Pelagic Training Vessel to Boost Fisheries Sector

A vessel valued at US$250,000 is slated to arrive in the island this month to facilitate the training of fishers in pelagic fishing.

Acquisition of the vessel forms part of the World Bank’s Promoting Community-Based Climate Resilience (PPCR) in the Fisheries Sector Project, which aims to enhance the ability of fishers and the fisheries sector to recover from climate-related impacts through targeted community-based actions.

“The vessel will be here in Jamaica in a couple of days and we will be launching it,” Project Manager, Selena Ledgister, told JIS News.

She said that the vessel will facilitate training of fishers at sea to catch yellowfin tuna, mahimahi, kingfish and swordfish.

Fishers in the communities of Manchioneal, Portland; Annotto Bay, St. Mary; Pagee, St. Mary; Discovery Bay, St. Ann; White House, St. James; Lances Bay, Hanover; and White House, Westmoreland, will benefit from the initiative.

Pelagic fishing refers to the activity of fishing offshore around 20 to 30 nautical miles out at sea with the aim of catching larger species of fish.
Ms. Ledgister said that pelagic fish fetch higher prices on the market.

“There are some target markets, for example, the higher hotel chains, housewives and vendors who are normally our biggest buyers. It will definitely benefit the fisherfolk,” she noted.

Targeted for the training are fishermen and women to do horizontal longline fishing and to use fish aggregating devices, Ms. Legister told JIS News.

These devices include floating man-made structures that are designed and strategically placed to attract pelagic fish.

“What we’re doing is letting the fisherfolk on land do the theoretical part of it, which is to make the gear, make the fishing aggregate devices that will be deployed… and then deploying them at sea,” Ms. Legister explained.

A crucial aspect of the training is in the handling and post-harvest management of fish.

“The market is very welcoming to sliced fish and so the training is also preparing these fishers on how to prepare the fish in a safe and hygienic environment. One of the main things fishers would need are iceboxes. Once you catch the fish you have the icebox and this will preserve the fish. It will ensure that the carcass is quality-maintained so that the market will be satisfied with the quality of fish that these fishers would catch,” Ms. Legister said.

The fishers will demonstrate preservation techniques while spending two to three days out at sea.

“The fish would have to be drained to ensure that all the quality control aspects of catching these fish are maintained, so that when we come back ashore, we still will maintain the integrity of the fish,” Ms. Legister pointed out.

The project will also include retrofitting three fishing vessels in each project community with a view to extending other support.