More Than 3,600 Fishing Vessels Counted at 110 Beaches

Teams from the National Fisheries Authority (NFA) have, so far, counted more than 3,600 vessels from 110 fishing beaches on the island.

Data collected comes through the ongoing Vessel Census, which aims to count all fishing vessels islandwide.

Principal Director, Fisheries Compliance, Licensing and Statistics Division at the NFA, Dr. Zahra Oliphant, told JIS News that the census will also provide data on boats that need to be registered with the Authority.

“If you go on any fishing beach, you will find a lot of brightly coloured, beautifully painted canoes lining the beaches, and some of these canoes you would notice are without a number, which is the first flag to indicate non-compliance,” she said.

Owners of fishing vessels should be licensed by the NFA.

“Once you have been issued a vessel licence, you also have a vessel registration mark that must be placed on your vessel. A vessel that is fishing and is not marked is a vessel that is not compliant,” she noted. The census, which is being carried out electronically, is executed by two teams that aim to cover more than 180 fishing beaches.

“There’s a team covering the south coast and a team covering the north coast. We also have the support of the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Mining through the unit that they use to collect data. So, they will join one of the two teams and in any given week you’ll have both teams working different beaches in different sections of the island,” Dr. Oliphant pointed out.

Meanwhile, she is expressing her gratitude to Jamaicans who have participated in the census, so far.

“Big up to the more than 1,000 persons who have participated, so far, and really assisted with giving us access. We really, really appreciate it because this will help the NFA in being more informed in how we manage fishery and in how we deal with our fishers,” she said.