And while the minister agrees that plastics are hazardous to the environment, what's his opinion on seismic testing?
We asked him if the government is even considering offshore oil drilling, and he told us outright, no. He explained that in this age, there are other ways to make money from oil that's deep underwater other than drilling for it.
And, like the PM, Perez also believes that Oceana jumped the gun, and called out its VP, Janelle Chanona.
Here's what he told us today.
Andre Perez, Minister of the Blue Economy
"I want to make it absolutely clear, there is nothing on record that has been discussed about seismic one-on-one discussions. It has been discussed what is out there as it relates to the blue economy. Let's not forget what is the blue economy, and we have to educate our people what is the definition of the blue economy. The definition of the blue economy is whatever is out there that is there for us to extract, whether it's seafood, or whatever is out there, we do it in a manner that is environmentally friendly and at the same time very much sustainable. Now back what that organization did, sounding alarm bells as if the sky is falling down that's what I call it - it is regrettable, it was unnecessary."
"The person in charge of that organization said that now that they have the national attention. I would go as far as saying that she's not really seeking national attention for her organization, but for herself. I want to be clear. I am part of a government that is very responsible and no one in cabinet or in our government in their right mind would want to do any kind of drilling. 10-15 years ago, if we were to discover oil out there, the only way to give it value was to extract it. What this organization fails to see is that nowadays, if you see today we no longer look at the value of oil only extracted, there is perhaps more value by having that oil kept under the ground."
"The Blue Economy calls for having what is out there to quantify it, to add it to our economy. Trust me, these are the things you have to look in consultation with our people. That is important as well, but we cannot be reacting kneejerk reaction. This is what this organization has done to say no to offshore drilling. We even haven't gone to discuss that as yet. So I call it as far as being irresponsible and also it would seem that this organization is being left out, because this economic sailboat is sailing out in a very responsible manner. I think that perhaps we do appreciate what this organization gets in terms of their funding, but I would want to suggest that she should rather invest it in our people right now. Many fisherfolks got displaced. We need money right now. We lost almost 19 million dollars in damages right now. We have to find those funds to assist our fisherfolks. This is where we invite this organization to work along with our department, we would be happy to collaborate with them. In fact, I have not heard that organization say anything about hailing us for the blue bond project that we scored big last year. We have not heard her say anything about that. So I think that in essence its much ado about nothing, national attention to herself and not really the organization."
