Sea egg grazing on coral.

February 2, is World Wetlands Day and the theme is 'Fish for Tomorrow?' This very pointed theme has been chosen as it seeks to highlight the critical value of wetlands and the interrelated industry of fishing. In Jamaica, our wetlands form a significant part of the commercially important areas for fishing.

The fishing industry employs thousands of persons directly and provides a livelihood for many more. Some of the persons directly involved in the industry are fishermen, boat owners and fish sellers. Fisheries in Jamaica is a multimillion dollar industry and provide a major source of protein for the population.

Vital resource

There is, therefore, an urgent need to ensure that this vital resource is not depleted to the point where we cannot support fish and fisheries. Wetlands offer spawning grounds for young fish and there are many natural fish and other marine nurseries located throughout the various wetlands.

There are several detrimental practices that take place today in several of our fisheries sites inside the wetlands. These practices include the dynamiting of fish, fishing in closed seasons, breaking coral to remove stunned fish and fishing in already depleted areas.

Jamaica is a signatory to the Ramsar Convention and one of the criteria for identifying wetlands of international importance is that: 'A wetland should be considered internationally important if it is an important source of food for fishes, spawning ground, nursery and/or migration path on which fish stocks, either within the wetland or elsewhere, depend.'

An increase in proper practices that promote the growth and development of the industry as well as the proper management of the wetlands, delicate ecosystem will ensure that our future generations can say 'Fish for Tomorrow'!

- NEPA