Some fisherfolk at Berinda Cox Market in Oistins, Christ Church, say they are not getting enough ice to meet their needs, while also having to put up with a faulty scale.
However, Government says help is already on the way and those matters should be resolved in the coming week.
Vendors complained recently about the upkeep of the ice machine which they said was leaking water and not producing the ice required.
Fish vendor Antonia Sargeant Rowe said the apparatus was due for much-needed servicing, as water was often dripping from it.
“You gotta get your ice as early as possible in the morning so it would last till the evening. If it doesn’t, you can still get some but the ice is low. There are plenty of fish and outside is hot and ice is what keeps our fish, so obviously we will need ice. So, you need to get the machine serviced or fixed so it could run to its full capacity, so we can get the ice that we need to ice our fish properly,” she told the Sunday Sun.
Boat owner Rodney said it was taxing having to wait longer to fill a container.
“The machine is not down, but it has a small problem that needs fixing. It is humbugging the capacity of ice that the machine could produce . . . . For a long time the maintenance man was supposed to come and deal with it,” he added.
When contacted, Minister of the Environment, National Beautification and the Blue and Green Economy, Adrian Forde, disputed claims that the machine was not serviced. He said a team of engineers began work on the machine from Friday and they were set to return tomorrow.
“The engineers went in yesterday (Friday) and we even told the vendors. It isn’t producing as much ice as before, but if you look at the ice machine you’ll see there is much ice in there and the people aren’t coming for the ice,” Forde said.
“It’s not that they are not getting ice. It has an issue and the engineers are supposed to come back on Monday. They went last week to get the parts. Sometimes, a lot of the parts have to come from overseas, so they are supposed to finish off the servicing this week with the parts to bring it to full capacity.
“We have also put systems in place for fishermen and vendors to get ice, even if we have to source them next door by Wolverine. Even that is an option, so there is not a shortage of ice,” he said.
Market supervisor Joan Robinson explained that the machine was generating ice at a level that still services the vendors.
“Most of the time they collect their ice on the evening. On the morning we pull up all the boxes and put ice for each man to buy it by the box. There is no issue with the ice; everybody gets their ice and we make sure to that,” she added.
As for the faulty scale, Robinson said this was caused by a power outage, but it was being addressed.
“The scale is already being looked at. It seems they had a power outage on some night and when it came back on, it disrupted the cells. So they just have to put back in the cells and that has already started,” she explained.
Fisherfolk also complained about the lack of electrical power to the jetty area, but Robinson said the power outage also affected it.
Forde noted that the jetty’s electrical issue was not previously raised by fishermen but gave the assurance the matter will be corrected as soon as possible.
Another concern raised related to the number of homeless people who sleep within the fish market and frequent the parking lot, approaching customers as they exit or enter their vehicles.
One vendor described a recent incident where two women were penned in after their vehicle was swarmed by a group of men asking for change.
Forde said this requires a collaboration between with police and the social services.
“It’s more of a social issue that we have to look at from a different perspective because every time that the watchman runs a vagrant or is able to discourage the vagrants from coming around, when he goes back to do something else, they come back because these are vagrants and the vagrants are there because there is no other place for them.
“We would like to call in those social agencies so they can become involved in those cases. I will endeavour to speak with my ministerial colleague to have the social agencies involved as well as the police, but equally we have to deal with the social issue of having those vagrants placed in a facility that they can overnight in,” he added.
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