Local fishers welcome Digi-fish project

A local fisher who has survived four boat mishaps at sea, can count himself a lucky man today as he lives to see I.T. being incorporated into fishing through the Digi-fish device to help improve safety of fishers while at sea.

“I must say thanks to Mrs [Louise] Mitchell for coming on board and collaborating with the National Fisherfolks when I was saying ‘we need this urgent assistance and an organisation that could assist the fisherfolk in St Vincent,” Winsbert Harry said at this week’s launch of the Digi-fish project. He said there were lengthy discussions between the stakeholders before agreement on the project was reached.

The device was built by Pelagic Data Systems, and handed over last Monday, December 16, 2024, at the conference room of the Fisheries Division.

Harry, who is the President of the National Fisherfolk Organisation (NFO), said he was one of the fishers on the frontline of this battle to improve safety at sea after his experiences with being lost in a body of salt water, unaware of where to go, and, in one instance having to swim for many days before being rescued in 2018.

In another instance, Harry detailed that he was unknowingly swimming in gas-water after the boat capsized while he was out fishing.

He said he did not know until he got home and felt numerous bumps on his skin. He related being so badly burnt that the bandages wrapped around him replaced the need for a shirt.

The fisher of long standing said in the past, when a fisher was lost at sea, the Coast Guard and Fisheries Division would make multiple rounds trying to locate them.

Now, the device will address many issues that local fishers are facing such as safety, fish moving further away from mainland waters in recent years, and praedial larceny.

“ It ain’t easy to have 50-45 thousand dollars on the seas, and then somebody gone with it and you don’t know where it disappeared to,” Harry told the gathering.

There was a pilot testing of the project that involved fishers from Barrouallie, the Grenadines, Kingstown, and Calliaqua, where Harry said he was the mouthpiece explaining the value of the project to enhance safety at sea.

He explained that most fishers were happy with the project, however, there were a few who were sceptical of it and feared being tracked. Harry and another fishers later explained to SEARCHLIGHT that the few who were doubtful about the project may be engaging in other activities at sea.

Fisher, Julian Fairbairn, who also was involved in the pilot phase of the project, said when Harry told him about the initiative, he had no choice but to jump aboard, “because I know the importance of safety at sea, and with this device, we are not only able to compile information for our benefit, but to develop the industry a little further”.

He said he hopes that plans are made to include more fishers who did not get to be among the 30 initial beneficiaries.

Fairbairn said he can sleep better now knowing that his boat is safe at sea, and he can check on it using the mobile app.

Another fisher who was referred to as ‘Bradshaw’, and also was part of the pilot phase, said that he now has peace of mind when his fishers are out later than usual.

Moments before he spoke, Bradshaw said he checked the app and “right now my boat is out there. I just checked it on the phone and them guys out Georgetown at the moment”.

Bradshaw praised the technology behind the device that can produce a weather forecast for the users. He said in the past, fishers would leave shore in good weather but it sometimes changes while they are out at sea.

In closing, Harry made a passionate call for fishers to take the fisheries business seriously.

“Fishing is not only for persons who are involved in going and catching fish,” he said, “we need persons to repair the boat, to fix the engine, and we need persons to assist in terms of maintenance.”