Fishing professionals question the absence of government representatives on the island
The fishermen and fishmongers of Lomba Tantum are asking "urgently" for the cable car, which has been broken for over a year, to be repaired and have questioned the government's absence in Brava.
Speaking to journalists after the meeting held on Monday between the community's fishermen and a maritime inspector, the group's representative and president of the Cooperative of Shipowners, Fishermen and Fishmongers (CoopUnipesca), Anildo Baptista, pointed out that it had been three years since the Minister of the Sea last visited the island.
According to him, a date was recently scheduled for the government representative's visit to the island, but it was canceled and has still not been rescheduled.
In this sense, he appealed for more attention from the government authorities in relation to Brava, knowing that the municipality has been experiencing several difficulties in the area of fishing.
"The most critical situation at the moment is that in the town of Lomba Tamtum the fishing area has been suffering, bearing in mind that the cable car has been broken for a year and two months, and since then we have been waiting for the Ministry of the Sea to intervene," he said.
He said, however, that until the cable car is fixed, the fishermen and fishmongers have been paying 700 escudos for someone to transport a tub of fish from Tamtum to the community of Lomba.
"This is a critical situation and that's why we're here once again calling for the machine to be repaired as soon as possible, which would be great and a great advantage for the community," he concluded.
The meeting also addressed the issue of marine safety, bait catching activities within the bay with seine nets, among other issues.
