There is no doubt that the main economic lifeline for the quiet area of Manchioneal, Portland, is fishing.

Manchioneal is therefore heavily depent on the fortunes of their fishermen who are always at risk once at sea.

“A jus fishing here, when you hear about Manchioneal and this side of Portland, its fishing, So when the sea rough, everybody jus siddung a look, doing nothing else,” fisherman and diver Dameion Wilson stated.

Wilson, who has been a fisherman for the past 20 years, said that in recent times the sea has been especially rough, which meant that they sometimes had to wait as long as three weeks before getting the opportunity to leave shore.

“Sometime even the shop dem nuh sell nuttin when the sea rough because nobody naa buy, everybody jus siddung a look. When time no fishing naah gwaan the whole place dead,” Wilson said.

According to the diver, when “nuh fishing naa gwaan”, business places will close as early as seven in the evening, which is in stark contrast to when they are able to go to sea as closing hours extend to three in the morning, with some places not closing any at all.

However, keeping businesses in the community up and running is not an easy task as the fishermen face various challenges both on and off the seas.

“Lobster, fish and conch nuh really nuff like first time, but it all right same way. It depends on how the sea current stay and the moon-during certain moon the fish appear more, so you ketch them better on a certain moon. If it’s a full moon, the pink parrot them out more and then all two days them wild and you can’t ketch nuff of them,” Wilson explained.

In order to get a good day’s catch, the men have to depart from home from as early as one in the morning, where they venture as far as 50 miles away from the shore.

“By time we reach, its morning. Sometimes, I start diving like six am and when we done dive, a like three in the afternoon and it tek us three hours to reach back home,” Wilson told Jamaica Observer North and East.

Though they would usually be out at sea, when North and East visited Manchioneal, the fishermen were busy fixing a compressor used for diving, which resulted in the loss of an entire work day.

Despite working so hard, the men do not always get the best value for their wares, and are often forced to settle with less than ideal rates for their catch.

“We have vendors that come around and buy. For lobster, it’s like $350 a pound – a nuh really good price still, but we haffi jus work with it because a it everybody a buy it for. The vendor dem have them meeting and talk how much them ago buy it for,” Wilson said.

He added that the only solution he sees so far is if an independent vendor comes and pays a higher price for lobster, which would mean that there would have to be a price increase.

However, despite the problems that come with being a fisherman, Wilson said that there is a lot of interest in fishing among the young men in the community, especially those who are below 20 years.

“The worst thing that ever happen to us is that we bruk down at sea, but most of the time another boat will deh nearby,” Wilson responded when asked what was his worst experience at sea.

However, not all fishermen are always that lucky.

“Yuh have man weh go out deh and nuh come back. Even last year a boat go out and nuh come back. A three people go, and out and out a di three, a just one man did over 20,” Wilson said solemnly.