Marine police sticking to the task at hand
Published:Tuesday | May 25, 2021 | 12:05 AMChristopher Serju/Senior Gleaner Writer
As they prepare for the annual Atlantic hurricane season, which runs from June 1 to November 30, members of the marine division of the Jamaica Constabulary Force (JCF) are hopeful that the many fishers who venture out to sea each day with little or no regard for their own life, without safety equipment and ignoring safety measures, will begin to mend their errant ways.
Acting operations officer in charge of the division, Inspector Deron White, said the amount of resources and number of persons who are pressed into service for a search-and-rescue operation is often overlooked by the public. Many of these incidents could have been avoided if fishers simply adhered to basic safety measures – wearing proper clothing, taking along proper telecommunications equipment, and making sure that their vessels are seaworthy. In addition, many disregard weather alerts and warnings from the Meteorological Service of Jamaica.
“A number of fishers still insist on going out to sea not properly equipped and not realising that it does take a lot of resources to be mobilised, in addition to the people who have to risk their lives to go in search of them. Between the marine police, Jamaica Defence Force’s Coast Guard, along with its air wing, that is a lot of equipment which has to be manned and coordinated by people from different agencies operating usually in less than ideal circumstances,” he said in summing up the preparation work ahead of a search-and-rescue operation.
NO UNNECESSARY RISKS
In 2013, then head of the coast guard, Commander David Chin-Fong, used his keynote address at an International Fishermen’s Day Conference to serve notice that he would not put equipment and personnel at risk to rescue fishers who had ignored warnings not to go to sea.
“I have stopped responding to those kinds of calls. I will say to the owner, well, guess what? Buy some gas, jump on a boat, and get out there. There is no way I am going to dispatch a half-a-billion-dollar coast guard vessel to deliver gas. I am not into that business of doing that ... ,” the coast guard head declared then. “Those of you who refuse to leave the cays when you are told to do so, I, personally, and the organisation, will not encourage security officers, marine police, Jamaica Coast Guard, to risk their lives to come out to the cays and rescue you in the event you ignore the warnings.”
Chin-Fong received strong support from then chairman of the Jamaica Fisherman’s Co-operative Union, Captain Havelan Honeyghan, for his hard-line stance in light of the fact that for too long, many fishers had been going out to sea without taking along basic safety gear or observing safety measures.
Meanwhile, the continued vigilance of the marine officers tasked with patrolling the country’s maritime space, which is 25 times the size of the mainland, continues to pay dividends as two men were recently arrested after being caught on the Pedro Banks with at least 400 pounds of lobster during the close season, which started on April 1 and runs until June 30. At an average price of $1,500 per pound, the value of the catch is about $600,000. In addition to being charged for having possession of the lobsters, the men will be facing additional charges as at least 12 of the lobsters were female with eggs (berried) for which, if they are convicted, they could be asked to pay an additional $3 million or serve two years in prison.
The insistence of fishermen on plying their trade in the shipping channel continues to be a another major challenge for the Marine Police Division, posing a serious threat to life and assets. During regular patrols, many boats are stopped in this vicinity in much the same way that motor vehicles are checked by traffic cops on the nation’s roadways. Fishermen continue to breach the outdated Harbours Act of 1971, putting their lives and that of others at risk, and putting a financial drain on the coffers of the shipping lines which traverse the Kingston Harbour.
“The danger behind that is that the ships that operate in that space may be damaged or cause damage, but even when there is no collateral damage done, the financial cost as a result of any delays when the vessel’s schedule is disrupted can be significant,” White said.
He is calling for an urgent amendment of the Harbours Act to give more teeth to the law, pointing to the recent conviction of fishermen for operating in this restricted area and were fined a measly $5. “So we are asking for an amendment because the act is from 1971 and is woefully irrelevant.”
In March 2019, the captain of a boat that capsized off the coast of Port Royal, killing two women, was fined a total of $400, after pleading guilty to four charges under the Harbours Act. He pleaded guilty to three counts of breaching the Harbour Rules and one count of operating an unlicensed vessel, and the maximum fine of $100 was imposed on each count.
Parish Judge Vaughn Smith, who imposed the fine in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court, remarked that he was bound by the legislation which called for a maximum fine of $100.
Despite the many and varied challenges it faces on a daily basis, the men and women of the Marine Police Division remain undeterred and are committed to the monitoring, surveillance and policing of Jamaica’s island shelf, its offshore cays and marine space, according to the senior cop who had this message for would-be offenders.
“We are coming after you and you will be well advised to desist from engaging in those illegal activities.”