Save our fishing industry

EDITOR: Some frightening information was published in the St. Vincent Times online publication on September 27, 2024 under the headline: “SVG Govt could import fish as stocks dwindle: Minister”. In that article the Minster of Agriculture was quoted as saying that he visited the fish market recently and there were no fish vendors at some of the stalls, citing lack of fish and later stated that the entire year will be an open season for conch.

“I visited the fish market a few days ago and of the approximately 15 stalls, there were several that did not have fish. And because of that, we have to work with several other governments to see how we can import some fish in the interim”, the Agriculture Minster went on the say; “The increase in temperatures that we are facing is going to have an impact and is already having an impact on our catch, the national catch. I am also pleased that we managed to reach a consensus regarding the conch season,” stating among other things “that this year we will not have a closed (conch) season as planned and that we will relook that proposal in 2026”, with that information/instruction having been sent to the Chief Fisheries Officer.

Something seems to have gone drastically wrong in just a few years. Within the last two or three years I read in the local press where a consulting agency was commissioned to do a study on the marine resources of SVG with particular reference to the local conch (strombus gigas).The divers and analysts then found that our conch stock was in a healthy state, which could be maintained with the requisite sustainable methods of harvesting which includes observing a closed season. This study was done less than five years ago. Whether this study also observed pelagic species (roaming the oceans) is unknown. How come in such a short space of time could our fishing stock be depleted ?

And why should we have a year round open season for conch when our sea food quantities are dwindling or becoming less. Not having a closed season will be defeating the practice of ‘sustainable’ fishing and harvesting of our vital marine stocks. If we over fish especially as it relates to conch and lobsters, it will break the life cycle of these marine species.

Studies done by former Fisheries Officer, the late Kerwin Morris and other regional maritime scientists discovered that the life cycle of conch and lobsters that we harvest in SVG actually starts off the coast in Brazil with ocean currents bringing the juveniles which feed on plankton to our waters. As they mature and get bigger, and by the time the ocean currents that takes them reaches our part of the world they change their feeding habits and descend to the sea floor to begin another phase of their development.

When they mature and release their eggs in our waters, the ocean currents takes these young hatchlings on a similar journey to re-populate the coastlines in Central America including Belize and Honduras among others; the same process repeats itself with the eggs from central America re-populating Brazil. So if we break the cycle by over harvesting which is what the all year open season will allow, in years to come there will be very few conch and lobsters in this part of the world. Therefore, we must maintain an annual closed season for both conch and lobsters. So where do we go from here ? Is it that Rainforest is buying most of the fish and at a cheaper rate than what locals pay in the market ? If this is the case then the government has to revisit the arrangement with Rainforest and reduce the quotas they can get. Why should we be having to import fish from other countries and have to pay more for that commodity while we are at the same time exporting fresh fish obtained locally at a cheaper price ?

Reliable information states that a supermarket chain here is already importing kingfish from Trinidad. Where are we really heading?

A local fish vendor explained to me that ‘Ballahoo’ cannot be harvested for the next two years as local fishers were harvesting too many of the young ones, good move, but what about the report from the FAO that illegal and unreported fishing is done in our waters to the tune of US$750 every year ? Isn’t that the main reason for the short fall in landings of pelagic species like tuna, kingfish, sword fish and dolphin (mahi mahi) among other species. What really needs restructuring is the post colonial style government and so called opposition !

Donald De Riggs.