RAD­HI­CA DE SIL­VA

rad­hi­ca.sookraj@guardian.co.tt

It's been sev­en months since a 36-inch WASA main and a sup­port­ing steel struc­ture col­lapsed in­to the Godineau Riv­er but it still re­mains there, par­tial­ly sub­merged as a hin­drance to fish­er­folk.

Residents and fisherfolk stage protests on Tuesday. Photo by Kristian De Silva

Dur­ing a protest at the Godineau site on Tues­day, over 50 fish­er­men, res­i­dents and ac­tivists gath­ered at the riv­er mouth to stage a protest.

Chant­i­ng in uni­son, they called on Min­is­ter of Pub­lic Util­i­ties Mar­vin Gon­za­les to re­move the struc­ture as soon as pos­si­ble.

Alvin Ho­sei­nee, pres­i­dent of the Wood­land Fish­ing As­so­ci­a­tion said sev­er­al boats have been dam­aged by the de­bris left in the riv­er.

He said more than 10 fish­er­men have left full-time fish­ing be­cause it was no longer lu­cra­tive.

Pres­i­dent of the Flood Ac­tion Group Adesh Singh said since the con­struc­tion of the Solomon Ho­choy High­way Ex­ten­sion, sev­er­al mi­nor trib­u­taries of the Godineau Riv­er were blocked.

He said the main spawn­ing ground was in the riv­er and the man­groves which grow on the banks of the riv­er.

Singh not­ed that the de­bris from the WASA line has ham­pered fish stocks.

Mean­while, the pres­i­dent of the South Oropouche River­ine Flood Ac­tion Group Ed­ward Mood­ie said the mat­ter has been raised with the MP Dr Lack­ram Bo­doe as well as Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal.

Dr Bo­doe said he is ex­pect­ed to raise the mat­ter in Par­lia­ment soon.

A source from WASA told Guardian Me­dia that af­ter WASA did re­pairs, the old iron rail­ings stayed on site and could not im­me­di­ate­ly be moved be­cause of over­head elec­tri­cal lines.

Guardian Me­dia will up­date this sto­ry as more in­for­ma­tion comes to hand.