Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 22, 2021 (SKNIS): Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine Resources, Ron Dublin-Collins, showed his appreciation to farmers, fisherfolk, and agro-processors on April 21 during the virtual forum series ‘Leadership Matters’ hosted by Prime Minister Dr. the Honourable Timothy Harris.
Mr. Dublin-Collins said, “I want to commend our farmers, our fishers, our agro-processors, for the tremendous work that they are doing to ensure that we can produce even at the level that we are at right now.”
“For those who are partnering with the Ministry and Department to improve production, we understand that the challenges are many; we have begun the process of addressing them,” he said. “We assure you that we will continue to work with you to address these challenges.”
“We see the realities of what is happening on the farm as we visit farm to farm and we realize the challenges with pests and every other area,” said Mr. Dublin-Collins.
“The Ministry assures you we will continue to raise our standard in terms of our service to you and for you with our extension services and the other inputs where the government can cushion the cost to make it easier for you,” he said.
“The work that you do is tremendous and there is no doubt about it. Officials who go out on the sea so often and risk their lives to ensure that we get fresh fish,” he said.
“From the reports that we received from our own lab here in terms of testing our foods, our food is safe, and it is of a high quality and we want to encourage people to support local,” said the permanent secretary.
“I want to commend all of you and to advise that we continue in this process of reform,” he said. “We believe together we can reform the agricultural sector and change the realities with our import bill and strengthen the financial position of our farmers, our fishers, and our agro-processors.”
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, April 22, 2021 (SKNIS): Plastics are harmful to the environment as they are non-biodegradable and take years to break down, thus contaminating soil and water in the process, said Biosafety Officer in the Ministry of Environment, Vicia Woods.
“They are a danger to human health and the environment because when these plastics… are improperly disposed of and because they don’t break down immediately, they break apart into smaller pieces known as micro-plastics. When these micro-plastics make their way into the ocean, into the lakes, they become a part of our food chain,” said Ms. Woods during her April 21 appearance on ‘Working for You’. “Because the marine life consumes these tiny pieces of plastics, when we eat these marine species we, in turn, consume not only the species but also the toxins that they hold.”
Ms. Woods said that hazardous chemicals can be found in single-use plastic food wrappings and containers which have direct contact with the food humans consume and that these chemicals may be introduced into the body.
“Plastics also have been found in the blood tissues of human beings because the toxins leach out into the system of humans and they become a part of us. These plastics in our systems have been linked to various ailments,” she said, while referencing styrene, an organic compound used to make Styrofoam. “It has been labelled as a possible carcinogen… and what that simply means is that it is a cancer-causing material, and because we use Styrofoam so often in our daily lives, each time we buy food, we take them in the Styrofoam containers. As these containers heat up, they release toxins so we consume them as well,” Ms. Woods added.
She noted that because of the harmful effects plastics have on the environment and human health, the ban on single-use plastics becomes even more necessary. Ms. Woods added that banning single-use plastics will reduce marine and land-based plastic pollution, as well as reduce the amount of waste going to the landfill and associated greenhouse gas emissions.
]]>Basseterre, St. Kitts, January 18th, 2021 (ZIZ News): With a recent upsurge in shark sightings and interactions across the region ZIZ News spoke to the Director of Marine resources Marc Williams to find out the reason why.
Mr. Williams said sharks have always been in our waters so they’re bound to be spotted, and sometimes what a person sees may not be a shark at all.
Mr Williams also urged persons who are out on the water to be cautious and not provoke sharks.
For more information you can visit the department’s Facebook page @dmrskn.
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