STILL reeling from the effects of Hurricane Beryl, which brushed the island last July, 200 fishers in Whitehouse, St Elizabeth, and Portland Cottage, Clarendon, have received supplies totalling approximately $2 million to bolster their operations.

Eight months after the Category 4 storm hit the island’s predominantly fishing communities, many have not been able to resume full operation following the loss of up to 100 per cent of their tools and resources.

Recently, members of the Sandals Foundation — working in collaboration with the Barmouth Fishers’ Association and the Gillings Gully Fishermen’s Cooperative — distributed an assortment of 40,000 yards of four-foot fish pot wires, 900 pounds of fishing nets, 2,000 deep sea fishing hooks, and rolls of four-foot fish pot wires, at the Barmouth Fishing Beach in Portland Cottage, Clarendon, and Whitehouse St Elizabeth.

The supplies, which will strengthen the ability of fishers to earn a living, support their families, and the indirect commerce of surrounding communities, was made possible by the Canada Fund for Local Initiatives (CFLI) Humanitarian Assistance Programme, operated by the Canadian High Commission to Jamaica.

Launched in October 2024 and executed by the Sandals Foundation, the recent outreach culminates a series of restorative projects to support livelihood recovery within the island’s agriculture, education, and marine space.

“The effects of a storm, and in this case a hurricane, transcends months and even years,” said Heidi Clarke, executive director of the Sandals Foundation.

“The supplies provided today will not only directly help the men and women who navigate our waters for their daily catch, but it will also fuel the commerce of fish markets, local restaurants, villas, retail shops, and wholesales, as well as the families and residents who rely on those services to maintain their lives,” added Clarke.

Seventy-nine years old William Daley, who has been a fisherman for decades, welcomed the donated supplies.

“It will help out a lot,” said Daley as he reminisced on Hurricane Beryl. “It was a very, very dangerous hurricane. It destroyed the greater part of my savings. My house, farm, animals, fish pots. I don’t fully recover from it yet,” added Daley.

Charmaine Allen, who has operated a cookshop at the Barmouth fishing beach for the last four years, said the residents have limited economic opportunities and as such, “The shop isn’t doing so well right now because people are not buying and going out to sea like they used to.”

According to Allen, the support to the fishers will bring a boost to her operation.

“Now that they have the supplies they need like nets and such, they will be able to go out to sea more often. Since they’ll be fishing more, they’ll have better income, so they can come and spend more money at my shop,” noted Clarke.

The fishers’ livelihood initiative forms part of a wider $ 5.1-million humanitarian outreach and disaster relief project under the humanitarian assistance programme of CFLI.

The CFLI provides modest funding for small-scale, high-impact projects in more than 120 countries eligible for official development assistance (ODA).

Projects are planned and implemented mainly by local organisations, and are selected and approved by the relevant Canadian embassy or high commission.

Additional projects implemented under the CFLI Humanitarian Assistance programme, through Sandals Foundation, involve the distribution of $2.2 million cash grants to over 50 farmers in Westmoreland and St Elizabeth in December, as well as the November 2024 donation of 30 new teachers’ desks valued at $1.4 million to Hampton School in St Elizabeth.