NEPA criticised, urged to name company responsible for latest Rio Cobre fish kill

 

The National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) is being heavily criticised for what fishers and other stakeholders in St. Catherine say is a failure to effectively monitor the Rio Cobre and bring sanctions against those who pollute the river.

 

Fishers reported Tuesday that they had been seeing dead fish in a section of the Rio Cobre in Gregory Park, St. Catherine.

 

NEPA confirmed that trade effluent from a company along the industrial belt in White Marl, St. Catherine resulted in a minor fish kill in the Rio Cobre.

 

On Thursday, Radio Jamaica News received reports from stakeholders of more dead fish in another section of the Rio Cobre, this time near Jamworld Entertainment Centre.

 

Glasford Mitchell, President of the Hunts Bay Fisherfolk Benevolent Society, said more needs to be done to safeguard the environment and the livelihood of the fishers:

 

"We're not seeing enough happen environmentally, from the government and private aspect of it. People are supposed to protect the environment and what we are seeing is people try to pollute the environment and poison it, and if you're poisoning the environment you're poisoning your population. If you're poisoning your population you're poisoning your country. The regulatory bodies are not doing enough," he contended. 

 

He urged NEPA to "fall in and do some work as a regulatory body and shut down some people who are not adhering to the laws of the environment".  

 

 

The National Environment and Planning Agency has also been urged to name the company that has been cited for the latest fish kill.

 

Radio Jamaica News has been informed that NEPA served enforcement orders on the company responsible for the release of pollutants into the Rio Cobre.

 

But the environmental agency has declined to publicly name the entity. 

 

Kestonard Gordon, Vice Chairman of the St. Catherine Parish Development Committee, said the decision by NEPA is curious and has implications for the well-being of the fishers affected by the latest fish kill. 

 

"By refusing to identify the entity, we now have a phantom entity that has been polluting the Rio Cobre, killing off the fishes and the fishers are unable now to submit claims for compensation or to take legal action against this entity," he explained.    

 

He demanded that NEPA name the entity as well as put in measures to prevent a recurrence. 

 

"We are also demanding that NEPA take a decisive action to ensure that all the entities who are operating within the White Marl commercial district, that all of them make provisions to provide themselves with an effluent holding pond so that they can stop contaminating the river," Mr. Gordon added.