WESTERN BUREAU:
FISHERMEN IN Westmoreland, now reeling from the loss of their fish traps as a result of Hurricane Ivan, are more concerned about the greater environmental impact the lost traps will have on the fish population.
"When fish traps are lost at sea, one fish trap will wipe out two acres of fish before it is destroyed on a reef or by a cutter fish, like a shark," said attorney-at-law Fred Hamaty during The Gleaner Editors' Forum held in Savanna-la-Mar, Westmore-land, on Tuesday. "So you can imagine the number of fish traps that have gone loose as a result of Hurricane Ivan and are damaging fish life out there."
Mr. Havlan Honeygan, president of the Gillings Gully Fisherman's Co-operative in Westmoreland, the largest co-operative in the parish, explained that the traps could not be recovered in rough weather. He said that even though the hurricane had passed, with thousands of fish traps loose, damage is still being done to the marine life along Jamaica's southwestern coast.
"One can never tell when marine life will recover because fish were already depleted prior to Ivan, so this is a major environmental nightmare for fishermen," said Mr. Honeygan, who is also chairman of the Jamaica Fisherman's Co-operative Union.
Last Friday, Mr. Honeygan met with officials in the Ministry of Agriculture's Fisheries Division to lobby for the deployment of divers to assist with the location and recovery of lost traps.
"We are very concerned about what is going on," he told The Gleaner Wednesday. "The fishermen on their own are trying to recover some traps but some boats have as much as 500 traps loose out there and time is running out."
Additionally, the aquaculture project at Maylors Field in Westmoreland, which is a flood-prone area, has lost a considerable number of fish.
- M.H.
