinating Centre (MOCC) and were told interceptor vessels were not working. He said it was the Cedros police who contacted the Coast Guard.

Hinds said the men were fishing in an area known as Green Bush or the Mang.

"It is important to know that the area the men went to fish was well within Venezuelan waters. The men had reportedly gone to an area where Trinidad and Tobago has no jurisdiction.”

The security minister said the TTCG was told other fishermen had searched along the south coast and the Coast Guard then focused its efforts in the Gulf of Paria and along the maritime border leading to the Grand Boca, "on the off chance" the men had not gone to the reported area.

He said the TTCG hoped the currents would have made the men's pirogue drift towards the Gulf, but admitted the search had yielded no positive results.

He referred to a media release from the Coast Guard on February 29 which denied the families' claims, saying they were "simply not true.”

He said the TTCG continues to caution fishermen, specifically those based on the south coast, that it is illegal to fish in Venezuelan waters and that venturing into the Delta region to fish or for any other type of activity should be avoided, saying the TTCG cannot enter Venezuelan territory, as that would be in breach of maritime law.

Moonilal asked Hinds to confirm that the two TTCG interceptor vessels in question on the southwestern peninsula are operational, but the Speaker rejected this question.

Moonilal then rephrased it, asking Hinds if he could advise how many TTCG vessels are not operational owing to maintenance issues. The Speaker called the question supplemental and again out of order.

Rephrasing his question again, Moonilal asked, “Do you have any indication at all if the TTCG is continuing active search-and-rescue missions?"

Hinds said, “Most certainly, TTCG is committed to rendering assistance to all and sundry, particularly nationals of Trinidad and Tobago and more particularly Trinidad and Tobago fishermen."

He said his ministry has collaborated and worked closely with fishermen over the years in an attempt to prevent the difficulties fishermen and, specifically, the missing men may have found themselves in.

On February 24, captain Davanand Seepaul, 35, his father David Seepaul, 60, and three others – Shiva Seepersad, 20, Jeremiah Pasqual, 18, and Braiyer Alexander Gonzalez Ali, 21 – went missing after going out to sea.