St Catherine community struggling since Rio Cobre fish kill

About two months after a fish kill in the Rio Cobre, fishers along the Bog Walk Gorge say they have yet to receive compensation.

The National Environment and Planning Agency concluded that West Indies Alumina Company (WINDALCO) was responsible for the kill and has promised to bring charges.

"From the fish-killing from the other day, them [WINDALCO] supposed to come and talk to us but nobody nuh get back to us all now. Them did pass through and help we clean up and stuff but all now nubady talk bout we compensation and from that we cyah ketch nuh fish," said fisherman Daniel Gayle.

But while WINDALCO has admitted that there was a spill at its effluent holding pond, the company said that "based on our monitoring data and the preventative measures we employed, we are confident that the spillage did not have any deleterious impact on the environment".

Gayle, a resident of Kent Village, who has been diving and fishing in the Rio Cobre for the last 10 years, told THE ST AR that he and many others who depend on the river will be left destitute if something is not done quickly.

"We haffi just sidung in the community because a the river we live offa, we don't have another choice... the people are starving because is the river is the only choice them have right now," he said. Chiney, a shopkeeper, explained that her income has also been affected.

"Right now business all out fi lock dung. Nuhbady nah buy. Them woulda more wah chuss it and even when them chuss it, them still nah get nuh pay suh you nah get nuh pay. Now and then you will sell one water and suh because a passer-by. But weh we really depend on are the area people them and that nah work out," Chiney said.

"The person weh woulda ketch the fish dem or di lobster, him woulda come come buy sumn from me and if him nuh have the money, him just gimme a fish or so. More while a just exchange we exchange, but none a that cyah gwaan again. It rough round here right now," Jorina, another shopkeeper, said.

Gayle explained that he has been trying his best to find other income streams, like landscaping and trying to monetise his YouTube channel.

"We need someone to come and gi we back some compensation cah right now school open and the kids dem cyah go back to school right now because we don't have a job and the likkle landscaping weh me a do cyah cut it," he said. "We used to have the crayfish pot, the lobster fish pot and normally me have a man weh take 50 pound every week fi $500 a pound. So right now, we just a look around like a wandering lamb."