Fish kill threatens livelihoods

Laura Redpath, Senior Gleaner Writer

The second fish kill this year to plague the Kingston Harbour has left fisherfolk caught in the clutches of fear as they worry about their livelihood.

The National Environment and Planning Agency's (NEPA) public education and corporate communications manager said results from tests carried out on fish and water samples won't be available until next week.

Fisherman Winston Page, at Rae Town Fishing Village, said he received a phone call last Thursday warning that "bad water" was on its way.

By Saturday, hundreds of dead fish washed up on the shore near the Harbour View roundabout and also Caribbean Cement Company Limited.

Kevin Gayle, a fisherman for 12 years who lives on his boat, said much of the fish that came ashore was pulled back into the sea by the tide.

"We cleaned up some of them (for disposal) but the rest were taken right out," Gayle said.

He recalled the smell of dead fish and admitted that a nearby restaurant had to remove as much of the fish as possible so that patrons wouldn't be turned off by the sight.

"It's not right," Gayle, who is unable to make a living off fishing alone and has taken up masonry as well, said.

"People are not interested in buying fish if it's from Kingston Harbour. We, as fishermen, have to take our boats way out and that's extra gasolene and more money."

Gayle said he has seen fish kills every year since December 2003, and has been warning persons not to eat dead fish that washed ashore last weekend.

"We talk to people and tell them not to pick up the dead fish, that it could kill them because we don't know how they died," he said.

However, Winston Page said he still sees persons foraging for dead fish.

Fishermen expressed collective distrust towards the Government and corporate Jamaica, which they believe are somehow responsible.

"It's not right what they're doing to us," a fisherman lamented.

"The capitalists a mek a bag a money off a we," another one said.

laura.redpath@gleanerjm.com