FISHERFOLK in Alligator Pond are alarmed at the rate at which the beach in their remote South Manchester fishing village is receding. A 44-year-old fisherman, who gave his name only as Joseph, said he does not recall ever seeing it so bad.

He and others in the area insist that over the last year alone, the beach has eroded up to 40 feet in some sections as a result of aggressive wave action.

The world-famous Little Ochi Restaurant and Oswald’s Restaurant, in addition to two unfinished government buildings — meant as fish-vending quarters and gear sheds for fishermen — are among the facilities now under threat. Several informal sheds erected by fisherfolk have long been swept away by the sea.

“The time for talking is over; we need action to deal with the situation,” Everald Christian, who operates Little Ochi, told the Sunday Observer by telephone yesterday, even as he prepared for today’s annual seafood festival.

Christian claims that over the last 12 months he has lost over 25 feet of beach.

“It is unbelievable,” he said.

Stanley Rampair, head of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries’ National Irrigation Commission, which began the supervision of work on the two government buildings in January of 2009, said Friday that invitations had been issued for “qualified coastal engineering firms” to make proposals.

These would include some sort of “buffer” to protect the section of beach on which the two government facilities are situated “from wave action”. Rampair said his department and the Fisheries Division of the ministry were working closely with the Manchester Parish Council and the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA) on the “way forward”.

Work on the two government buildings — which up to then had cost $8 million — was halted last year on the orders of the parish council and NEPA, because local authorisation had been bypassed and buildings were said to be in breach of the high-water mark.

Rampair said that while his ministry’s primary focus was protection of its existing facilities, a tentative overture had been made to Christian to work with the Government in the beach-protection effort.

But while pledging to “do anything I can”, including trying to get “overseas help”, Christian stressed the strong belief that Government had a responsibility not just to “protect two buildings (but) the entire beach at Alligator Pond”.

He argued that over many years, political representation at all levels had been “very poor” for the seaside village and the time had come for that to change.

“We need Government, MP, councillor… everybody to do their job and deal with the situation,” Christian said.

But the politicians point out that action can only follow proper scientific assessment.

“We have to get the technical reports first and then decide how to proceed,” said Agriculture and Fisheries Minister Christopher Tufton.

“I agree that something has to be done (but) the truth is the area has been severely impacted by the natural occurrence of the sea… and whatever is recommended would not just include salvaging (government buildings) but a view would be expressed on the entire area…” the minister said.

Tufton cautioned that much would depend “on what kind of costs are involved and issues such as land ownership…”

And noting that “we have never seen anything like this at Alligator Pond”, Michael Peart, Member of Parliament for South Manchester, including Alligator Pond, also cautioned against a “headlong rush” without a “proper understanding”.

The experts, he argued, should be allowed to “find out what is causing this” and plot the way forward. But he suggested that a pattern of “packed boulders” being used by the Oswald Restaurant to protect that facility could be part of the solution.

Parish councillor for the Alligator Pond Division Dalton Brown (PNP), who remembers playing football on solid land “far out where the sea now is”, said he and the parish council are anxious for solutions.

Christian believes the erection of artificial reefs to protect the inshore, using whatever material may be deemed appropriate, including old cars and boulders, could be of long-term value.

Whatever is to be done, locals insist that it has to be done quickly.

“We are in the hurricane season,” noted Joseph.

And Shay Murray, who retails fish on the beach, said the erosion was so bad “sometimes we can’t find place to walk”. In addition to wave action, the fishing beach was often flooded during heavy rains as water rushed from higher elevations washing soil into the sea, she said.

“Dirt a run into the sea giving it a brown colouring,” Murray said.

As a result, she claimed, some of her customers had complained that the fish may be contaminated.

Environmentalists say beach erosion is ongoing and that in some cases, beaches actually gain soil over time as the sea ebbs and flows.

But they say the extensive erosion of the sort now taking place at Alligator Pond is often the result of climate change as well as human actions, including the destruction of mangroves and damage to reefs through the dynamiting of fish and the use of spear guns.

On-land practices, including the denudation of hillsides and the dumping of garbage into gullies which wash into the sea, hasten the destruction of reefs, environmentalists have said.

“The beach does wax and wane but overall waning will take place where there are bad environmental practices,” said respected environmentalist Diana McCaulay.

The Jamaica Economic and Social Survey reports that for 2008, of 34 sites monitored for beach erosion, 19 “showed erosion whilst 15 showed accretion”.