Where have all the tyres gone? To Rocky Point every one. - Ian Allen/Staff Photographer

Paul H. Williams, Gleaner Writer

Lexford Redhi is 15, but small for his age. On a man-madegroyne he stood, looking out to sea, hoping that a boat with his mom would come to shore. While he waited, he chatted with the The Gleaner news team about his dream of becoming a pilot. He said he was doing well in school.

This Central High School student does not want to be like most of the other young men in Rocky Point, Clarendon. They have absolutely nothing to do after leaving high school, apart from becoming fishermen, or simply 'hustle' around this dirty rural slum of a fishing village.

One of the reasons Lexroy does not wish to be a fisherman is that his single-parent fisherwoman mother told him that by the time he was of age, there wouldn't be anything left in the sea to catch. Her prophecy perhaps is based on the high level of pollutants in the sea at Rocky Point, and the near destruction of the adjoining environment.

For, located on the coast of Vere, southern Clarendon, Rocky Point fishing beach is not an environmental disaster waiting to happen; it has happened. The sprawling coastline, including Carlisle Bay, in which the Rio Minho empties, is an example of how mankind's nonchalant attitude and behaviour contribute to environmental degradation.

Rocky Point is principally a fishing beach, but it has become a small town in itself. Elfin vegetation has given way to informal settlements, lacking most of the amenities of modern living. Naturally, the activities are centred on the beach, and over time, the beach land became occupied with zinc shacks, huts and boats. Successive hurricanes destroyed these ramshackle structures, but they have been promptly rebuilt. The beach is now a place of squalor. There is no garbage disposal system, no collection programme; so, some dwellers and users are forced to burn their garbage right there upon the sand.

Recycling

The greyish-black sand is now replete with fish scales, dead seaweed, miscellaneous debris, rusted nails, other sharp metals, and splinters of wood. The entire stretch is strewn with plastic bags and bottles, to the point where a recycling plant could well generated some income for those who are having a hard time selling fish.

Way out in the water, there are broken bottles and rusting containers embedded in the sand. Then, all the old tyres in the world must have rolled their way to the beach, for they are now resting on the sands, useful makeshift mooring for fishing canoes and boats.

In one section, potted with crab holes, flies hummed as they swarmed a dead land crab. Their buzzing is a prelude to the symphony that will herald swarm of mosquitoes, which descend upon the residents at night. There are attempts to dump the large pools of water in which the mosquitoes breed, but to no avail, for the Rocky Point is a watery place.

There is water everywhere, but hardly a drop to drink, from the stagnant swamp waters to the polluted sea. The waters lashing the black sands teem with bacteria and other foreign bodies. An Indian man showed big white spots, skin fungi, on his feet, which he acquired every time he went into the sea. His own yard is surrounded by water, a swamp it is, but he claimed the water was coming from the Monymusk sugar Factor.

Goats romp

Crocodiles are his neighbours. These make regular visits near his yard where young children and goats romp in wild abandon. Mangy mongrel dogs rummage through piles of garbage, and one dirty emaciated hog swishes its curly tail as it passes by. The stale odour of urine clashed with the miasma emanating from the expanse of settled water.

A man was seen stoning some huge pelicans that alighted upon a boat. The birds, he claimed, were defacing his boat with tonnes of cement-like excrement. What are the birds to do? The beach is their natural habitat.

However, man has invaded their space for several years now, but has not put in place any toilet facilities for their own convenience. Thus, as the birds do, some visitors to and users of the beach are forced to use the land around, especially at night, to leave their waste.

Neville Crawford, adirector of the Rocky Point Fishermen Co-operative, bemoaned this undesirable practice by saying, "De woman dem come and dem urine round the shed dem and all bout ... no water to wash their hand, nothing all." But the men are no better. For, during the course of the interview with Mr. Crawford, at least three men, in full view of everyone, stood on one of the groynes and urinated into a gutter that carries jet black water into the sea, the polluted sea in which many are afraid to venture.

Need light

Miss Elaine, a veteran fish vendor, lamented, "We want the beach to fix up and organise properly, and we want a bathroom, in case of emergency." She was echoed by George White, a youth who does odd jobs on the beach, who shouted, "We want a toilet, and we need light."

While Miss Elaine wants a bathroom, she doesn't want Government to take over the beach. She wants the authorities to resuscitate it and leave it up to the users to take care of it. But, as it is, there is no united effort to rectified the situation.

Neville Crawford does not agree with her. He said, "We the fishermen and the vendors them not taking care of the beach, if we was taking care of it a lot of things yuh see here would not be here." He continued, "We want Government and other authorities to come in and take over the beach, regulate it, even fi charge wi, and get security."

After failing to see his mom, whom he has not seen for over a week, to come from the cays, young Lexford jumps from the rocks to return home, but not before he told The Gleaner that he wanted a cleaner environment for Rocky Point. The sun glinted in his eyes as he said, "Of course because the fishing industry help me to go to school."

One fisherman claims that these birds, in their natural habitat, have a nasty habit of messing up the boats.

A gutter at Rocky Point Fishing Beach in Clarendon.

This is somebody's backyard in Rocky Point, Clarendon. The residents claim the debris in the foreground is brought down by waste water from Monymusk sugar factory. Also, crocodiles live in the murky waters.

Prime beachfront properties. Land is scarce in this shanty town. - Photos by Ian Allen/Staff Photographer