‘I have to start all over again’

Fisherfolk at the Montego Bay Fishing Village in the Second City have painted a picture of tremendous loss and despair as last week’s adverse weather conditions have left many of them empty-handed.

The Gleaner understands that boats and other fishing equipment were badly damaged and lost during the two days of heavy rainfall and windy conditions experienced across the island.

During a visit to the fishing village on Wednesday, fisherman Aston Edwards explained that he has been struggling to pick up the pieces as the 40-horsepower engine that was once attached to his boat has been left damaged beyond repair. In addition to that, Edwards said his boat was also pushed on to the shore by strong currents, damaging at least three boats belonging to other fishermen.

The engines on those boats were also affected. Edwards quantified his loss to approximately $1 million.

“I lost my fish pots and nets at sea, too. I don’t even have a boat right now to go search for them, so I have to start all over again. It is going to take me a long while to get up back on my feet,” said Edwards, a fisherman of 30 years.

At the same time, another fisherman, Jason Johnson, said last week’s weather conditions were the worst he has experienced over the past two decades.

“We were here throughout the bad weather because we couldn’t leave. We knew that bad weather was coming, but it had been around 20 years since we had seen something like this. The waves were roughly between 15 to 20 feet high, so we had to pull the boats far inland,” said Johnson.

However, he quickly pointed out that their precautionary actions were no match for the strong waves produced by the current. While some fishing pots were recovered by the fisherfolk, Johnson said that many are still out at sea – a reality that they are trying to accept.

“Because of the situation, we cannot take most of the fish pots to land, so they are still under the sea. Some can be repaired, but 90 per cent of them are unable to be repaired. Most of them have gone to deep ocean, so even if we have the tank, it is impossible for us to dive that depth, so it is all just a big loss,” the fisherman said.

“It could have been worse, but we suffered a great loss. Mi cannot even buy my girl any Valentine’s Day gift or KFC today,” Johnson added.

LOSS OF CORAL REEF

The fisherman shifted his focus to the quality of the sea surrounding the fishing village. He noted that the aftermath of last week’s adverse weather conditions is a loss of noticeable coral reefs.

“The loss of our boats and fish pots is not even the biggest problem right now. There is no reef left. The reef is gone completely. There is no seaweed or grass, and we know that reef takes a long time to rebuild, so right now we don’t have any fish a catch right here suh,” he bemoaned.

In the meantime, the chairman of the Montego Bay Fisherman’s Cooperative Society, Richard Bowen, told The Gleaner that assistance was being sought for the fisherfolk.

Bowen said representatives from the St James Municipal Corporation (StJMC), headed by Deputy Mayor Councillor Richard Vernon, visited the fisherfolk and have committed to assisting those affected by last week’s weather conditions. He said that other agencies, along with the Ministry of Fisheries, have been contacted on their behalf.

While they await government assistance, Bowen said fisherfolk have started repairing what they can as this is their main source of income.

“A lot of the fishermen have taken the initiative to repair their boats and fish pots because fishing is their only source of income. Most of us live off of the sea, so we have to figure things out. They are pressuring us as a society to see how they can get assistance, so we are trying our best to help them in whatever way we can so we can get back to normalcy,” said the chairman.

For his part, Vernon told The Gleaner that a preliminary assessment had been done by the municipal corporation to note the damage experienced at the fishing facility. Vernon also indicated that there was no emergency funding to deal with such issues.

“I know that based on the type of business, this loss has some serious financial implications for them. I reached out to the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries Floyd Green, and he has committed to assisting the fisherfolk. They are now in the process of gathering information so we can submit that to the ministry,” said Vernon.

rochelle.clayton@gleanerjm.com