Fishers face low catch in Greenwich Farm - Blame dredging of Kingston Harbour for small catch

by

April 13, 2017

Photo

It is the best catch of the day! Fisherfolks are happy about the huge amount of sprats that we caught.

John Lindo (right) gets assistance to take Sprats from a net at the Greenwich Farm fishing village in Kingston on Tuesday.

Paulette Murray shows off the catch of the day at the Greenwich Farm fishing village in Kingston on Tuesday.

These vendors cleans and package fish for sale at the Greenwich Farm fishing village in Kingston on Tuesday.

Fishers and vendors at the Greenwich Farm fishing village are normally excited whenever Easter comes along as Jamaicans usually flock their community to purchase fish.

But the dredging of the Kingston Harbour has cast a dark cloud over the season this year.

Trevor Harrison, a fisher who has lived and fished at the Greenwich Farm beach for more than 40 years, told THE WEEKEND STAR that he suspects that the noise from the dredging has caused the fish to find more peaceful areas to reside.

"The noise cause the fish fi tek weh demself," Harrison said. "The dredging slow tings down a lot."

SHIPPING CHANNEL

In January of this year, the Kingston Freeport Terminal Limited (KFTL) started dredging the shipping channel in the Kingston Harbour. The shipping channel is being deepened to accommodate bigger ships, which are now passing through the region, following the recent expansion of the Panama Canal.

When THE WEEKEND STAR visited the community on Tuesday, John Lindo, a fisherman, had just made his way back to shore for the third time that day.

"Yuh see the likkle catch here? It is the most fruitful since the year start.

"When we sell this, is only $60,000 we might get from this," Lindo said, pointing to sprat entangled in his fishing net.

"Even though it is not a lot, we going out later this evening because mi wife might soon call dat people waan more fish because a she sell."

Another vendor, Paulette Murray, said that she is now forced to buy fish from as far as Portland to meet her customers' demands.

"Mi get snapper as usual from here, but I don't get plenty like last year, and the amount of people dem weh mi supply, it is not enough," Murray said.

"I have to go to Manchioneal and Rocky Point [Clarendon] to get fish."

President of the Greenwich Farm fishing group, Novelette Mighty, said that the KFTL promised to compensate the fishers and vendors for losses they might accrue.

"They come and have meeting with us, and they are trying to give us something for the low catch," Mighty said.

Repeated attempts to speak with a representative of the KFTL proved futile.