assessment of the socio-economic and environmental impact

High water runoff from main drainage and land led to the deposition of a significant volume of
solid waste into coastal waters threatening the lives of marine organisms. One of the likely
impacts of this is that fish and turtles can become entangled in plastic bags resulting in
suffocation.
The Fisheries Division has estimated that 52,500 fish traps were lost as result of Hurricane Dean.
This implies that the potential ‘ghost-fishing’ catch of the traps is approximately 105 20 MT per
week. A total of 3,500 fishers have been directly affected by the hurricane due to loss of fishing
equipment and disruption in their fishing activities. Coastal and marine ecosystems usually take
long time to recover naturally and even more so due to the added anthropogenic factors
impacting them.
Terrestrial Ecosystems: Marshlands which are home to many freshwater species such as
freshwater birds and crocodiles suffered low to moderate damage (lateral compression) within
the parishes of Clarendon, Manchester and St. Elizabeth. Elevated water levels in marshlands
such as in the Black River Morass could affect wildlife such as roosting and nesting birds
through entrapment or drowning.
The National Environment and Planning Agency assessed both coastal and inland forests. Based
on the southerly path of the hurricane, mangrove forests bore the brunt of the damage. While
forest cover was impacted in all the affected parishes, crown damage was relatively low being
less than 25% for most parishes (Table 5.1). Overall crown damage ranged from 0 percent (no
effect) to more than 75% (severe). Moderate to heavy crown damage occurred in forests on the
south coast such as Portland Ridge and Brazilleto Mountains. Inland forests experienced
moderate, little or no damage probably due to the reduction in wind speed outward and away
from the eye-wall.
Coastal dry limestone forests in Clarendon showed moderate damage to tree crowns. Several
tree species had broken branches and trunks. However, this was more pronounced in the Red
Birch (Bersera simaruba) and Burnwood (Metopium brownie) which have little resistance to
strong winds due to their brittleness.
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