assessment of the socio-economic and environmental impact

9. The Fisheries Sector
Damage within the Fisheries Sector was estimated to be $310 million of which the Aquaculture
Sub-sector was $60 million and the Marine Sub-sector was $250 million. Much of the damage to
the Fisheries Sector resulted from damage to the general coastline, infrastructure such as
buildings, wharves, utility poles and fences, and fishing equipment such as gear, boats and
engines. The impact was not restricted to the Capture Fisheries but the Culture Fisheries also
underwent significant damage. The southern coast suffered most substantially as many beaches
were inundated by copious amounts of sand and debris, changing the landscape, while some
beaches have been totally eroded. In some areas on the south coast, fishing equipment has been
severely or totally destroyed. Many traps and other fishing gear have been lost at sea and this
can subsequently lead to “ghost-fishing” which poses a major threat to the viable existence of the
fishery.
The income generating capacity of the fisher folk has been severely interrupted. In addition to
losses within the sector some fishers have experienced personal losses such as houses, cars and
furniture 14 . Many commercial entities on fishing beaches were also affected.
Damage was reported primarily for fishing beaches on the South Coast, particularly from
Clarendon, St. Catherine, St. Thomas and Portland on the North East Coast (refer to Appendix
3A). Less severe damage was reported for the North Coast which may be attributed to the fact
that Hurricane Dean veered south of the island causing more significant impacts on the south
coast, the southern proximal banks and the Pedro Bank.
Fishing beaches have been severely affected in some areas. These include Rocky Point (St.
Thomas), Rocky Point (Clarendon), Old Harbour Bay Beach, Port Henderson, Hellshire,
Manchioneal, Yallahs, Morant Bay, Buff Bay and the Pedro Cays.
14 Fishers from St. Thomas, St. Catherine, Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth were directly affected. This
translates to 3,500 fishers. For the south coast, from Westmoreland east to St. Catherine and other affected parishes
such as Trelawny, St. Ann, St. Mary, Portland, St. Andrew and Kingston each fisher on average lost 15 traps or
fishing gear unit. Each trap or gear unit is valued at $4, 000.00.
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