Rough seas and thieves cause havoc for fishermen
San Fernando fishermen tried to save their boats from monster waves by anchoring away from shore on Sunday night. Instead, robbers used the opportunity to steal a boat in the dead of night while the owner watched helplessly. With no help from the authorities, fisherman Stephen Taylor said he dived into the choppy water to ward off the thieves who escaped with a 27- foot pirogue christened Exodus. At King's Wharf yesterday, fishermen were calling on the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Food Production and Marine Affairs to accept responsibility for the loss. They said the lone security guard at the wharf did not see when the thieves unmoored the boat. Taylor explained that on Friday ministry staff came to the wharf and advised approximately 80 fishermen to secure their boats on land or at sea, to ensure they were not damaged by heavy waves. However, a few fishermen said there was no space at the harbour so they anchored their boats about 50 to 200 feet out in the Gulf of Paria. Around 10.30 pm, while he was watching television at home, Taylor said he got a call that thieves were in the water stealing boats. He said when he arrived, he saw three men trying to cut the ropes of four boats–Exodus, Ingrid 1, Willie and Ingrid 3. All of the boats were equipped with engines. Taylor said he called the police and the Coast Guard, but the police said they had no boat to pursue the thieves. Within minutes the thieves cut the anchor of Exodus and sped off with it, after they realised the fishermen had spotted them. "We stood right here watching them helplessly. We called the Coast Guard, who said they would dispatch the helicopter, but they never responded to us," Taylor said. "If the helicopter came we would have caught the culprits but nobody care about us. We had to save the other three boats ourselves." The owner of Exodus, Owen Goring, expressed disappointment. "This real hard for me. My boat was worth $130,000 and I had a brand new 75 horsepower Yamaha engine on it," Goring said. He explained that fishermen jumped into the water and managed to bring the three other pirogues closer to shore after the theft. President of the San Fernando Fishing Co-operative Salim Gool said fishermen were facing challenges from all sides. "The fishing industry is crippled by the weather, by pollution and by the authorities who don't care about us. We need better security for fishermen," Gool said. Contacted yesterday, Lt Kirk Jean-Baptiste said he checked the Coast Guard records and had no record of any such report being made by the fishermen. "Our records show that we received no such call and we do not have an incident report about this matter. It is the first I am hearing about it," Jean- Baptiste said. Police also said they responded to the distress call but the thieves eluded them on the water.
