Peter Espeut | (Belated) happy Fisherman’s Day

Yesterday – June 29 – was International Fisherman’s Day. On this day, all over the world, ordinary people turn out to celebrate a vocation that puts food on their tables, and Christians of the older tradition visit fishing beaches and bless fishing boats and fishing gear, and pray for good weather and a good catch.

I am presently in Grenada, and yesterday I joined my Grenadian brothers and sisters as we celebrated the Feast of St Peter the Fisherman in the Church of St Peter in the fishing community of Gouyave on the Caribbean coast. The bishop and other members of the clergy (including myself) walked up and down the beach blessing the boats and gear. Then there was a huge fiesta attended by thousands, with food and music and libations.

Some of us do the blessing part in Jamaica every St Peter’s Day. In previous years I blessed boats in Old Harbour Bay and Rocky Point, and preached at local church services (in the Anglican Church). Today I focus on the fishing beaches near the Catholic church communities I serve, latterly Greenwich Town, Rae Town, Bull Bay, and Port Royal. A few stalwarts did the honours in my absence.

As in Grenada we are warmly welcomed. Fisherfolk – who brave the seas in uncertain weather – know they need all the blessings they can get. I wish these brave men (and a few women) – many of whom cannot swim – would receive more support, encouragement, and recognition.

TYPE OF HUNTING

Fish farming is one thing, whether in freshwater (aquaculture) or the sea (mariculture); that activity is properly administered in the same ministry as agriculture. But fish-catching is a type of hunting for wildlife, and is better managed along with bird-shooting.

Bird shooters and fishers hunt wild animals, a finite resource. In the culture mindset if you want to increase production you clear and plant more land, or dig more fish-ponds, or place more rearing-cages in the sea. In theory, you can endlessly increase production of cultured animals and plants if you have enough land and inputs, including labour.

But going after wild animals (or plants) is different. Each species reproduces at a specific rate. If you catch fish or shoot birds or chop down trees faster than they grow, you will soon deplete the resource. Granting too many fishing and hunting licences will inevitably lead to overfishing and resource depletion, and ultimately to species extinction, or yields that are uneconomic to harvest. Along the way to species extinction you will observe declining catches, fewer birds, and denuded forests.

A favourite pastime of politicians and philanthropists over the years (maybe they consider it to be part of their job description) has been to distribute agricultural tools and inputs (like seeds, fertilisers, pesticides, herbicides) to farmers or would-be farmers. Aside from possible deforestation and misuse of agricultural chemicals, this can have little mal-effect. Increasing inputs will increase production.

MANTRA

A favourite pastime of politicians and well-meaning (if ignorant) philanthropists over the years is the distribution of mesh wire, fish netting, and boats and engines to fishers or would-be fishers. The mantra is “Give a man a fish, you feed him for a day; teach a man to fish (and give him a boat and equipment) and you feed him for a lifetime”. The flaw in this mantra is that if you give out too many boats and engines and material to make nets and pots, this will lead to overfishing, and soon the stocks will collapse, and there will be not enough fish to eat.

The mantra is true, generally (e.g. for agriculture), but is counterproductive for fishing.

The science behind fisheries management (Google “surplus production model”) is that in the days of the Tainos, there were lots of fish and relatively few fishers. Increasing fishing effort (e.g. more boats, traps) under these conditions will lead to increased yields, because more fish are hatched than “catched”. Increased effort will increase yield until the fishing effort catches as many fish as grow to adulthood. That will be the maximum catch possible, and this yield may be sustained indefinitely, as long as the fishing effort does not increase further.

One more boat, one more fishpot or net will then begin to catch the breeding females, and so fewer eggs will be laid, and fewer hatched; and now we are in the realm of overfishing. Increasing fishing effort will catch juvenile females before they get a chance to breed, and the stocks will decline. Fewer fish will be caught, and large fish will become rare.

Jamaica has some of the most overfished waters in the world. We are ranked as the most overfished in the Caribbean; if there was a world ranking, we might top that too!

[At one point we ranked number one in the world for deforestation. We couldn’t keep up our world ranking because we don’t have enough natural forest left to overharvest].

It is dangerous to approach fish-catching with the same mentality as agriculture, which is why over the years in this column I have advocated removing the portfolio of capture fisheries from the Ministry of Agriculture; aquaculture and mariculture can remain.

It sounds paradoxical, but we can double our annual catch of fish (and still not attain maximum yield) by reducing our fishing effort (fewer fishers and boats, larger mesh sizes in nets and traps). This is good fisheries management, but is unlikely to fly politically.

As I wish my brothers and sisters and friends in the fisheries sector a belated Happy Fisherman’s Day, I encourage them to seek to manage the fisheries they exploit in a sustainable manner. Don’t wait for the government to do it. Jesus will come first!

Peter Espeut is a sociologist and natural resource manager. Send feedback to columns@gleanerjm.com