THE ministers of transportation and agriculture will meet, within the next two weeks, to continue discussions on compensation for fishermen, who late last year said they suffered at least $80 million in losses from the dredging of the Kingston Harbour.

“There is a meeting lined up in about two weeks,” Transport Minister Robert Pickersgill told reporters yesterday. “I will meet with the Minister of Agriculture and the Members of Parliament of the areas involved.”

He however declined to say when the government would be paying the fishermen, as promised by agriculture minister, Roger Clarke.

Clarke agreed to the compensation figure, last November, for about 1,000 fishermen from Rae Town, Greenwich Farm, Port Royal, Hunts Bay and other fishing communities in the Corporate Area and Portmore, whose livelihoods were disrupted by the dredging. The compensation package did not take into account offshore fishermen, who were not materially affected by the dredging.

The claim arose from disruption of the fishing grounds and marine life around the Kingston Harbour from dredging carried out by the state-run Port Authority of Jamaica (PAJ), during the first half of 2002. The dredging, financed by a US$27 million loan from the Belgian Commerce Bank, was to facilitate the docking of mega ships at the Kingston Transshipment Port.

The non-payment of the $80 million compensation package has been a source of contention between the government and the fishermen. Last December, the fishermen protested over the issue near Jamaica House, in a bid to force government to honour its promise.