Dear Sir:
Last week was a most eventful week in the history of the ULP Administration. It started off briskly on Monday 13th with the teachers strike, followed by a decision by the Public Service Union on Tuesday 14th, that they too would be taking industrial action on Friday 17th. Amidst this was the roving protest against the high electricity rates which circled the length and breath of Kingstown, singing “We Shall Overcome”.
These events followed on the heels of much begging and pleading by the Prime Minister with the Teachers Union some time earlier, not to take strike action on the Public Service reclassification issue. Dr Gonsalves had a political agenda and was not very keen on averting his travel plans to address the Oxford University Union, and according to him, visit six European cities to find investors that would be willing to ‘park’ their money in our offshore banks.
While all this political foreplay was taking place between the ULP Government and the Unions, later described by one ULP Columnist as “a quarrel between friends”, other serious developments were taking place unbeknownst to most Vincentians.
As dawn broke on Wednesday 15th, Vincentians woke up to find that the western coastline of mainland St. Vincent and the Grenadines was being brutally bashed by the surging seas generated by hurricane Omar. ‘Not a big deal’ was the attitude, it’s just a repeat of Hurricane Lenny and besides, there was not much the authorities could have done to forewarn Vincentians of the impending danger since NEMO wasn’t informed by the meteorological authorities in Barbados. Hello!
Unfortunately, what many Vincentians don’t realize, is that the impact of Hurricane Omar was severe on some sections of the population, and the downright carelessness on the part of the local disaster preparedness authorities has speared a massive blow to the fishing industry and many local fisherfolk who earn a living by it, and who provide valuable service to our Vincentian community.
In the village of Calliaqua alone, five boats were completely destroyed, one damaged to such a degree that it is considered a ‘right off’; while five others sustained damage at varying degrees. The total replacement/repair cost is estimated at approximately EC$242,254. This amount does not include loss of income for the boat owners or the persons they employ during the time it will take to replace/repair the boats (42 persons in total), and the loss of services to their valuable customers.
This may not sound like a whole lot of money to some people but it represents a lifetime of hard work to these men, and the full extent of the problem doesn’t just end here. Apart from the fact that the boat customarily used to catch bait for this fishing community was among those completely destroyed, none of the boats were insured. And while the former can be rectified in some form or fashion, the latter is not a predicament brought upon the boat owners by their own design. Insurance coverage is simply not available to them.
Sources have informed this writer that no insurance company will offer coverage to owners of these types of boats due to issues pertaining to storage, docking, mooring and theft. Perhaps also, these types of small boats (pirogues for the most part) are often exposed to other types of risk factors. Having stated that, and in defense of these particular individuals, no one can accuse them of engaging in illegal activities. These are serious professionals in their area of expertise, who have been operating out of the Calliaqua area for years.
To make matters even more complicated for all the fisherfolk in SVG, is the fact that the latest legislation governing marine activities puts a compulsory onus on boat owners to have their boats insured for liability purposes, and the conditions applied is completely out of the economic reach of the small fishing boat owners.
Insurance or no insurance, and as far as the damage sustained by hurricane Omar, the Government should be held entirely responsible for the replacement and repair costs for all the fishing boats and equipment lost. The fact that NEMO has the responsibility for National Disaster Preparedness and went entirely asleep while expecting some other entities to keep watch for them, allowing Omar to wreak havoc on the unsuspecting nation, including the fishing communities, amounts to gross incompetence on the part of that organization and is completely unacceptable.
NEMO should consider itself lucky that human life was not lost as a result, although some of the boat owners actually risked their lives trying to save their boats in the early hours of Wednesday morning after the alarm was raised just before midnight on Tuesday by a watchman at the Fish Market Cooperative. By that time, it was just too late to save the boats. Had they received prior warning, none of this type of damage would have been sustained because the boat owners would have taken precautionary measures and secured their boats out of harms way as they are accustomed to doing when bad weather is expected.
Perhaps too, the Prime Minister needs to be reminded that he is not an offshore banker and the State is not an offshore bank. There is a great deal of work that calls for his attention right here in SVG that does not require him to become the local weather reporter.
Marlon Mills |
