MINISTER without portfolio in the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation, Senator Matthew Samuda has pointed to the need for a cultural shift among Jamaicans to address the challenges impacting the nation’s marine life.

Speaking at a World Oceans Day ceremony at the Jamaica Pegasus hotel last Friday, Samuda highlighted the escalating decline of Jamaica’s marine life and called on stakeholders to engage in more discussions with the public about harmful fishing practices and pollution.

“There are also some matters that the Government, private sector, NGOs [non-governmental organisations], and academia need to have a frank discussion with the public on. One is going to be net size, the other is going to be no take [fishing] zones.

According to Samuda, the solutions to these challenges will come with huge, early, and immediate economic consequences.

So what it requires is a national consensus, and a national discussion with all stakeholders to get the public in the space firstly to listen, secondly to agree, and thirdly to work to implement,” said Samuda.

He pointed out that alongside bad fishing practices, Jamaica has a major sewage issue mainly due to 70 per cent of the country’s population living within five kilometres of the sea.

“As Jamaica returns to macro-economic health, prioritising, not just portable water but sanitation is going to have to attract the same attention and support as laying a new pipe for portable water, because ultimately, not managing our waste water and sewage properly is poisoning the very portable water we seek to extract from wells along the coastline,” added Samuda.

He told the ceremony that the protection of marine life is the key reason behind the Government’s continuous work to eliminate non-biodegradable plastic, and its efforts to improve garbage collection across Jamaica.

Samuda was supported by French Ambassador to Jamaica Olivier Guyonvarch, who expressed concern over what he described as “the littering culture” in Jamaica.

According to Guyonvarch, there needs to be more work done to educate Jamaicans on the negative effects of this practice.

“What is the mentality of those guys who are driving, taking from home a full plastic bottle, drinking from the plastic and throwing it on the road when it is empty. Why don’t you keep the plastic bottle in your car and discard properly?” asked Guyonvarch.

“Education is key and this gesture should make us all uncomfortable. It starts at school and I wish that all the kids in the school and in the world will feel uncomfortable by doing this.”

In the meantime director general at Maritime Authority of Jamaica (MAJ) Bertrand Smith underscored that the protection of the sea is important to the survival of Jamaica’s blue economy.

He urged Jamaicans to not underestimate the importance of the shipping industry to the country’s economic development.

“Blue economy activities account for approximately 20 per cent of our GDP [gross domestic product], so the oceans are our life support…The maritime authority regulates ships which transport over 90 per cent of Jamaica’s trade,” said Smith as he pointed much of Jamaica’s food, energy, commodities, medicines, and motor vehicles are transported by ship.

He said the MAJ is implementing a global project that will reduce marine litter from the transport and the fishing sectors and is working to label fishing gear to prevent ghost fishing.

State minister in the Ministry of Education and Youth Marsha Smith in her keynote address, encouraged students in attendance to prioritise the importance of STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) subjects in order to be a part of the efforts to change the attitude and habits of Jamaicans to marine life.

“My encouragement to you this morning is that you cherish those moments that you have in your science classes, your mathematics classes and you tie them with your love for the environment because if not you will only be able to talk about the problems, you won’t be able to solve the problems,” said Smith.

“What we are trying to do when we introduce these subjects to you is to give [you] those critical thinking skills so that you can see what is out there, analyse what is happening and through the study of historical patterns come up with why certain things are happening and probably discover solutions that can work to address and retard climate degradation in particular in the maritime ecosystem,” added Smith.