Fisheries heads to Newport East
Published:Friday | January 13, 2017 | 12:00 AMChristopher Serju
Forced to abandon its offices along Marcus Garvey Drive when floodwaters sent staff scampering for their lives, the Fisheries Division in the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries will resume operations at a new location at Newport East on Monday.
The division last month signed a three-year-lease, which paved the way for the resumption of operations under one roof, following the splintering of operational, administrative, and other functions in the wake of the flood damage to the building and equipment.
"On Monday, we'll be back together as a family," chief executive officer Commander Paul Wright said on Friday. "Today, we're moving in," he said, beaming, also lamenting that the staff had been relocated to at least three locations, effectively slowing its operations.
Some shared space with the Cocoa Industry Board, while others were relocated to the Hope Gardens office at the Ministry of Industry, Commerce, Agriculture and Fisheries, with others working out of its St Lucia Avenue office.
"We are not going to come back here. This is a sick building. This is a place that is prone to health hazards, notwithstanding flooding, so we cannot come back here," Andre Kong, director of fisheries, declared in the aftermath of the flooding.
Workers were so traumatised by the incident that professional counsellors had to be called in to attend to them.