KINGSTON, Jamaica — The National Fisheries Authority (NFA) is encouraging fishers benefitting from its Safety at Sea Training Programme, to share the knowledge gained with other fishers from their communities.

Since its inception in 2022, the programme has so far impacted scores of fishers across the island, as part of a five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), which sees training in safety at sea techniques.

Senior Director of Extension Services for the Capture Fisheries Branch of the NFA, Shellene Berry, said training has been very impactful even though the numbers “might seem small.”

“When persons are trained, we always encourage them to be the trainer of trainers. So, what they will do is tell others, spread the news about what they have learnt with their colleagues, their crew members, because most of the time, the training targets boat owners and these boat owners will go back and train their crew members, and that crew member would further spread the news to other fishers within the same fishing community,” she said.

Berry was speaking at a recent JIS Think Tank, at the agency’s television department, 5-9 South Odeon Avenue, in Kingston.

The training programme aims to develop the resilience of fishers within the sector and protect the sustainability of the fisheries resource.

The senior director also said beneficiaries spreading the knowledge ensures behaviour change.

“It has a multiplication effect by one telling the other and that creates great impact because not only is the message passed on, but the practice is also being done. What they learnt is also being practised and at the end of the day we gather great feedback, because some of the things they are learning for the very first time,” Berry noted.

“Gaining this opportunity allows them to learn new things that they have never even learnt in 30 years of fishing, so we are now sure that impact has been created,” she added.

Meanwhile, facilitator in the NFA’s Safety at Sea Training Programme and head of the Caribbean Maritime University’s (CMU) Department of Professional Training and Certification in the Faculty of Marine and Nautical Studies, Kyle Shaw, said fishers have been receptive to new knowledge on safety risks and liabilities.

Shaw said fishers have been introduced to the possession and use of basic medical equipment, such as charcoal for poison control.

They were also introduced to first aid practices, the law of tort and the responsibilities of different crew members.

“The main feedback that you get is especially when you speak to the boat owners and captains. Some of them didn’t even understand the liabilities they were taking on in terms of not properly equipping the crew members and even if the crew members are properly equipped and they continuously [use] a hazardous method and they don’t do anything to correct it or to change out that specific crew member, they still have a responsibility,” Shaw explained.

“Also, when you show them the realities, for example, you should wear your life jacket at all times because things can happen so quickly – you show them how it can be detrimental if a simple wave comes and hits them off the boat and they will see the effect it can have on them,” he added.

The two-component programme includes a safety at sea training administered through the CMU, and the scuba diving open water certification with the University of the West Indies (UWI) Marine Lab.

Individuals can reach out to the NFA by calling 876-948-9014 for details on how to access the programme in their parish.

–       JIS