Fuel hike, seaweed spike cripple St Thomas fisherfolk

Burdened by a multiplicity of woes, fisherfolk in eastern St Thomas have joined the choir of forlorn beach stakeholders with a familiar refrain: “We are suffering!”

They say their boats have been forcefully docked by a double whammy: constantly increasing fuel prices that have become unaffordable and the influx of sargsassum seaweed that has choked the shoreline.

A quick calculation by fisherman Arvel Ellis revealed that the cost of gas has more than doubled over the last few months.

Ellis said that the fuel bill of $80,000 that could propel one of his boats’ 88-mile round trip between Morant Cay and Port Morant Fishing Village, where he is based, has now skyrocketed to as much as $170,000.

“The gas prices killing us. We used to go far sea to catch fish and now we can’t go. The gas double up, going triple. It’s real hard,” said Elllis, who operates three boats.

“Each of them have man weh work on it, and right now is only one I can operate because I can’t buy the gas,” he said, adding that his crews take turns operating the single vessel.

Nature has added salt to their wounds, with beaches covered in putrid sargassum.

The seasonal algae can be spotted along the entire shoreline of St Thomas, particularly in the eastern arc of the parish such as at fishing villages in Rocky Point, Port Morant, Leith Hall, and Morant Bay.

Ellis said that the seaweed has caused fish to adapt, making catches even harder than before.

The intrusive seaweed is also causing a nightmare for Tassie Webb, who has been angling the waters of the Leith Hall Fishing Village for more than three decades.

“The net can’t go in the boat because a long grass. We can’t go sea, can’t do nothing … .We just have to stand still,” Webb said in a Gleaner interview.

“This grass can mash up the engine because it carries a little bead that when it goes up in it, it blocks up the hole and burns up the engine, so we can’t go fishing.”

Fellow fisher Sheldon Burke is also shackled by the common burden.

He said that like clockwork, fuel prices rise meteorically every Thursday, compromising their livelihood and family commitments as fundamental as keeping their kids in school.

“The grass block up the net … . We can’t make any money,” Burke said.

The sargassum lament has worsened as the prevalence of seaweed intensifies, with fisherfolk in Castle Gordon, a small community located between Galina and Port Maria in the northeastern parish of St Mary, affected by its reach.

Not only is it a hazard for fishing, but the stench from the decaying seaweed is reportedly unbearable.

The pungent odour of sargassum has also been a source of discontent for fisherfolk further south in St Thomas.

Fisherfolk are crying for intervention from government authorities.

“This has been affecting us for couple years now, but this is the worst it has ever been. At nights, we can’t sleep because it smelly,” said Yvonne Lennon, fish vendor and resident of Leith Hall, adding that maggot infestation has emerged as a tangential problem.

Lennon is aware that there is little that can be done to stop the drift of seaweed on to beaches, but they are calling for a tractor to be regularly deployed to clear the debris.

“Mi sell fish, and from the other day I can’t because nobody not going sea, so it come in like it’s a sufferation thing for we on the seaside,” she said.