THE Fishermen of Castara are still waiting patiently for the return of Secretary for Agriculture, Marine Affairs and the Environment Councillor Garry Melville to complete consultations on their new fishing depot for the sea-side village community.
Melville along with Assemblyman for the area Tracey Davidson-Celestine had held a meeting with the fishermen on the issue in September last year.
Following a lively discussion during which designs from a previous effort in 2007 were produced by the fishermen, Melville promised to return in a week’s time to continue the deliberations.
He also promised to repair the gabion basket wall along the side of the river that bordered the site of the fishing depot. When Mirror visited the area two Sundays ago, the fishermen reported that the work to repair the gabion basket was undertaken by a contractor last October.
“We are however not happy with the scope of works done by the contractor and already after some heavy rains late last year, the river came down and has begun to erode the base of the basket,” claimed one fisherman. And on the issue of the new fishing depot, the fisherman reported that following the September meeting with Melville, a technical team later held discussions over the new designs for the building. “They were suggesting a 20 feet extension towards the beach but we objected very strongly against that plan,” related the fisherman.
“We told them that during the rough seas time, the fishermen needed the full beach area to allow them to move their boats inland to safety,” he explained.
