TRELAWNY, Jamaica – Councillor Garth Wilkinson (People’s National Party, Falmouth Division),  is calling for an immediate halt to the unregulated construction of shops and storerooms along the shoreline of Falmouth Fishing Beach, warning that the practice is preventing fisherfolk from safely pulling in their boats, especially during emergencies such as the approaching Hurricane Melissa.

“One of my biggest calls is that everybody who decides to build on the beach presently must understand there are times like this when the boats have to come in, and you can’t build shops that line the entire shoreline. It has to stop!” Wilkinson insisted.

“There must be a place that the fisherfolk can pull in their boats to safety in times like these. Every fisherman cannot decide that he wants a shop or a storeroom down there,” he added.

Wilkinson noted, however, that fisherfolk across major fishing beaches in the parish including Half Moon Bay and the Falmouth Fishing Beach on Rodney Street, as well as Rock have already moved to secure their boats.

“In the community of Rock, most of the fisherfolk have moved their boats to safety, hiding them in the lagoon across from the Excellence Resort in that area,” said the former Falmouth mayor.

-Horace Hines