Fishermen participate in the G-Force Natural Tonic Wine Hellshire Seafood Fest and Fishermen's Regatta while spectators watch at the Hellshire Beach in St. Catherine on Sunday, July 30. - Photo by Anthony Minott

With the fisheries industry under severe threat from overfishing, the Government is exploring ways to increase the prospects for expanding inland fisheries ventures.

Victor Cummings, State Minister with responsibility for the fisheries sector in the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands said the Government was exploring ways to entice more fisherfolk into inland fisheries projects - that is growing lobsters, shrimp and fish in a controlled environment on land - to allow the marine fisheries resources to recuperate from the massive overfishing that is threatening to destroy the industry.

"At our research facility in St. Thomas, we are looking at shrimp farming so these are areas that can be grown and also we are looking at (growing) oysters," Mr. Cummings said.

Catch declined

The new emphasis on inland fisheries by the Government comes in the face of an alarming number of people entering the industry at a time when the resources are declining at a rapid pace. It is estimated that the number of people involved directly in the fisheries industry has more than doubled to over 40,000 in recent years, while the catch has been steadily declining. Last year alone, the catch declined by more than 11 per cent, according to figures from the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

But Errol Cameron, secretary of the Jamaica Fishermen's Cooperative said the fisherfolk were averse to the idea of venturing into inland fisheries programmes. "We have raised it with the fishermen, but they resent it. For almost 10 years that I know about, the fishermen keep saying, we don't want nuh pond fish," he said.

Mr. Cummings said there have been attempts to get more fishermen involved in ornamental fishing (rearing pet fish). However, the response was less than encouraging. "The first persons we tried to encourage to get involved in the ornamental fishing were fishermen, but they weren't too interested so we started dealing with the inner-city young men who are unemployed," he explained.

However, Mr. Cameron pointed out that "their backs are now against the wall and the Co-op Union has to be looking into it more seriously now." According to him, "We have to sell it to them in a meaningful way because Government has done their part; we have one of the best facilities in the Caribbean when it comes to the rearing of fish out by Twickenham Park and some of the most trained people."

Inland fishing

One way that more fisherfolk could be encouraged to buy into the idea of inland fishing, the minister suggested, was for the JFC to be put in charge of "one of the areas that we have pond fish and then they would reach out to their members."

The minister noted that finding alternative means for the thousands of fisherfolk who depend on the industry was important because "When you go down on some of the fishing beaches and when you see people just sitting there and then some of the boats go out and they come back empty or with little catch, they start saying, what else can we do?" he related.

"I think that the time is right and now that we are getting the policy and the act together, we are going to go back and meet with the fishermen and have consultation, we are going to be putting this option on the table and I am confident that quite a few will be picking up this," he said.

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