Glut hits oyster farmers

WESTERN BUREAU:

Oyster farmers in Westmoreland who depend heavily on the fortunes of the tourism industry are lamenting an anaemic market that has left them with a stockpile of approximately 21,600 molluscs valued at $3.6 million.

Demetrius Samuels, president of Western Supreme Oysters and More Corporation, said it proved difficult to break into the new line of business because COVID-19 restrictions have softened the market amid recovering hotel occupancy, though the summer forecast projects a strong revival.

“They [hotels] were our prime target for sales, but now because the business of tourism is down, it is proving very challenging and it’s costing us,” Samuels told The Gleaner.

The Western Supreme Oysters president said that the 10-person group has experimented with marketing the molluscs on its own, visiting various hotels in Negril in the hope of striking deals. Those efforts have not garnered the expected results, he said.

“We did some advertisements, and we went to the different hotels in Negril. We got a few responses, but no confirmation for sales as yet,” stated Samuels. “They told us that they have bought oysters from the Green Island oyster farmers in Hanover.”

Frustration is growing among his members, who believe that they should have already been reaping the gains from this venture. Investments are reportedly going down the drain in gasolene purchases and boat rental fees.

“One of our biggest challenges is that we don’t have a boat for ourselves. When we are to go out [on the sea] to check the oysters, the boat man can’t make it that time and so it lapse over a three-week period,” said Samuels.

“It’s been a month now since we have gone to sea to expose the oysters to sunlight.”

Oyster farmers said that personnel from the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries are trying to source alternative markets to ease the oversupply crisis.

The oyster farm project is an initiative of the Westmoreland Municipal Corporation, in partnership with the National Fisheries Authority. It is funded by the Community Disaster Risk Reduction Fund, a multi-donor trust fund with grant resources from Global Affairs Canada and the European Union that is managed by the Caribbean Development Bank.

In 2018, Jamaica imported two and a half times the number of fish produced locally, while each Jamaican is said to consume an average of approximately 17.6 kilograms of fish per annum.

While the global aquaculture industry is projected to value US$7.2 billion in 2022, the Western Supreme Oysters farmers said that their first priority is to stay afloat in the industry.