Gov’t must take “bold step” to develop fishing industry – Christopher
Second District representative J. Alvin Christopher, speaking at a meeting in Brewers Bay last evening November 2, 2011, outlined the importance of the industry and disclosed that the technology to do so is available in the Government’s offices.
Christopher said when he was Minister of Natural Resources and Labour, he had the opportunity to bring the technology and information from the United States to the Government, and it’s “only a matter of putting it to work”.
“… you can farm fish the same way you farm sheep and goats, and the technology is available to us right here sitting right now in our offices, we must pull those information from the shelves and turn them into workable solutions for you the people of this country,” Christopher disclosed.
The district representative said he knows for a fact that the Virgin Islands has some of the richest waters in the entire world and ways must be sought to harness the natural resources that it possesses as the Territory continues to go forward.
Christopher bolding stated that there are others who capitalize on the VI’s fishing resources while the VI sits ‘idly by”.
“You will find if you look north you will see light, you will find persons from all the way Japan, coming in and harnessing our resources and developing their industry while we sit idly by and not realizing what we have.”
According to the district representative, as the Virgin Islands faces the global economic downturn, there is no need to panic in such a way as to give up hope but rather it’s important to look forward and realize that life is not the same.
“… the days of plentiful and easy financial arrangements are no longer the way we will go forward. We must make plans to utilize every penny that comes into our treasury and get the maximum resources,” he said.
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