Philipsburg: -- A Guyanese man was arrested on his job in Cole Bay yesterday for selling fishes he caught in the Great Bay Salt pond to restaurants and grocery stores on the island. The man was taken to the Philipsburg Police Station by Ervin Esdale; project leader from the Sanitation department before he was taken to the Hygiene Department where an official statement was taken from him.
In an invited comment Esdale said the Guyanese man Chandralall Takurdin was seen selling fishes he caught in the pond to Mambo Restaurant and other businesses in the community. Esdale said someone in the community saw where and when the man catches the fishes and when he sold it to the restaurant in question for $5 per kilo.
The sanitation head said the concern citizen took the culprit number plate and he was later tracked down. In front of the police station the man told this reporter that he has been eating the fish from the Pond and nothing is wrong with him. "I have been eating that fish ever since and I am not sick. It is not the first time I catch and sell that fish" he said laughing in the presence of Esdale.
Esdale who was obviously furious with the statements said the man does not know what he is doing and the risk that is involved. Esdale said Takurdin has been using a net to catch the fish in the pond and he sells it to local restaurants at a cheap price. Esdale said the owner of the restaurant told him the man (Takurdin) told them him he caught the fish in Saba and Statia. "I never seen such fish in my life before, it's all pretty looking but I don't know what type of fish they are" Esdale said. He said the culprit uses a net at the mouth of the polluted pond almost every weekend.
SMN News contacted the Hygiene department and was told Takurdin gave a statement to them which will be forwarded to the Prosecutor's office who would then decide on how much fine will be imposed on the culprit. Maria Van Hennigen acting head of the department said the fish that was sold at the restaurant was confiscated and destroyed since it's not good for human consumption.