Rocky Point residents mull fish processing plant

It was a hot and dry day in the flood-prone fishing village of Rocky Point when THE STAR visited the community last week. But despite the scorching sun, the news team was greeted with smiles and excitement when we told a local fisherman, fondly called 'Fletcher', that we were in search of persons trained in the Rocky Point corned/ canned fish processing training programme.

Without hesitation, Fletcher hopped on his bicycle and escorted THE STAR team to Taletha Barnes, a hospitality instructor who was trained in the programme.

Upon our arrival, Barnes face was filled with gleam and laughter as she invited the news team to sit on her verandah.

"It's really a corned and canned fish programme, where we actually get the fish from the sea, we processed it and package it right, suh persons overseas can buy the product, as well as [people] out here," Barnes said excitedly.

She said that the thinking at this stage is to create Rocky Point-branded products that could transform the economic fortune of the community.

"We will be working together, because we are planning on making a processing plant in the area ...where we will do export. We'll also make it, store it, package it; but is like a headquarters we are trying to build in the community," Barnes said.

Having recently benefited from a corned and canned fish processing training programme, residents of Rocky Point in Clarendon are brimming with excitement and readiness to launch their own business venture.

The residents, many of whom are fish vendors in the seaside community, are dreaming of the day when their Rocky Point-branded products will occupy spaces on supermarket shelves at home and in foreign lands. The Social Development Commission recently partnered with several organisations to train 23 residents in corned and canned fish processing. The participants were trained in deboning fish, producing and packaging items like fish fillets, and crafting ready-to-eat, fish-based products for consumers.

Similarly, Josephine Coleman, a member of the Rocky Point Community Development Committee, said residents of Rocky Point have not been reaping the benefits of the fish caught in their vicinity. She said the plans to create value-added products are in its early stages. A committee has been formed to ensure the idea comes to fruition.

"The fishing village has been declining over the years ... . What happens in Rocky Point is that the fish would come in Rocky Point, but it does not stay in Rocky Point so that the people can generate real income from it, per se. It comes in and then it just go out," Coleman, 64, said.

She said that the Rocky Point market has been earmarked as the manufacturing location for branded Rocky Point fish products.

"The market that is down there is not really being used to its full capacity ... . The mayor [Winston Maragh ] was there and he suggested that would be an ideal location. But the building would have to be retrofitted, and so the committee now that has been set up, they are going to meet and put forward a proposal to get stakeholders to come in and assist them," said Coleman.

For his part, Maragh, who is also councillor for the Rocky Point Division, described the plans to create value-added fish products in the community as "a very good initiative".

"This is one that we have been trying to get going for many, many years in that community, and of course, the market is there, it's available. We have been trying to get vendors to occupy the market. We have advertised to get people to rent it, and so the project ... if it can pay the fees or the rent for the market, that would be an ideal location to have this project done. Of course, it will benefit a lot of people in the community," Maragh said.