Fish vendors making up for slow Easter sales

Vendors at Scotts Cove, the popular fish stop at the border of St Elizabeth and Westmoreland, say they are now making up for the loss they faced over the Easter holiday because of COVID-19. Scanty roads, because of the Easter weekend curfew, left them returning home with buckets and pots full of fish; but now, fried fish and festival are back in demand.

Monika Bakers, who has been selling fish at the border for over three decades, told THE STAR that she experienced her biggest loss last Easter.

"I'm here for over 30 years and that was my biggest loss ... not even a hurricane cause such a loss. Business was a little bit slow because we had to leave earlier than expected, because we had the curfew. I left here by quarter to three. It was a very stressful time for us in the Easter," she said.

After the first day of undesirable sales, Bakers decided to scale back on the amount of fish she prepared.

"The following days we didn't t cook a lot of fish because of what we saw... We cut back on what we cooked and did just a little so we didn't have to go back home with a lot of fish."

A LITTLE BETTER

Now, things are looking up - with extended curfew hours and more people on the roads, less fish is being taken home after a day's end.

"Things are a little bit slow but it's better than in the Easter. People are now coming out... people are coming around a little bit better now. We are making up for the Easter loss now... not as much as we would want to, but things are a little better," Bakers said.

Michelle Fritz who has also been selling at the border for 30 years, has had a similar experience over the Easter holiday.

"In the Easter, it was slow because of the 3 o' clock curfew time. So you know we had to pack up by 2:30p.m. to leave.

"Over the Easter, just about 10 or 12 people came and bought fish," Fritz told THE STAR on Friday.

It is unclear what effect that tighter Labour Day curfew had on sales on Sunday and yesterday. The curfew hours on Sunday and yesterday ran from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. Prime Minister Andrew Holness said that the tighter curfew was implemented to help contain the novel coronavirus. As of today, through to May 31, the nightly curfew will run from 9pm to 5am.

More than 10 vendors are at the border offering seafood for sale to passersby.

"Since we get a longer time to be out here, the sales nuh that bad. The sales are still up and down, but it's more than what we saw during the Easter holiday," Fritz said.