Fish­er­men in San Fer­nan­do are call­ing on Prime Min­is­ter Kam­la Per­sad-Bisses­sar to rein in Agri­cul­ture, Land and Fish­eries Min­is­ter Ravi Rati­ram, who they ac­cuse of al­low­ing a par­ty boat op­er­a­tor to use the San Fer­nan­do Fish­ing Cen­tre for pri­vate events.

Dur­ing a peace­ful protest at King’s Wharf yes­ter­day, San Fer­nan­do Fish­ing Co­op­er­a­tive So­ci­ety Ltd pres­i­dent, Bob­by Sook­lals­ingh, said the pri­vate­ly owned ves­sel had been moored at the fa­cil­i­ty for more than a month. Built for fish­er­folk, the jet­ty has now be­come the cen­tre of a bit­ter dis­pute.

Sook­lals­ingh said when the so­ci­ety en­quired about the boat, they were told the op­er­a­tor had per­mis­sion to use the jet­ty. He re­called that the co­op­er­a­tive pre­vi­ous­ly clashed with the same ves­sel at the old fa­cil­i­ty, and not­ed that the area it now oc­cu­pies was meant for larg­er fish­ing boats.