Chief Fisheries Officer, Andrew Magloire is advising fishermen to take necessary precautions “to prevent people from stealing their things.”
His comment came following what is being described as a spate of theft against fishermen in Fond Cole.
One Fond Cole fisherman, Paul Simon Bique, also known as “Lagoom Spirit”, whose propeller has been stolen twice in the last few months, told Dominica News Online (DNO) that each fisherman owns a locker in the store room located at Fond Cole, which stores certain fishing equipment.
However, “Tanks and other things like gas is placed in the main hall since the lockers are not big enough to store them,” he said.
But Magloire told DNO in an interview on Monday, “There are incidents where fishermen steal things from other fishermen, but when we have information we put the police on to deal with these cases…that is not something that should be encouraged.”
He said fishermen should put measures in place to help prevent theft of their equipment.
“What we are trying to get fishers to do is if they could put identification markings on their equipment, so if someone steals it they can identify.”
He said some of the fishermen are asked to provide fisheries officials with the serial numbers of certain equipment, “so we would have a record of the serial information in the fisheries, but 90 per cent of them don’t do those things.”
He added, “When they buy things, a lot of the things comes with a specific serial number or markings on it…some people would scratch out the serial number, but at the end of the day which is one way of verifying whether your things has been tampered with or not.”
According Magloire, fishermen are trained in the areas of security and safety as well as protection of gears and equipment.
“We do a lot of training with the fishermen about security and safety, protection of gear, equipment, but a lot them don’t care until they end up in the situation,” the Chief fisheries officer said.
A security camera system should be installed in those areas where the boats are moored on shore.
One should be installed in an area in the boat which only the owners know and which can be viewed from wherever they are. It will give them a picture of what is occurring near and in their boats . Should someone try to steal their equipment, they could eventually be caught, if not on the spot.
You will have to spend some money to purchase one but it is worth the cost so that the police could eventually arrest those thieves. This is another way of eliminating theft.
I hope your boat and equipment are insured.
It is a crime/sin to steal property which do not belong you. I wonder how the fishermen could protect their boats and equipment from thieves? I expect the fishermen have a license for the boat and to fish. They also have a receipt for equipment bought. They should retain them for future reference.
They will have to provide the fisheries department with their serial numbers so that when their equipment is stolen, the police in different areas of Dominica could check all boats for license and serial numbers to ensure the equipment belongs to the one who has the boat. This should be an ongoing check. If this is done, it may reduce and eliminate theft of these equipments.
What other sort of idea and advice do others have which could be effective in eliminating these thefts?
If they could carry away the house they would. You never know. In time they could try. Thieves are becoming more brazen and must be stopped.
this is a symptom of an underline problem in society in today Dominica. even plants are being stolen,that happened to me in my garden
This is a problem of parents not raising their children to respect others and their property instead of feeling that they are entitled to take anything from anybody that they so desire.
Why don’t the thieves just get deported to a deserted island far away. Then there wouldn’t be so much thieving. The thieves know how to erase identification markings and put false license plates on their vehicles and the justice system isn’t dealing with them in an effective way. Why does the burden always fall on the honest, law abiding people?