Call for stronger law to end history of abuse in Rio Cobre
Fishers, environmentalists want greater protection for riverine ecosystems, livelihoods
ENVIRONMENTALIST DR Theresa Rodriguez-Moodie said that the health and sustainability of the island’s rivers will continue to hang in the balance if the authorities do not take decisive action in tackling a complex web of challenges ranging from pollution to inadequate enforcement of laws.
Rodriguez-Moodie, who is the CEO of the Jamaica Environment Trust (JET), underscored the urgency of addressing these issues by suggesting higher fines for breaches, encouraging greater and more meaningful public engagement, and improving the monitoring and enforcement of environmental laws.
She made the points while speaking last Thursday at the Science for Today public lecture series organised by The University of the West Indies’ Faculty of Science and Technology, held under the theme ‘Dirty Water, Dead Fish and Distressed Communities: What Do We Do?’
She noted that the various factors that threaten local waterways include climate change, sand mining and pollution.
In her presentation titled ‘The Impacts of River Pollution: The Rio Cobre Case Study’, Rodriguez-Moodie said that the river supplies between 30 and 40 per cent of the fresh water to Spanish Town and other St Catherine communities and is a key source of irrigation water for farmers.
“The river has a long history of abuse,” she said, noting the incidents of accidental or intentional discharge of toxins into the river.
She added that a significant amount of the toxic discharge results from industrial activities in the proximity of the large river.
On December 11, 2023, an oil spill occurred in the Rio Cobre, which the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) linked to Trade Winds Citrus’ Jamaica Beverages Plant, resulting in a fish kill.
The company was charged with breaches of the Wildlife Protection Act and is currently before the courts.
Other cases of toxic discharge such as effluent into the river go as far back as the 1980s, Rodriguez-Moodie added, further noting that the ones that have resulted in fish kills started in 2011 and continued in the years 2019, 2021, 2022, and 2023.
WINDALCO A CULPRIT
Windalco’s bauxite and alumina plant in Ewarton has been linked with several of the incidents over the years, with the company slapped with enforcement notices and other action in the wake of the disasters.
Failure to comply with the National Compliance and Regulatory Authority (NCRA) Act, which provides for the management, conservation, and protection of the natural resources of Jamaica, can result in a maximum fine of $50,000 or being sentenced to prison for up to 12 months. The agency may pursue court action against entities under the Wildlife Protection Act, where the maximum fine is $100,000 or a 12-month prison sentence.
“For environmental legislation to work, it must not only be well designed, but it also needs to be efficiently and effectively enforced,” Rodrigues-Moodie said.
“Studies have shown that monitoring and enforcement of laws and policies and regulations in Jamaica are weak both at the national and local levels and in a study done by CAPRI (the Caribbean Policy Research Institute) in 2018, they noted that if Jamaica was just to implement the policies that already exist and enforce the laws that already exist, environmental protection would be far more effective than it is at present,” Rodriguez-Moodie continued.
The numerous fish kill incidents in the Rio Cobre have resulted in devastation, significant ecological impacts, and loss of livelihood of the fishers, who typically earn up to $60,000 per month, she said.
Rodriguez-Moodie further noted that even six months after-Windalco’s effluent spill, which resulted in a fish kill in July 2022, fishers were still unable to earn their full potential.
Marlon Green, a fisherman and member of the non-profit organisation Friends of the Rio Cobre, shared insight into how greatly the livelihood of fishers has been impacted due to the various incidents of river pollution.
A ROUGH SITUATION
Green, who learned the trade from his grandmother and who has been fishing since he was nine years old, said: “It’s been a rough, rough situation.”
He explained that many St Catherine residents who are not employed rely heavily on the Rio Cobre for their own sustenance and to earn an income.
“Normally you go river, you can set on the pot and go catch the fish and come back, [but] that’s not happening any more,” he said.
Green also lamented that the pollution incidents were occurring far too frequently and that greater efforts were needed to figure out how to avoid them as “it really hurt a lot of people”.
“It is a situation where we need the help ... more than ever ... because it pushes a lot of other fishermen to go other places out of Rio Cobre to go and dive, including myself,” he said.
“Most of the places are not a safe place to dive,” Green added, noting that fishermen have encountered crocodiles in other waterways.
A fish-restocking exercise in the Rio Cobre commenced on July 30, 2023, with more than 4,000 tilapia fingerlings released into the water.
GET RESIDENTS INVOLVED
Green also called for the involvement of the residents during restocking exercises. Prior to the fish kills, he said they would normally catch carp, but since the pollution incidents, this and other species can no longer be found in the Rio Cobre. “It is a great damage,” he said. Green stated that he would love to see at least five fish species restocked in the Rio Cobre: mullet, carp, drummer, sand, and the ratfish. He called on the relevant authorities to consider these species when restocking the river.
“The red tilapia, those fish cannot manage the hard life in the river (water pressure), ”he said, suggesting that it would be best for restocking to begin further upstream, from Zephyrton (in Linstead) and other places in Bog Walk and below Kent Village.
Rodriguez-Moodie said that “if Jamaica were to implement the policies that already exist, and enforce the existing laws, environmental protection of our rivers would be far more effective than it is at present”.
She advocated for increased fines and penalties, for the NRCA Act to be strengthened, for fines and sanctions to be increased, a rationalisation and completion of environmental policies, increased transparency and information access, increased monitoring, enforcement and compliance, the completion and implementation of the environmental impact assessment regulations, and increased public participation in her list of recommendations.
Richard Nelson, senior manager for environmental management at NEPA, who was part of the discussion panel, responding to a question about increased fines, stated that it was being reviewed to see would be best suitable.
“It (the process) is well far down the wicket now; however, we would have loved the fines to be very large, but again, that is going to be limited by some other factors external to NEPA ... . But if memory serves me correctly, we are looking at fines as much as $5 million, ”he said.
Anginette Murray, statistician and data manager at the National Fisheries Authority, noted that the Jamaican fishing industry comprised capture and culture fisheries, and as of 2023, its registry had 32,010 individuals and 9,099 vessels, most of which are (artisanal) non-decked canoes.
She further noted that the fisheries sector contributes 0.54 per cent to the overall gross domestic product, valuing approximately US$94 million annually; employs over 40,000 individuals directly and indirectly; and contributes to the livelihoods of over 200,000 Jamaicans.