And a little flooding probably wouldn't hurt the operations at the Conch Shell Bay fish market. As we showed you two weeks ago, the market had no running water and fish cleaners were re-cycling water from one cleaning job to the next.
It's a real sanitation mess - one that should concern every restaurant, and kitchen table in the city, since it is the biggest fish market in the city.
And while there's a lot of blame to go around, ultimately, today we asked the Mayor whether his council has responded to the situation. Here's his response.
Cherisse Halsall
"Now Sir, if I could just ask your opinion on the situation at the commercial fish market. It's a matter, yes, but this is a concern. Must have some concern in it?"
Mayor Bernard Wagner - Mayor, Belize City
"Yes, we do. Anything that impacts all residents with respect to food. We have a very good agricultural minister who preaches food and the importance of eating the right food grown at home. And clearly, the situation of the commercial market is an undesirable position. We met last week actually with Oceana, some reps of the Oceana, and we came up with a plan for that area. We want to participate in it. We know that the market did not fall under our supervision or administration, but it lines our canal. It sits on a canal that we control. And so we want to talk to see how we can collaborate there and have some session with those fish, fish market vendors there, similarly to the one that we will be putting on, on the Yarbrough. We want to have some discussion and the whole city can turn that those two markets into two sustainable markets where there is that level of sanitation, sanitary compliance there. We will look in at or we could integrate maybe some freezers there to have the vendors there have their fish on ice. But it will require supervision, so it would require the same type of supervision, such as in Michael Finnegan Market that we have control of. So Oceana and ourselves and the city administrator and or market manager are working out those areas where we could collaborate with the vendors and put in place a mechanism that will support that to have a smooth, smooth type of business activity out there."
And it's not just Oceana who's intervening at the fish market. Reliable reports are that the a seafood export company did agree to power wash and paint the market.
