PLANS are advanced for the removal of the mounds of garbage that have built up on the Pedro Cays, with the funds for this already identified by the Government.

Andre Kong, acting director of the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, says the clean-up exercise will cost over $2 million and the details of the plan are still being worked out.

“We have identified the funds which have been authorised. The National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) has come up with an estimate for the removal of the solid waste and also to set up a system for the frequent removal of the solid waste,” Kong told the Jamaica Observer.

He was responding to questions about the solid waste build-up on the Cays, an important fishing area located 80 kilometres south of Jamaica’s mainland.

Under the proposed plan, a barge would be acquired with the assistance of the private sector which would used to transport the solid waste to the mainland, after which it would be taken to the Riverton dump by truck, Kong disclosed.

Although he noted that the fishers on the Cays had made efforts to clean up and bury their garbage, Kong said the existing situation was unsustainable.

“Notwithstanding the fact that the fishers have removed some of the solid waste and have buried some, it has to be cleaned up. It can’t stay there because of the leeching of toxins into the marine environment,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Fisheries Division is in discussions with the Ministry of Health, the Scientific Research Council and NEPA for the construction of sanitary conveniences on the Cays, Kong noted.

He also said there were plans to do a proper socio-economic census of the residents of the Cays “to find out who is there, what they are doing there, why they are out there, and how long they have been going out there”.

This would enable the authorities to develop a long-term plan for the management of the islands. The last census on the Cays was done in 2006.

Meanwhile, the fishers are hopeful that the clean-up will actually take place, as they say promises for similar activities in the past have not materialised.

Veteran diver Norman Watson said he and his neighbours on the tiny islands of the Cays had been preparing for the removal of solid waste for some time now.

“Dem say we fi bag the garbage, and we do dat and line out the bag dem way down. Dem stay deh until dem mash out back and nobody come fi pick up anyting,” he complained.

“The plan weh dem fi take di garbage, me woulda like dem still do it.”

Meanwhile, Carlton Evans, a 30-year veteran of the fishing business accepts that the current practice of burying the garbage is unsustainable, but said the fishers are doing the best they can under the circumstances.

“We nuh really have no vast area to dump like Riverton so we have to utilise our skill and dig hole sometimes. But the rubbish that cannot destroy like the zinc, the cans and the plastic, it make the place look bad. If we coulda get something move dem every two or three months then you have a cleaner environment.”

He also urged greater public understanding of the plight of the fishers and recognition of the contribution of the fishing sector to Jamaica.

“We Jamaicans no try fi find out the truth before we start to make bad comments. Our conch is among the greatest in the entire world. We are hard-working people providing food for the Jamaican people and utilising the small piece of land the best way we can,” he said.

Last Tuesday a multi-agency team visited Pedro Cays to examine the extent of the damage following the passage of Hurricane Sandy. They focussed primarily on the health issues facing the fishers, making plans for the construction of toilet facilties and for the removal of the large volume of the solid waste that has accumulated there.

The team, which took the six-hour trip from Kingston by sea aboard a Jamaica Defence Force vessel, included staff of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA), the Fisheries Division, and the Ministry of Health, along with researchers from the University of the West Indies and members of the media.

Kong noted that representatives of the NSWMA were expected to be on the trip but did not make it because they were busy with clean-up activities on the mainland in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy.

On September 13, the Observer broke news of the plight of the fishing community on the Pedro Cays where the absence of running water, a lack of toilet facilities and a burgeoning garbage dump threatens the health of more than 400 Jamaicans who live there for months at a time.

Residents have had to designate a section of Middle Cay as their own public toilet, with human waste deposited in plastic bags and strewn everywhere. The abundance of garbage, meanwhile, has promoted the breeding of rats, which some residents say weigh up to three pounds, and flies.