President of the T&T United Fisherfolk Association, Emile Louis, is calling on the Government to grant firearm licences to fishermen who are under threat by engine thieves. Louis made the call in response to questions from the Guardian on the recent deaths of three fishermen, after they were attacked by pirates who ordered them to jump overboard and then stole their engines. "The response to calls for help from fishermen out at sea has been almost nothing," Louis said. "We're now asking for firearm licences. Give us a chance to go down fighting. We're going to die anyway." Louis said big farmers, merchants and businessmen are granted firearm licences.
His call was also formally made in a letter dated September 2 to the Fisheries Division of Tobago, in which he outlined the dangers fishermen face from engine thieves. Asked if fishermen at fishing ports all over T&T are under attack, Louis, also representing the All Tobago Fisherfolk Association, replied: "Very much so. "We have reports of engine thefts from Toco, Las Cuevas and other parts of the north coast, Moruga, Guayaguayare, Orange Valley, San Fernando, Erin, right around the country," he said. "In the Gulf of Paria, they tend to attack fishermen while they're out at sea probably because of the proximity to the South American mainland.
"Also, all the rivers emptying into the Gulf are very convenient for them." Louis said fishermen who were attacked said they identified the thieves as Trinidadians because of their accent. He said part of the explanation for the robberies was that the engines were exchanged for marijuana in St Vincent. Louis also noted: "Fishermen have also recovered their engines up the islands in places like St Lucia and Grenada. "Others found their engines in the Orinoco River where Amerindians helped to recover them," he added. He said in the letter to the Fisheries Division he informed the relevant authorities of a foiled attempt on August 29 to steal one or more pirogues and their outboard engines from the Belle Garden landing site in Tobago.
Louis said a noise scared the thieves away but a witness gave the police the identity of one of them and the registration number of a truck waiting to transport the engines. "The police have done nothing," he said. "This has been happening too often, too long and I don't know of any measures that have been out in place to prevent it." Louis said this week fishermen all over T&T would get together to come up with a proposal to submit to the Government. "We want bright lights at all landing sites, security cameras, firearm licences, an insurance plan to benefit poor families who may lose relatives at sea, a hotline which includes the police and the Coast Guard and a marine branch of the police," he said. "This is the beginning of a fight with the Government to get some overdue attention."
