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Cutting back on overfishing in Jamaica
June 1999

by Michael Siva, CERN correspondent, Jamaica

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Tourism and fishing are two important income generating activities in Jamaica. However, they might threaten each other's success. A plan is being carried out to cut back overfishing, and to protect the tourism industry as well.

The three main tourist resorts of Jamaica are Montego Bay, Ocho Rios and Negril. Between them, these resorts in Northern Jamaica bring in the bulk of the tourism business and keep Jamaica=s economy afloat. Tourism is the country's most lucrative industry, earning 45% of its foreign exchange. This is more than either the bauxite or the sugar industries earn. The coral reefs of the North coast are critical to the survival of the tourism product. They provide the wave shelter necessary to protect the white sand beaches, and are themselves a source of white sand. Further, they are also breeding grounds of fish.

However, they are under threat due to overfishing. According to Malden Miller, Manager of the Montego Bay Marine Park, the main problem is the low abundance of fish on the reefs: "This is a greater problem than in other Caribbean Islands. Fish is important for their grazing on the algae that compete with the coral reefs for settlement"

Montego Bay's coral reefs are close to the shore and they provide a home to a wide variety of fish life. With the growth of Montego Bay as a city, the reefs were overfished. Also pollution of its harbour took place, leading to the reefs becoming overgrown with algae. Decline set in. The Marine Park was set up at the turn of the decade to tackle this problem.

One of the main projects it embarked on was a mesh exchange programme. This was geared towards increasing the number of fish on the reefs by giving fishermen new inch-and-a-half mesh for their existing one-inch-and-a-quarter fish pots.

Fishermen got new mesh wire for traps that were aged or had almost expired. The Marine Park used a US$10,000 grant to purchase rolls of mesh and in the process, they took 200 mesh traps out of the system. The difference in mesh size has significantly affected the size of the fish now on the reefs. The programme turned out to be a win-win situation for both both the Marine Park and the fishermen. According to Miller: "The fishermen tended to take the fish before they were mature enough to reproduce even at least once. The larger mesh allows the fish to get enough size and maturity to reproduce".

The positive effects of this mesh exchange have not only been felt by the fishermen, but also by the divers. Teresa Alvarez, a Florida based travel agent who promotes scuba diving tours is now marketing Montego Bay as a dive destination, based on the good work done by the Marine Park. Regular american divers Terry and Carolina Salesbury observed that marine life on Montego Bay's reefs improved tremendously over the past year, a fact that they attributed to the work of the Marine Park.

However, the programme needs to be resumed in order to further enhance fish abundance and therefore catch. An extension of the mesh exchange programme is being sought.

[532 words]

In collaboration with the Caribbean Environmental Reporters Network (CERN), Panos produces a weekly 10-minutes radio series: "Island Beat - News from the environmental frontline of the Caribbean". It documents community environmental themes, in particular highlighting community experiences in finding solutions to environmental problems, reported by journalists from across the Caribbean region. This current print feature has been derived from a radio programme which was produced in June 1997.

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