SILVER SANDS, Trelawny — Vendors told to vacate Jacob Taylor Beach in Trelawny may be allowed to return and share the space with fisherfolk once the property is upgraded by the Natural Resources Conservation Authority (NRCA).

In a media release Wednesday the NRCA detailed a long-running battle to regularise operations at the venue after it was rehabilitated in 2003.

According to the NRCA, the goal was to have a model public beach that is well-maintained, environmentally responsible, and freely accessible.

Fifteen craft vendors were given formal three-year leases. However, according to the NRCA, they failed to keep up with payments and in April 2018 they were served with notices to quit.

“Since then, the matter continues to form part of a long-standing process to resolve expired tenure arrangements, address outstanding occupancy matters — specifically relating to the vendors — and enable the NRCA to manage Jacob Taylor Beach in keeping with its intended public and environmental purposes,” said the release.

It stressed, however, that another effort will be made to carry out “the orderly accommodation of vendors” once a new round of upgrades has been completed.

“The conceptual redevelopment programme makes specific provision for vendors and fisherfolk currently operating at the beach. Vendors are expected to be incorporated into a designated craft village comprising covered stalls, together with shared storage and utility services,” said NRCA Chairman Christopher Whyms-Stone.

The release also stressed that no fisherfolk had been served with notices to quit during the ongoing push to prepare the area for another round of redevelopment.

Seventy-five-year-old wood sculptor Walton Spence operates a craft shop at Jacob Taylor Beach in Trelawny. (Photo: Horace Hines)

The NRCA indicated that planned, purpose-built areas for the fisherfolk and vendors “are intended to provide safer, more orderly, and better-supported conditions for existing livelihood activities”.

Last Saturday the Jamaica Observer reported that 75-year-old wood sculptor Walton Spence, who says he has made a living from a shop he erected at Jacob Taylor Beach 34 years ago, has vowed to fight NRCA efforts to remove him and other shop operators from the property.

At the time, some fishermen who operate on the beach were left wondering if, after the shop operators were removed, the NRCA would turn its attention to them.

Their fears should be allayed with the NRCA’s assurance, on Wednesday, that its plans include a dedicated fishers’ hub with facilities for boat access, equipment and fish storage, and the maintenance of engines.

“The NRCA’s notices to quit were not served on the fisherfolk. Their rights as traditional users are safeguarded under the Beach Control Act, and their continued access will be protected when the proposed redevelopment proceeds,” said Whyms-Stone.

According to the NRCA release, Jacob Taylor Beach was identified as a priority under the Beach Management Strategy commissioned in 2014 which examined management options, income-generating opportunities, infrastructure requirements, and the likely costs of rehabilitating NRCA-owned and -leased beaches.

NRCA said the objective is to address the deterioration and ad hoc use of the property while restoring it as a safe, attractive, environmentally responsible, and publicly accessible beach.