Ecobreves – HONDURAS: Shrimper's Environmental Permit Cancelled

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

TEGUCIGALPA, Jan 3 2005 (IPS) - The Honduran Environmental Prosecutor revoked the environmental permit of El Faro, a shrimping operation that fishes in the Gulf of Fonseca, on the Pacific Ocean. The firm is accused of causing severe damage to wetlands and mangroves in the area, which is shared by Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. Jorge Varela, of the Committee for the Defense of Flora and Fauna in the Gulf of Fonseca, told Tierramérica that the company must pay a fine of 55,000 dollars and repair the damages in La Berbería lagoon, a Honduran ecological reserve since 1998, even though the shrimper had an environmental permit to operate there.

A complaint filed seven months ago by the Committee led to the revocation of the permit. ''Now we must proceed against the officials who granted the permit, in violation of the law,'' said Varela.