Farley: Catastrophe awaits in absence of marine laws

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has warned that a catastrophe is waiting to happen as he responded to the sinking of the Rush Hour glass-bottom boat on October 25 at the Nylon Pool, Tobago. He said the incident occurred because people were "breaking regulations and policy.”

According to a police report, around 4 pm, Rush Hour, owned by Sherwin Melville, 55, of Milford Court, departed the Pigeon Point Jetty with approximately 65 people and proceeded on a reef tour. Around 6.15 pm, whilst at Nylon Pool Jetty, the boat experienced difficulties due to people coming on board from other reef boats, causing it to become overloaded. As a result, the rear of the vessel sank.

The incident caused panic as patrons searched desperately in e dark for their friends and loved ones.

In a video which went viral on social media, one woman was heard screaming, "Aaron."

The report said that approximately 38 people were taken to Gibson Jetty by pirogue operators and approximately eight people were taken to Pigeon Point Jetty. Cpl Lewis and WPC Caesar of the Crown Point Police Station responded to the incident.

All passengers were brought to shore safely with no injuries reported.

Allan Stewart, head of the Buccoo Reef Marine Park committee, told Newsday on October 28 that reef boats need permission to enter the Marine Park for any activities after 6 pm.

He said a THA policy has declared the Marine Park as a protected environment and there are specific forms that need to be filled out for access at night.

“Our investigations reveal that the persons in question were not given permission to go to the park. Also, the vessel in question is not registered to do the type of activity that they were engaged in,” he said.

This is the second reef boat to sink in Tobago this month, following Cool Runnings suffering a similar fate near No Man's Land on October 4.

Stewart said, “It’s similar, but a different situation.

"We learnt from that as well, so that’s the reason why we have to be careful because there was a situation that the owner of that vessel was out of the country at the same time and the person who operated it is the person that was brought in to question."

Stewart said the investigations into the current incident are ongoing as he also advocated for recommendations of the committee to be codified.

“I cannot divulge too many details. I have to be careful what I say and how much information I give, but I can tell you that the investigation is continuing with the objective to bring some level of decency. Sometimes you have to use the hand of the law to correct certain actions.

"The information reaching us is that the person’s documents are not in gears, so it was like an illegal activity that they are running there. That is the kind of information that has reached us and so the investigator is going through that step.”

Augustine said tough laws are needed to deter people from doing the wrong thing.

He said, “The time and when people can and cannot be in the park, some of those things are codified in law and so maritime division and the police can act, but in the main, our policies are just policies without the policies of law behind it.”

He said in 2019 the THA met and there was unanimous agreement to a bill that was sent to Parliament. This bill, he said, never made its way on the parliament floor.

“In the absence of very strong laws, people will violate the policies of the THA. We can’t help but underscore for our practitioners within the space, within the Marine Park, that you have to be safe, that lives are at risk and if you are not safe in your operations then we can have something very catastrophic.”

He said the THA has appealed to the current government to take action on the bill.

“We think it is critically important at this time.”