A new fish-attracting device is being constructed by the Fisheries Division in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, which it is hoping will be used by fishermen to promote good fishing techniques, under the Fish Aggregation Project.

The device is an artificial floating shelter made of bamboo, which is anchored to the sea floor. The equipment attracts, traps and collects large quantities of fish, according to the Fisheries Division.

Senior fisheries officer Ian Jones told JIS News that the aim of the project is to encourage small fishermen to concentrate on catching large fish found in pelagic or mid-waters, and therefore shift focus away from coral reefs, which are overfished.

“We want less people using traps and more people venturing into the offshore, open sea areas,” said Jones.

Jones said the system would target tuna and other pelagic fish, such as wahoo, marlin, snapper and grouper, rather than reef fish. The mechanism will also provide food, shelter and protection of fingerlings from predators, he said.

He said an experiment to test the feasibility of the apparatus is slated to be conducted with fishermen in the community of Whitehorses in St Thomas, but that the division was awaiting the permit to be passed by the National Environment and Planning Agency, to actually go ahead and launch at sea.

The country, said Jones, needed to look at alternatives and diversify the fishing sector, so that “we can reduce the stress on coral reefs, which is further exacerbated by hurricanes, algae and sewage”.

The division has already received international assistance from the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), which has donated gears to the organisation.

When the project becomes fully operational, the division is predicting an increase in fish quality over a three-year period, as well as the use of more effective devices that are positioned farther out in the ocean.