I was informed by Kory South today that the fishermen's antenna is in good working condition! He confirmed it by checking in with a friend at sea to see how the fish were biting. He said it has been up since Sunday of last week.

Thank you to BREDS and all those who helped to sponsor these repairs.

Thanks Rebecca thats the best news I have heard in a while.I now this will make the fishermen very happy.Thanks again for the info.

Been away for a few weeks and came back to check out the latest on TB Runnings. Came across this posting and then a thought just occured to me: Only one response here; only one response to a most positive development. Seems to me only a short time ago we were up in arms about the antenna being down. Now it is up, I want to give a shout out to the folks responsible. Many thanks and ....keep it up.

How positive is it to no antennae for fishermen all through the hurricane season? I think the less said the better. Good - we have one now - but no slaps on the back here.

Just wondering what your efforts were "Hello" to try and fix the antenna before or during the hurricane season. Is your frustration that you donated money or did something but did not see the results fast enough for your satisfaction?

I caunt belived the antenna is not working again.I heard it was only working for a few days and the reception was so bad you could not understand nothing. Now it`s out of service again and the fishermen them once more is without communication out in that open ocean.
NOW THEY HAVE RADIO BUT CAUNT USE IT.

Someone please tell me this is not true. The antenna is one of the major lifelines for the fishermen. Cellular telephones work only 17 miles out and these men go out 70 or 80 miles from the coast. Even if the antenna is fully operational, fishing is a brutal way to earn a living. Without a working antenna, they are truly risking their lives. Treasure Beach is a fishing village. If these men are willing to go out all night to attempt to eke out a living, doesn't anyone care enough to assure the antenna is working on a continual basis? Is anyone willing to take responsibility for assuring it continues to work? The situation seems nothing short of irresponsible on the part of the antenna operators.

If it's not working AGAIN this is WRONG.

I have found out the antenna is indeed down again. I am trying to find out if they know what the problem is.

As I hear more info, I will let you know.

Hello "Freghtened for Fisherman" I can tell by reading your post that you are angry. I do not see the reason for this because the person or persons that communicate with the fishermen when they are at sea do not get pay for doing this. If it was a job of sort then I could see the reason for concern but, to be rude is not the way to go.
Treasure Beach people is getting a bit demanding and there is no reason for it. Before Treasure Beach was developed to what it is today all the fishermen including my father went out fishing night and day with just the grace of God to guide and protect them.
I am not saying progress isn't somthing good,[thank God for progress] I'm just saying please do not take out your frustration on the innocent helping hands that try to help us.

Thank you Florida. Very well put. Many have contributed time and money into keeping this antenna up and running and many are doing the best they can with the resources given to them.

I dont really know what the problem is with the attenna, however to think that you can rely on it, and then go to sea and have it be down is a bad thing. I agree that its wonderful that BREDS put it up in the first place, or however it came about, but its a real neccessity, and I think rather than complain, us fishermen should take some action and get it back up. $500 JA per fisherman I dont think would be asking too much if you really want it workin., I have a funny feeling that it is probably a lightning strike or a power surge that lick it. So maybe we should look into a way to protect it from that. Again I have to say this needs to be up during hurrican season, sure take it down for the storm, but then it needs to be back up asap. Fisheremen rely on fishing as their income and even during the hurricane season there is good weather.

Having said that, I feel that there are a few, unfortunatley, who really like to tempt mother nature. They should take heed of the many that went before them and learn from that. There are several ways to check the weather my favorite being buoyweather.com. You simply go to Atlantic on the left side, click on it and go to the right side, click on Jamaica and the island will come up with red dots around it. These are weather buoys. Simply click on the one closest to where your fishing. I beleive there are six on the South Coast, 2 that are really important for our area. I have put this to the test and they are accurate. If it says there are 4 feet wave height,there is a yellow flag, and it says small craft take extreme caution trust me take caution. When the last four fisheremen from Calabash Bay didnt come in with the other boat in the morning I pulled it up and it was all red flagged, said 19 to 27 knots of breeze and 8 foot waves. Not pretty in a canoe.

I will say again if anybody wants to find out the weather, simply come to Sunset Resort and you can, free of charge, look at it yourself. If I know you call me!!! Thats my 2 bits.

Irie Fishing

Yes I am frustrated. I am disappointed. I am not angry. I am sorry if what I said was interpreted otherwise.

I am willing to listen to criticism of my words, and I am willing to learn from the comments of others.

What I would like is a solution, not to blame people. Not knowing what happened, I am willing to accept the antenna might again not be functioning because of lightening strikes. No one can prevent these.

Whatever the cause, I think we need a solution. My guess is BREDS is too busy working on too many different projects to make this a priority.

My suggestion goes along the same lines as what was proposed by Kory. I am thinking Kory might be the best person to handle the antenna problem but only if he gets support from the fishermen. $500 JA is certainly not to much to ask from each and every fishermen who goes out. Maybe this needs to be contributed even on a monthly basis. If there is money left over, it can be saved for when there is an unexpected expense. Kory loves to fish and he is really great at it. He also understands the buoy and colored flag system, and he has generously offered to share this information with anyone who bothers to ask because he has a computer and most of the fishermen probably do not. If Kory is willing to do this, he cannot also be expected to go around collecting money. But one person from each bay could be in charge of collecting the money and giving it to Kory on a monthly or quarterly basis. Maybe even a few of the fishermen could help him figure out what the big problem is and help him solve it because it would be unfair to have him be responsible for everything when he has a business to run and many other things to do.

This is a community problem, not a situation for one person to fix.

My question is - would Kory be willing to take charge of the antenna project IF he is able to get financial and operational support from the fishermen?

Good idea, Frightened for Fishermen. That is if Kory would agree to do this. It is a big responsibility and he already does a lot for the community. But I could think of no one better.

I am doing some research on it to see what the best solution is, will let you know as soon as possible, it could be something fairly simple.

That would be WONDERFUL, Kory. Please understand I am thinking about you taking this responsibility on an ONGOING basis, so it could be a lightening strike today and then something totally different a month from now. I somehow know if you take this over the fishermen will be a lot safer out there.

Excellent if Kory says yes. Excellent he is considering the request.

Yes to Mr. South!

Well I hate to expose this , but, I talked to Mr. Brown today, he is the one that relocated the antenna, and got it up and running during the tournament, He wasnt even aware that it was down, said he would look into it promptly, please keep in mind this guy is working 16 to 18 hours a day, so he is busy, I just cant beleive the communication gap here, it will not happen again, and I will keep you informed.

Thank you Kory. Thank you for caring enough to follow up on this and make sure something positive happens. We will be looking forward to your next report.

Someone please explain who Mr. Brown is and what role he plays with regard to the antenna. Why was the antenna relocated? Where was it and where is it now?