Kyle Mais, managing director at Jamaica Inn Hotel, has said that all earnings from the Jamaica Inn Foundation’s (JIF) annual backgammon tournament will go toward the building of the White River Fish Sanctuary, which aims to conserve, restore, and engage marine life.

The Backgammon Fund-raising Tournament will be held for the sixth time from June 2 to 4 at the Jamaica Inn Hotel in Ocho Rios, St Ann, with 40 of the best players fighting for over $1 million in cash and prizes.

Mais, a JIF board member, said the strategy is to not only manage the fisheries conservation area but also to take a comprehensive approach to assisting to restore the marine ecology in the Ocho Rios area.

“Most people think it’s about a no-fishing zone, but the purpose of a fishery conservation area is to help improve the fish stock so that fishermen can catch more and bigger fish outside of this sanctuary.

“Remember, fish don’t just stay in one place, and so if we improve the number of fish and really where they produce and grow, and after this area becomes sustainable, they move out,” Mais told the Jamaica Observer at the tournament’s launch on Wednesday at the Spanish Court Hotel in Kingston.

“However, another critical factor is the coral reefs, which help to protect our beaches. Because if breakwaters and coral reefs continue to perish, we will effectively lose our beaches, especially with climate change and rising sea levels.

“We are an island, and we rely on tourism for our beaches and hotels along the coast, so you can imagine if we lose our beaches and the sea rises, it will eventually be in our lobby.

“So we need to conserve our aquatic life,” Mais, the Fish Sanctuary’s founding director, continued.

Rennae McKenzie, manager of the White River Fish Sanctuary, explained why a fish sanctuary is necessary.

“Those who are unaware, the sanctuary is a no-take zone,” she said. “Anything, whether living or dead, fish, shells, or anything else you can think of, is prohibited from being removed from the water. The idea is that once we have an undisturbed space, marine species will make their way into it and breed, resulting in more fish, lobsters, and turtles, from which the community will profit when they get larger and leave the sanctuary.

“The sanctuary is very community-driven, and so we work very closely with the White River Fishermen’s Association, which comprises the fishermen living in the village, and is involved in pretty much every aspect of the sanctuary, which is very important because it is their livelihood, so it is very important to have them involved.”

Tisheecka Clarke, analyst, productive sectors at the Tourism Enhancement Fund (TEF), pledged her organisation’s support for the backgammon tournament.

“Projects like these are very important to the team at TEF,” she said. “It promotes the destination positively, and any way we can market the location positively is always a bonus for the team’s effort, and we are always looking to support tournaments like this.

“The tournament is quite comprehensive. It will not only focus on the backgammon tournament but also on areas including health and wellness, gastronomy, which is our fancy term for food, and entertainment.

“All of them are hot spots for tourists to our island. The more people who come, the more they see what we have to offer, the better it is for our destination,” she stressed.