29 Fishers from Billy’s Bay Trained In Pelagic Fishing

Twenty-nine fishers from Billy’s Bay in St. Elizabeth have received certificates of participation after successfully completing pelagic fishing training spearheaded by the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining.

The training equipped the fishers to respond to declining near-shore fish stocks and strengthen climate resilience in their communities, using artisanal longline fishing techniques and Fish Aggregating Devices (FADs).

A total of 280 fishers from communities across several parishes benefited from the intervention, which is a component of the Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Sector Project.

Speaking at the Pelagic Sub-Project certificate handover and awards ceremony at Billy’s Bay Fishing Village on Friday (July 18), Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, and Mining, Hon. Floyd Green, said that the pelagic component aims to promote alternative fishing livelihoods and reduce the pressure on near-shore coral reefs.

“In order to do that, they must have the training,” Minister Green said.

“What we’re trying to do is get them to target our pelagic species… found in deeper seas. They are bigger, and they need different types of fishing styles if you are going to effectively catch them,” he pointed out.

Minister Green noted that the training provided creates a more profitable and time-efficient approach since fishers learn how to use global positioning system (GPS) coordinates to locate fish.

Christopher Ebanks, a fisherman at Billy’s Bay, expressed gratitude for learning longline fishing through the project.

“This longline project was a great thing. I’ve been doing fishing for quite a long while now and this new idea, I think, will work very well because the fishes have moved on. We have tried it before, and it worked very well,” Mr. Ebanks said.

Project Manager for the Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Sector Project, Selena Ledgister, said that the training, which targets pelagic species such as tunas and marlins, is aimed at fostering food security and climate resilience.

“One of the areas that we’re also targeting is improving and strengthening our regulations in terms of our marine protected area. That is one way of building resilience so they (fishers) don’t have to go into these marine protected areas,” she said.

“They can go further out, because once we are supporting the marine protected areas, they (fishes) can produce and reproduce,” she pointed out.

Principal Director at the NFA, Stephen Smikle, highlighted the importance of building a resilient fisheries sector.

“Fisheries is not a nine-to-five; it is a way of life. So, let us… work on having [a sector] that is robust for tomorrow, one that helps families put food on the table and protect our marine resources at the same time,” he said.

The Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience in the Fisheries Sector Project is being initiated through a US$4.85-million grant from the Climate Investment Funds administered by the World Bank.

More than 2,000 local fishers and fish farmers across 15 fishing communities islandwide have benefited from the initiative, which aims to increase the adoption of climate-resilient practices among targeted fishing and fish-farming communities in Jamaica.

Communities impacted by the project include Manchioneal, Portland; Morant Bay and Lyssons, St. Thomas; Hillrun and Twickenham Park, St. Catherine; Pagee and Annotto Bay, St. Mary; Billy’s Bay and Galleon, St. Elizabeth; Whitehouse and Russia, Westmoreland; Green Island and Lances Bay, Hanover; Whitehouse, St. James and Discovery Bay, St. Ann.