Four fishing boats stolen from Cedros fishing facility

CEDROS police are investigating the theft of four fishing boats between October 31 and November 1.

Police said three of the boats were stolen from secure location at the Cedros fishing facility. The fishermen discovered their boats missing when they showed up for work on November 1.

Among the items also stolen were engines, fishing nets, coolers and tools. In total, the fishermen estimated a cumulative loss valued of over $217,000.

Cedros councillor Shankar Teelucksingh told Newsday this was not the first time boats were stolen and called for a municipal police station to be set up in the area to help protect fishermen.

He said the request was made in the last fiscal year but the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Rural Development and Local Government did not facilitate it.

He also called on the Ministry of Agriculture, Land and Fisheries to provide security at fishing sites to help protect fisherfolk investments.

"If it's four fishermen (whose equipment were stolen)...that's at least a crew of five so...you have 20 fishermen who would be without an income and that's 20 families. That's a big impact."

The incident comes on the heels of a recent oil spill in the Cedros coastline which affected around 30 boats and over 100 fishermen.

The spill was contained and cleaned up by Heritage Petroleum in less than one week.

The source of the spill has not been revealed.