L-R Dr. Kelvin Daly and Mr. Arthur Evelyn

A town hall meeting was held on Thursday, May 6, at 7:30 p.m. in the Red Cross Building in Charlestown, Nevis. The invited guest speaker and Permanent Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Kelvin Daly, and Mr. Arthur Evelyn both sat at the head table.

Members of the general public were present to hear what Dr. Daly had to say concerning the plans to build a new fisheries complex on Gallows Bay in Charlestown, to be funded by the Government of Japan.

During his presentation, Dr. Daly mentioned that the proposed project would take up an estimated 13% of Gallows Bay. Attendees were given black and white schematic plans outlining where the fisheries complex is to be built.

There was a lot of discussion about the high-end stores planned for construction near the fisheries.

Some town hall attendees were concerned if there would be enough fish to put inside of the fishery, referring to the two facilities in St. Kitts as failures.

One contributor to the discussion posited that building on sand would be costly, adding that the fishery did not have to be on a "landing site," but could be built at Prospect Estate. Dr. Daly replied that the most logical to place it would be Charlestown.

Another person questioned what the other 87% of the Gallows Bay would be used for.

A suggestion was made for the possible upgrade of the existing fisheries complex with the Japanese funding. To this, Dr. Daly responded that he could not use Japanese funds to update a facility that was constructed with Canadian funds.
Someone else then recommended tearing down the existing fishery if it was outdated, using the cleared space for the new one.

Most town hall participants appeared to disapprove of the proposed location at a sandy area situated very near to the Caribbean Sea.

Dr. Daly informed the audience that Captain Anslyn had drawn up the design, and that it had already been submitted to the Japanese.

He further noted that this plan came to his desk in 2008, and though he was initially opposed to it, changed his opinion after further review.

According to Dr. Daly, fish would be sold at a reduced cost from the proposed facility. Should the project come to fruition, he informed that consumers would be able to buy fish at the two-storey building, which would be much more "user-friendly" than the current fishery.

Dr. Daly was unable to answer some of the questions fielded from the event participants. More meetings will be held until July of this year.