Fisherman excited about new catch

He built his house, sent his five children to school, and by his own admission hasn’t done badly.

He is Eocen Victory, and all that he has achieved in his life is owed to fishing.{{more}}

“That is all I know. All my life fishing has been very good to me,” he declared.

Yet, there remains a tinge of disappointment for Victory.

The Questelles resident is one of the 25 fishermen currently being trained to operate the new long line vessels that are being made available through a special loans facility set up by government.

The vessels, which are being sourced from Mexico at a cost of US$241,000 each, will tremendously improve the productivity of the fishermen.

At 43 feet, the vessels can accommodate a crew of six and up to 10,000 pounds of fish, staying at sea for up to seven days.

“I am excited. This is what I have been waiting to see for years,” said Victory, the former president of the Goodwill Fishermen’s Cooperative.

Victory, who fishes in his 25-foot pirogue, told SEARCHLIGHT that it is becoming more and more expensive to operate doing the day-to-day fishing trips that local fishermen are forced to do because of the size of their vessels.

He said that it is tough to see fishermen from neighbouring Grenada make our local fishermen seem insignificant by their level of productivity.

“The other day a boat came from Grenada on a Saturday, got bait here and came back Tuesday for more bait. They had about 2,500 pounds of Tuna – three days, in three days,” Victory exclaimed with a certain tone of professional jealousy.

Victory said that once he gets his new vessel, he hopes to build his business, and convince one of his sons who is a sailor to enter into a partnership with him.

“I could really develop my business once I get that boat. This is the kind of investment needed to make the fishing industry grow and earn foreign exchange. Man, I am excited.”

Raymond Ryan, Chief Fisheries Officer, recently told SEARCHLIGHT that if at least six of these long line vessels are operating in the local market, there will be a massive jump in the industry.

He suggested that fishing industry that harvests two million pounds of fish and brings in $8 million annually will mushroom into an industry that harvests about three and a half million pounds of fish and earns $24 million.

A significant amount of the money earned will come from overseas markets, like the United States.