Speaking about the price increase at the Kingstown Fish Market for goods and services and the recent protest by fisherfolk, Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves on Tuesday said he wants everyone to understand that the fish market loses money every single month and the dance can’t pay for the light.
“Up to last year, the fish market recorded a loss of $300,000, that’s according to the draft audited accounts, at least $30,000 a month. There has not been an increase in goods and services there, certainly for over ten years, maybe 15”.
Gonsalves said he has asked the management of the market how much the revised prices would mean in terms of revenue on an annual basis to which they replied about $75,000.
“So you’re still losing even when you put up these over $200,000 based on last year’s figures. Now the truth is this what I’m saying here should have been spoken about by the staff at the fish market. They don’t have to wait on the chief executive officer who is on holiday but somebody at the fish market should have talked about this. I’m going to ask them if on the landing toll, in particular, if they could reduce the extent here, for some of the types of fish, I’m not saying it’s not reasonable”.
“I’ve been watching this fish market and I can understand overall, maybe the input warehouse could stand losses of $15,000 a month but when you reach 25 and 30 thousand It starts to squeeze you more because of how things are. I want everybody to understand the overall approach in which the government address these things”, Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves stated that towards the end of the last fiscal year and into this fiscal year the government have spent over $200,000 to fix the market and more will have to be spent because in the near future we are expecting a visit from the FDA, the US agency that deals with food.
