The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries has launched a multi-faceted recovery effort for Jamaica’s fisheries sector rolling out emergency support and long-term investments aimed at securing the industry’s future.

Portfolio minister Floyd Green on Tuesday told a meeting of Jamaica Observer Press Club that fishers across several parishes have already benefited from the distribution of critical supplies, including wires for fishing equipment and generators for fuel stations, allowing them a quicker return to normalcy.

“We procured about $30 million [worth of] wires so that they can get their parts back up and running. One of the first things we did was to provide generators for the fuelling stations so they could go back out. The approach has been started with the areas that the fishers are ready to go back out. So we did distributions in Portland, St Mary, St Thomas, all of them,” said Green.

Chief executive officer of the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) Dr Gavin Bellamy’s has reported that a preliminary assessment following the destructive Hurricane Melissa, which slammed into the island on October 28, found that the sector lost billions of dollars with fishing communities, aquaculture enterprises, and critical infrastructure heavily affected.

NFA also found that several fishing beaches, particularly in the south-western end of the island, were left facing near-total collapse with some communities reporting 100 per cent loss of vessels, along with severe destruction of engines, gear, gear sheds, and processing sites.

On Tuesday Green told Observer reporters and editors that because of this significant loss the redistribution of boats, engines, and other supplies was of paramount interest.

“We are definitely looking at what we started before Melissa, the boat and engine programme focusing on young fishers…to create the next generation of fishers. So, under 35 [years old] we give them a boat and an engine so that they can get out there. We already started that distribution and we’re going to continue that. I think we still have about 14 boats that we’re going to do…and we are looking to do some grants for people to replace their engines.

“We have been working with the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, to say that, ‘Hey, the funds that we are getting around loss and damage, let’s direct them to our fishery sector,’ and we are having some good discussions around that,” added Green.

He pointed out that, in addition to equipment supply and funding, significant infrastructure rebuilding was planned.

“We will have to do some beach clean-up and some reconstruction. So places like Black River, St Elizabeth, where our fuel station and our office have been destroyed, we are going to take the opportunity now to build better and to do our regional hub down there,” said Green.

According to the agriculture minister, the plan now is to build back wiser, and to ensure that restorations were not temporary solutions, but a sturdy foundation to re-establish the livelihood of fish farmers adversely affected by the hurricane.

“They took a massive blow, but again, just like our farmers, our fishers are extremely resilient people. We have already started our wire distribution. We have gone through the first phase of that using the resources [that we had in storage]. The strategy that we have now is to keep some things, always have some things [in storage], because time is money in farming and fishing. So the quicker you can get out and say, ‘Here is a roll of wire, get back on your feet,’ is the better for our sectors in terms of recovery,” argued Green.

Minister of Labour and Social Security Pearnel Charles Jr (second right) offers words of encouragement to fishers affected by Hurricane Melissa, Annmaureen Spence and Carlton Thompson (right), during the handover of wire mesh on Friday, December 12 in Rocky Point, Clarendon. Sharing in the moment is Chief Executive Officer National Fisheries Authority Dr Gavin Bellamy and another representative. (Photo: JIS)