Reef tour operators criticise THA no-show at Canaan meeting

PNM To­ba­go Coun­cil leader Sham­fa Cud­joe-Lewis ad­vo­cat­ed on be­half of reef tour op­er­a­tors for greater con­sul­ta­tion with the To­ba­go House of As­sem­bly dur­ing a meet­ing at the Canaan Com­mu­ni­ty Cen­tre to­day.

Tour op­er­a­tors said they pre­vi­ous­ly met with As­sis­tant Sec­re­tary of Tourism Nike­ta Per­cy on March 11, where they called for stronger en­force­ment of reg­u­la­tions, main­te­nance of buoys de­mar­cat­ing the ma­rine park, and im­prove­ments to safe­ty mea­sures.

Cud­joe-Lewis said the THA had been in­vit­ed to to­day’s meet­ing but did not at­tend.

Op­er­a­tors said they feel ne­glect­ed and dis­re­spect­ed by the ab­sence of THA rep­re­sen­ta­tives, adding that they are be­ing por­trayed as reck­less de­spite shar­ing the same ob­jec­tives as the As­sem­bly.