Me-Myself and I were trying to remember if a fish such as red snapper was plentiful and available back in the days of the 1970s, arriving on shore from the pots of Treasure Beach fishermen. Were the prices reasonable compared to todays prices, adjusted for inflation?
What are the chances for a steady supply of red snapper today and at what price per pound?


Peter Espeut: Combatting Overfishing:...from Gleaner-May 2008
• Over a decade ago, CARICOM fisheries authorities announced that Jamaican waters were the most overfished in the region; no other country comes close! The classic symptoms are there: reduced catch weight; reduced fish length; and a shift away from quality fish towards trash fish. (When last have you seen grouper?)

• Overfishing in Jamaica is caused by the unsustainable fishing practices of Jamaican fishermen allowed under present Jamaican fisheries law, and sustained by government indolence.

• The mesh sizes in Jamaican fish pots are so small that they trap fish while they are still juveniles, before they reach the size and age to reproduce. As I tell fishers during fisheries management training sessions, if a goat farmer kills his nanny goats before they are old enough to drop, he soon will have no goats left in his herd.

• Despite the recommendations of fisheries scientists and managers, our laws do not prescribe a minimum mesh size in fish pots to prevent this. Seine nets and trawl nets scrape the sea floor, destroying seagrass and corals and eggs laid by female fish. These nets - banned in many countries - are legal in Jamaica. (Any change???)

• Preventing fishing in fish-breeding areas by creating fish sanctuaries would allow fish populations to multiply unmolested.

• Scientists have forecast that should proper fisheries-management strategies be implemented and enforced in Jamaica, our annual national catch could triple after about eight years; but this is going to require that both the Government and the fishers radically change their behaviour.
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20080521/cleisure/cleisure2.html


Some Stats:
• Since human beings first took up the plow about 10,000 years ago, most of our food has come from the farmer's hand. We grew fruits, vegetables and grains to feed ourselves and support those domesticated animals we relied on for meat and dairy products. But there was an exception. When humans fished, we still went out into the wild, braved the elements and brought back decidedly undomesticated animals for dinner. There was a romance to fishing that was inseparable from the romance of the sea, a way of life — for all its peril and terror — suffused with a freedom that the farmer and rancher would never know.

• The U.N. reports that 32% of global fish stocks are overexploited or depleted and as much as 90% of large species like tuna and marlin have been fished out in the past half-century. Once-plentiful species like Atlantic cod have been fished to near oblivion, and delicacies like bluefin tuna are on an arc toward extinction.

• ...the worldwide catch seems to have plateaued at about 90 million tons a year since the mid-1990s. That's a lot of fish, but even if those levels prove sustainable, it's not enough to keep up with global seafood consumption, which has risen from 2 lb. per person per year in the 1960s to nearly 38 lb. today.

• Global aquacultural production increased from less than1 million tons in 1950 to 52.5 million tons in 2008, and over the past few decades, aquaculture has grown faster than any other form of food production. Today about half the seafood consumed around the world comes from farms, and with the projected rise in global seafood consumption, that proportion will surely increase.

• To the average shopper, farmed fish is barely distinguishable from its wild cousin — except, often, in price. Without the growth in aquaculture, many of our favorite kinds of seafood would likely be much more expensive than they are now.

• ...the U.N. said global food production would need to increase by as much as 100% by 2050 to meet growing demand — and seafood, as a vital protein source, will have to be part of that. Farming is unavoidable.

• China (is) responsible for 61% of the world's aquaculture. China has begun exporting industrially produced catfish, shrimp and tilapia in recent years. As production pressures have ramped up, Chinese manufacturers have packed their ponds more tightly, leading to disease and pollution from fish waste.
That waste can overload coastal waters with nutrients, causing dead zones that can strangle sea life. To fight the diseases worsened by crowding, Chinese fish farmers have liberally used antibiotics and other drugs, including malachite green, an antifungal agent and potential carcinogen that was banned by Beijing in 2002 but shows up periodically in exports.

• ...aquaculture can be messy. A badly run near-shore farm of 200,000 salmon can flush nitrogen and phosphorus into the water at levels equal to the sewage from a town of 20,000 people.

• Modern aquaculture is just a few decades old, and as producers have become more experienced, they've cut down on pollution and bred more-efficient fish. Many environmental groups that once opposed aquaculture now seek to work with the industry.

• For thousands of years, fishermen risked the elements to bring back the bounty of the sea.
Fishing is the deadliest job in the U.S.: in 2009, 0.2% of fishermen died hauling in our seafood, compared with 0.01% of miners who died on the job.

Cited from: The Future Of Fish: Can Farming Save The Last Wild Food?:
www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,2081796,00.html


Pedro Bank Preserve:
It (Our Pedro Banks)represents Jamaica's main commercial and artisanal fishing grounds and serves as the primary harvesting area for the largest export of Queen Conch from the Caribbean region.
Jamaican conch exports have in the past generated more foreign revenue than the country's world-famous Blue Mountain coffee.

With an estimated 99 percent of mainland Jamaica's reefs in danger, the coral reefs on Pedro Bank are vital to long-term reef conservation in the country. In July 2004 the bank was declared an underwater cultural heritage site by the Jamaica National Heritage Trust as it is a veritable treasure trove of sixteenth to sixteenth century shipwrecks and artifacts.

Intensive fishing and high human densities on the Pedro Cays are endangering the survival of the bank as a viable and functioning ecosystem.

www.nature.org/ourinitiatives/regions/caribbean/jamaica/placesweprotect/the-pedr o-bank.xml

DOCUMENTARY MOVIE: The End of the Line...The World Without Fish

http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/end-of-line-world-without-fish/

VIDEO: The Collapsed State:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D47QsvvGlLY

VIDEO: Fish Farming:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=B77bs2aploI

If any of this is of interest, check out the Marine Stewardship Council's website (w .msc.org)

Marine Stewardship Council:
Vision
Our vision is of the world’s oceans teeming with life, and seafood supplies safeguarded for this and future generations.

Mission
Our mission is to use our ecolabel and fishery certification programme to contribute to the health of the world’s oceans by recognising and rewarding sustainable fishing practices, influencing the choices people make when buying seafood, and working with our partners to transform the seafood market to a sustainable basis.

VIDEO LINK:
www.msc.org/about-us/vision-mission

TB spearfishers tell me that night hunters are decimating the reefs. Can Dept of Fisheries respond.

Easier to shoot sleeping targets illuminated by powerful waterproof lights.

Excellent point turey. Divers having been wiping out the fishing there for years now and nothing is being done to prevent it. I understand that, not only are they spearfishing, but they also steal from the fishpots when they are down there. Something needs to be done. Can the Fisherman's Coop take action?

Pirating pots has gotten much more severe lately. Some fishermen are losing about a third of their pots no matter how far out or close in they are dropped. There is no way to patrol for pirates.

Some Pirates have been stopped in the past by vigilante justice but that is only a temporary fix. The fishermen also land in legal hot water as a result. The Government needs to find a way to legally stop it. Also the local fishermen need to take action against the divers. Afterall they know exactly who they are and exactly when they are diving. It shouldn't be hard to persuade them to cease and decist!

pirating is happening way out where it cant be stopped

I understand it's near impossible to stop piracy out in the deep. However I strongly believe it can be stopped in what we call near sea. People should take a stand and be vigilant about what's happening right before their very eyes. It's not difficult to interpret the intentions of repeat offenders.

'ACP Countries Contributing To Stagnant Fishing Industry'

Gleaner LINK:
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20111201/business/business4.html