No-fishing zones established under marine-protection MOU

The Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries and seven state and non-governmental bodies signed an agreement last Thursday for the management and protection of the country's marine resources. The agreement institutes a ban on fishing in some coastal communities.

Under the new partnership, the ministry will invest $23 million in the sanctuaries up to the end of this fiscal year.

In return, community-based groups and environmental watchdogs will monitor the nine fish sanctuaries, which will be designated no-fishing zones for the protection of juvenile fish.

The seven parties signing the memorandum of understanding with the ministry were Alloa Fishermen Cooperative Limited, Bluefield's Bay Fishermen's Friendly Society, the Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, the Montego Bay Marine Park Trust, the Oracabessa Foundation, the Negril Environment Protection Trust, and the Sandals Foundation.

The nine fish sanctuaries are located at Orange Bay, Hanover; Bluefields Bay in Westmoreland; Galleon in St Elizabeth; Salt Harbour in Clarendon; parts of Galleon Harbour and the Three Bays area in Old Harbour, St Catherine; Montego Bay Marine Park, St James; Discovery Bay, St Ann; and Oracabessa Bay, St Mary.

Agriculture Minister Christopher Tufton said at the signing of the agreement that successive administrations had failed to protect Jamaica's marine resources even while coral reef fish stock continued to decline. The more than 3,000 fishers in the sanctuary areas have been approached and asked to cooperate with the ban.

"We have not been as successful as we ought to be, in that if one tracks the data on our marine resources, over time, we will have no choice but to conclude that we are losing our fish stock at a faster rate than the species' capacity to replenish itself, and that equals instability," said Tufton.

Negative implications

He stated that the negative implications of the practices were obvious as it affected a number of interests and stakeholders.

"Starting with our fishers and their families, who depend on the resources of the sea to survive, over time we have seen where they are catching less in terms of weight and also in terms of quality, and that has impacted on their bottom line, their capacity to survive, and to earn a living from our marine resources," he said.

The sanctuaries cover more than 5,000 hectares of protected space "that will allow our fish stock to expand freely without the threat of any one", the minister said.

- JIS