Nov. 23, 2007 — Authorities converged on the Mid Island Fish Market in Estate La Reine Friday intending to close the area because of continuing unsanitary conditions, but pleas from local fishermen elicited a reprieve until 4 p.m. Saturday.
"We have to be proactive to protect the public heath," said Health Commissioner Vivian Ebbesen-Fludd, addressing a crowd of fishermen and fish cleaners at the market. The action involved police and officials from the departments of Health and Planning and Natural Resources.
About 20 fishermen and helpers who were at the facility selling their daily catch pleaded with officials not to close the area immediately, but give them time to sell what they have and inform their customers of their new locations.
"Just one more day," said one young fisherman, who did not give his name. "I have a wife — it makes sense (to close the facility), but she is eight months pregnant."
The fishermen and others who help scale and clean the fish agree the market is unsanitary but are worried about their livelihoods. Yvette Ramos, whose father, brother and nephew are fishermen, cleans and scales fish for a living at the facility.
"When they opened this place, I was the first woman scaling fish here," she said. "I've helped to clean the place and the bathrooms."
Ramos said she earns $250 to $300 a day scaling and cleaning fish for customers.
The decision to close the area stemmed from poor drainage and plumbing, unsanitary bathrooms and other maintenance problems, Ebbesen-Fludd said. The reprieve shows how government and private individuals can negotiate and come to common ground for the greater good, she said.
Opened in 2002 at a cost of $205,000, the open-air market has 22 stalls for selling fish, two scaling rooms and two bathrooms. Painted in bright yellow, the market gives an inviting welcome to patrons. But upon closer inspection, the area is anything but inviting.
Drainage problems caused the Health Department to condemn the north side scaling room in July. The scaling room's weathered door has a hole where the knob used to be. Inside, the row of sinks and the floor are littered with fish scales, creating a flies' paradise. Next to the scaling room, both exterior bathroom doors have been removed, as well as the doors to the three stalls. The toilet bowls in the ladies' bathroom are layered in rust, although the seats are clean. The water runs in the toilet bowl but not in the face basin, which too has been wiped clean. Debris dots the tiled floor.
The men's bathroom is much worse. A pile of feces clogs the bowl, and the two urinals are layered in black dust. The face basin, devoid of running water, is also black with dust.
There is no toilet paper or paper towels in either bathroom. In both rooms a plastic bag brimming with refuse hangs on the stall's partitions.
In the south side scaling room, the condition is the same — if not worse — than on the north side. The weathered door is peeling and this doorknob is missing, too. Inside, flies buzz over a five-gallon white bucket full to the brim with rotting fish guts, which stands abandoned in the center of the small room. Decaying fish scales curled into scaly ribbons are everywhere. The smell is nauseating.
The drains set in the concrete floors of each of the 22 vending stalls are clogged, and pools of water stagnate. Behind the stalls, and circling the entire U-shaped facility, is a paved area for the fisherman to drive their vehicles. Mounds of fish scales — some almost a foot high — have been swept to the vegetation line behind the path.
Inside the fertile grass behind one of the vending stalls is a pool of stagnant water dotted with bright green tufts of algae, where an assortment of beer bottles float like ancient ships on a dead sea.
A maintenance agreement was entered into several months ago with Neo Maintenance of St. Croix, said DPNR Commissioner Robert S. Mathes, speaking by phone from his St. Thomas office. His department is charged with maintenance.
"There was no contract involved … there is no identifiable source of funding for maintenance," Mathes said. The present agreement involved cleaning the bathrooms (excluding plumbing), vending stalls and "overall general maintenance." Neo Maintenance was paid $9,200 monthly to clean seven days a week for "three or four months," Mathes said.
On Nov, 1, the agreement was reduced to three times a week at a cost of $4,000 per month because of funding problems. Requests for maintenance proposals were solicited recently, Mathes added, and several businesses responded. All the bids were more than $12,000 monthly, however. Neo Maintenance was one of the bidders, Mathes said. He contends that a small group of misfits and vandals brought ruin to the facility.
"The ne'er-do-wells never bought in" (to the project), he said. It was not too long ago that he received compliments on the condition of the facility, Mathes said.
"Good intentions" were behind the construction of the facility, he said, but, "like many government buildings, there was no money for maintenance."
The facility was funded through community block grants from two federal agencies, the Department of Agriculture and Housing and Urban Development. DPNR provided funds to pave and stripe the parking lot.
Edward Schuster of Neo Maintenance arrived at the site Friday while local authorities were still present. He said he contacted DPNR on several occasions about the problems at the facility, but got no response.
"The drains were never working — we mentioned it to DPNR," Schuster said. "We gave them an estimate for (repairs on) the bathrooms, they never responded. There are exposed wires in the bathrooms. I can't pressure wash with exposed wires."
Mathes, in a letter sent to Neo Maintenance on Wednesday, indicated the facility would close and Friday "will be your last night to perform cleaning duties."
The fishermen will be allowed to conduct business at the facility until 4 p.m. Saturday, which they say is their busiest day. After that they must move their business to designated areas around the island, including Krause Lagoon, Frederiksted Fish Market, Gallows Bay shoreline and Altoona Lagoon.
Further restrictions on fishermen were outlined in a news release issued Friday. In it, Mathes said fishermen who identify an alternate location must obtain approval from the V.I. Police Department and then report that approval to the DPNR Division of Environmental Enforcement. Roadside selling of fish is strictly prohibited in the Sunny Isle area, and the scaling and cleaning of fish at any roadside location is also prohibited.
The news release also contained a statement from Ebbesen-Fludd, who reminded fishermen and scalers that a Department of Health issued food handler's card is required and fishermen should ensure they have clean water, ice and hand sanitizers available while conducting business.
Although he could not give a date for the reopening of the fish market, Mathes said several agencies are working on the problem.
"We are looking at options including privatization … and looking for other sites," he said, adding that security is one of the biggest issues in reopening the area.
Mathes also said one of the drawbacks to the present operation is that the fisherman have no "proprietary sense of ownership."
"The fishermen don't pay anything," he said. "The water and WAPA is paid by DPNR."
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