Peter Espeut
TODAY AND every June 29 is celebrated by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations as International Fisherman's Day, and all over the world that day is used to highlight the plight of the fisheries sector and those who work in it. Not so in Jamaica, as small-scale fishers are held in low esteem, and not much attention is paid to that sector by the government or anybody. As a result, Jamaica has the most overfished waters in CARICOM - and probably in the world, but there is no world ranking.
Our world-class overfishing leads to declining fish stocks and declining fish catch; every year we fish harder but catch less - less in total weight landed; every year the average size of the fish gets smaller, and every year there are less 'quality' fish and more 'trash' fish.
The decline in our fisheries did not begin with this government. The first assessment of our fisheries was done in 1945 by Ernest F. Thompson on behalf of the British Colonial Office, who declared that Jamaica's north and south shelves were already overfished, and he recommended expansion further offshore into the banks like Pedro and Morant. Now those areas are overfished.
The Fisheries Division was set up in the 1970s to 'develop' Jamaica's fisheries, meaning to increase the catch by increasing the fishing pressure. Loans were offered and subsidies were put in place, and people bought fibreglass boats and outboard engines to replace dugout canoes powered by oars, and the inevitable occurred: we caught fish faster than they could reproduce, hence the decline.
And we have also been destroying fish habitat - coral reefs, mangroves and seagrass - mostly in the name of (tourism) 'development' - reducing the overall potential of the fishing industry. What environmentalists like myself have been calling for is 'management' of our fisheries to reduce or eliminate overfishing and habitat destruction, which will lead to an improvement in the health of our fish stocks, and in the fish catch.
FISHERIES ASSOCIATION
On International Fisherman's Day 1995, the NGO I head held its first meeting with the stakeholders in the fisheries of the Portland Bight Protected Area who had agreed to form themselves into the Portland Bight Fisheries Management Council (PBFMC). Today after almost 100 meetings, they celebrate a decade of struggle toward sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. They have my congratulations!
They began by reviewing and assessing all the laws and regulations governing fishing in Jamaica; they found dozens of holes, and sent their comments and suggestions to the Fisheries Division. The FD then asked them to review a draft of the new Fisheries Act they were preparing, and over the years, three different drafts have been reviewed word-by-word, and comments sent in.
The PBFMC has drafted a suite of fisheries management regulations to apply within Portland Bight, including penalties for breaches. They agreed to impose upon themselves the payment of an annual permit fee, and they decided to ban the use of damaging fishing methods, like seine nets and trawl nets. They set (it will be the first time in Jamaica's history) minimum limits on the mesh sizes they will be allowed to use in their fish traps and nets so juveniles will be able to escape and live to breed.
Over the years the Governor-General has appointed some 50 PBPA persons as Game Wardens under the Wildlife Protection Act and Fisheries Inspectors under the Fishing Industry Act, giving them powers of arrest and search without warrant under specified circumstances. No one has abused their authority, and they have a 100 per cent conviction rate; this empowerment of local persons to promote enforcement has set a standard for community policing not matched elsewhere.
They have resolved conflicts between fishers and other users of the sea (e.g., obtaining over J$200,000 compensation from big shipping for damaging fishing nets) and between fishers on different beaches.
RECOGNISED ABROAD
Although not receiving much attention locally, the PBFMC has been recognised abroad; groups of fishers from Haiti and Colombia have come to Jamaica to learn from them, and members have travelled (by invitation) to San Diego (California, USA), Belize, Guyana and Cuba spreading their gospel of fisheries co-management. They crammed into a small studio in Kingston to share their experiences with an international coastal zone meeting at UNESCO headquarters in Paris by teleconference.
The members of the PBFMC are to be praised for their perseverance over the last decade through adversity and government indifference. Possibly one day the regulations they drafted in 1999 will become law so that their ideas and approach will be really put to the test.
Peter Espeut is a sociologist and is executive director of an environment and development NGO.
