WESTERN BUREAU – More than 120 fishermen were issued permits to fish in the Montego Bay marine park as part of efforts by the city’s marine park trust to allow for sustainable fisheries management in the area.

The permits which will give the group controlled access to the marine park – which has seen a depletion in its fish stock in recent times due to over-fishing – were presented to the men only after they had completed three weeks of seminars that took them through the rudiments of marine ecology, fisheries management and fisheries regulations.

The seminars were executed under a programme dubbed, ‘Fish Cyaan Dun’, which was funded in part with a $2.4-million grant from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA)/Green Fund of Canada. It was also conducted in accordance with regulations for Jamaican marine parks, as gazetted in 1991, which stipulate that all fishers working within the marine park must be registered.

The training seminars and subsequent granting of permits form part of a larger initiative that the marine park trust has undertaken to ensure the continued viability of the park.

According to consultant Brian Zane the trust was, among other things, looking at having fishers identify and engage in commercial activities that would serve to complement their fishing. The objective, he said, was to have fishers engaged in commercial activities compatible with fishing.

On Saturday, more than 120 fishermen proudly accepted their permits at the Meeting Place along Montego Bay’s Howard Cooke Boulevard near the city’s fishing beach.

“I feel good,” Aaron Baker told the Observer after receiving his permit. He has been fishing for more than 20 years.

“You know, is the rule so I have to stick by it. It is my livelihood (that is at stake),” he added.

Fisheries inspector for the parish, Demerce Guscott, underscored the need for all the stakeholders to work together to ensure the success of the programme.

“We are the first (to undertake this programme) and we have to be ahead at all times… We have the technical expertise. We have the mind and we have the guts. I am asking that you all work together so that we can keep ahead at all times,” he told the fishermen.

“We all need to realise that we need to work together. Working together brings out the positive vibes from the top to the bottom,” Guscott added.

Director of Fisheries Andre Kong, who also spoke at the function, urged the fishermen to continue on the path to ensuring the sustainability of their livelihood.

“You have taken the first steps towards a fuller understanding of the issues that greatly affect your chosen path of survival. I urge you to continue on the path of empowerment and self-actualisation and continue to be an integral part of the process of change…” he said.

Other supporters of the programme included the Fisheries Division of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries, the National Environment and Planning Agency, the Urban Development Corporation, the Jamaica Fishermen’s Cooperative and the St James Health Department.