After lots of discussion and deliberation, the committee has come up with a long term relief plan for the fishermen. Thanks to Turman Tackle, we have been given a wonderful offer to purchase fishpot wire at a discount.

This is not the usual 1 1/4 inch wire, but the environmentally recommended 1 1/2 inch wire allowing the smaller fish to escape the pot. This size wire is already mandatory in Cayman Islands, Nicaraugua, and Hondurus and we are told, Jamaica will be banning 1 1/4 inch wire use in the near future. So we are looking ahead in this aspect.

Furthermore, although we so very much appreciate all the donations given, we understand that (God forbid) the next time an emergency comes around, we may not have this resource to pull from. So we are offering the fishermen a roll of wire, which would retail for $5000 JA. They can sign for the wire and pick it up today. Then 6 months later, we will collect $2,500 JA from them which is half the retail cost of the wire. With that money collected we will establish an emergency fund for the fishermen which will be handled by Breds. If the fisherman pays the $ in, he will have access to the funds in an emergency in the future.

Again, the goal of this program is to allow us to set up an emergency fund for the future. The fisherman can get the wire at no cost today, build his pots, set them, and six months down the road, pay back into a fund that could help him out in the future.

The following are a few photos of fishermen taking advantage of this program.





As always, it is thanks to the donors of Treasure Beach Foundation, Breds-Treasure Beach Foundation, and TB.Net that we have this funding to enable us to start this long term project!

One love.

I would like to reply to the ingenious and creative methods of dealing with the relief fund. I must say that the time and energy put into the effort is worth every moment. Thanks to everyone that is involved. Treasure Beach and Treasure Beach people are indeed Treasures to be cherished.

I tune into the site at least twice a day to see the progress you are making. You people are amazing.

Thank you for keeping the faith.

Tina

Dennis Abrahams just updated me, lots of fishermen from Billy's Bay to Great Bay and beyond came today to collect their wire. 75 rolls gone so far!

That makes 375 fish pots and the potential of $187,500 JA being put back into an account (in 6 months time) for future disasters... and the use of 1 1/2 inch wire which will interpret into more fish in the sea in the future.

Talk about your win-win situation!

As of yesterday, 110 more rolls were picked up over the last few days. That is 550 more pots and the potential of $275,000 being put back into the disaster relief fund for the future.

Summary: 185 rolls gone, making 925 pots and potential funds for future disaster relief $462,500 JA or $7,708 US.

Wow!!!! Great job everyone!

We have just been informed of two other projects available for fishermen.

First, the St. Elizabeth Environmental Agency in conjunction with the Inter American Bank and working along with BREDS will be sponsoring 2 fishing boats and crews from Treasure Beach totaling 6 fishermen. The SEEA will choose two boats, each with a crew of 3 and give them the supplies to build 100 pots per boat. The catch (no pun intended) is that each of the crew must attend training sessions on good environmental fishing practices and, when applicable, adult literacy training classes. They are referring to this as a self-development program of which they hope will catch on and others will want to hear more of how to fish today with an eye to the future.

This same philosophy spills over into the next project of which I like to refer to as the 'Break a Leg' project. The SEEA working with BREDS will be sponsoring a crab farm where they have the crabs in a contained area and once every 7 months break off a claw. If only one claw is broken off of the crab, the crab will live and will grow back that claw in 7 months. If you break off both claws, the crab will die. Again, the idea is to save the crab population, indeed make it grow, but still be able to satisfy the demand for crab meat.

We wish the St. Elizabeth Environmental Agency and BREDS luck with both of these programs.