Yesterday you heard the Blue Economy Minister say that the fishers' audit which was presented to him was "questionable" and that they would still use the data from the Fisheries Department.
Well, today in San Pedro Town the fishers had a meeting with the minister where they laid out their concerns. After that meeting, they explained what those concerns were. The minister also said a few words except he refused to be on camera. Here's how that went:
Jorge Aldana, President, San Pedro Fishers Association
"The meeting was basically to have fishers discuss some of the issues affecting the industry. We had a small delegation from across the country, all the way from Barranco, all the way from Corolla and the Cayes. We brought forward some of the issues affecting fishers, issues having to do with security, issues to do with a lack of funding for fishers, better representation on the council. And those are some of the issues we discussed."
"It was a very productive meeting, I think the minster listened to our concerns, he did address some of the concerns that fishers raised. He also made commitments to looking at some of the areas where we have concerns that are not fulfilled and he said he was going to take a look at them and see how he could address some of those issues."
Andre Perez, Minister of Blue Economy
"I did listen to them, they had concerns, every different community has a different concern but all in all the common trend is the issue of security, sea piracy, the preparation when it's time for the seasons to be opened such as the lobster season the conch season, the patrol that they have to do, how much money it's costing them, the riding cost of the fuel is also affecting them as well and also something legitimate they feel more and more waters are being displaced for fishing so they wanted to reach us in what consideration can be done and that is something that our ministry is very acutely aware of and we're working on it as well so it was a fruitful meeting, I heard them, I have everything documented, certainly will be sharing it with my CEO in the ministry."
