Dear Source:
DPNR once again seem to miss out on the "Planning" part of their job. Once the new commissioner was approved and noticed there was not a budget for maintenance of the fish market, he needed to solve the problem. Instead, like with the island's fisheries, they just come in and close with next to no notice. This is not planning. The commissioner could have easily looked at several options for getting direct money from the island fish industry for the fish market. A commercial fish license in the Virgin Islands is less than a hundred dollars a year. Also, commercial fishermen in the Virgin Islands do not pay a gross receipts tax. All DPNR needed to do was raise the commercial fishing license to reflect the money needed to maintain the fish markets on the island. This is not rocket science.
Derrick Hill
St. Croix
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