Fishermen of Anegada assume that Deputy Premier and Minister for Natural Resources Dir., Honourable Kedrick D. Pickering has been avoiding the meetings with them, where they should have raised their concerns and questions regarding the Proposed Protected Area around the Island.
“He sends all sorts of people to hold meetings. We went to that meeting expecting to hear from him, directly not no representative, I really don’t feel that we are getting anywhere on this matter because what they are bringing to us we have major issues with that,” said one concerned fisherman from the sister Island.
Fishermen presumed the assumption when the Honourable Pickering went missing at all four meetings, which himself organized.
Another fisherman voiced out his thoughts saying, “People here want to meet with the minister, but the Minister (Hon Pickering) like he running. People were very disgruntled about the Minister himself, we want to know why he ain’t show up, this is under his portfolio and he ain’t showing up. They postponed it before and then this time when we went there expecting to see him, he ain’t show up, why is he running? That’s what we want to know, we are not happy with this whole thing.”
Based from Mr. Joseph Smith-Abbott, Government Information Service (GIS) Deputy Secretary within the Ministry of Natural Resources and Labour, though the fourth meeting is the final conference about the Proposed Protected Area, all of the concerns, suggestions, and details of minutes will be passed and will be surely seen by the Cabinet, which will be resolved in due time.
However the fishermen said that their issues did not receive any assurance that the government actually hears them. One fishermen said, “Government wants to make certain areas restricted in the sense that you can fish but you have to fish under certain license but what the Anegada people are saying is you want us to fish under license but yet you have no regulations as to controlling the outer people from coming in our water and fishing.”
“They don’t have nothing set up to police the water but yet they want to put we under license and they giving people overseas, fishing boats from St. Thomas license to come catch our fish here and go back to St. Thomas to sell it and we getting nothing,” as another fisherman intervened the discussion.
One fisherman also started ranting saying, “This government is bent on doing what they want and their coming here is just formality they not coming to genuinely take our concerns into consideration. By law they have to hold four meetings so they would come and hold four meetings, if three people turn out they report that there was a big turnout, the meeting before this when the Minister came it was a big turnout yes but if they only reporting that they had a good turnout this time is nothing but pure lies, it was just a handful who came.”
The fishermen who cried out their thoughts wished not to be named for protection.
Dir. Pickering Avoided The Meetings Regarding Proposed Protected Area -Anegada Fishermen
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