Saint Lucian fishermen are raising alarms over foreign vessels depleting Caribbean fish stocks, even as they struggle to meet Lenten and Easter demand.
Despite the recent opening of the new Pointe Seraphine fisheries complex, concerns persist about overfishing by international fleets and a worrying lack of young Saint Lucians entering the trade.
Initially, some vendors pushed back against the terminal as they preferred selling fish on the streets or near the Castries Market. But others say the transition hasn’t disrupted business, thanks to loyal customers and evolving methods of sale.
One fisherman at the new facility, says his regular customers keep his business afloat, but the bigger battle is against foreign overfishing.
“Japanese, Spanish, Filipinos – they take everything,” he said, blaming the use of fish aggregating devices (FADs) — floating wooden structures that attract fish – for stripping Caribbean waters of fish. “They need to stop those things and let fish come down to us. The little that reaches here, we fight for.”
He called for government intervention, urging more support for local fishermen, including the provision of FADs to help them compete. He also stressed the need for youth engagement.
“More young people need to come into the fishing industry [instead of] fighting each other with guns,” he said.
At 49, Ian Plummer is the youngest fisherman at Pointe Seraphine, a stark indicator of the trade’s ageing workforce. “Schools need to start teaching trades like farming and fishing to feed homes and their country,” he said. “It sustains you.”
Plummer lamented the lack of respect for the profession, despite its vital role.
“People look down on fishermen,” he said. “This is a serious profession but it doesn’t get the respect it is due.”
Leonard Preville, a fisherman and farmer, echoed the concerns. “The only problem around this Easter is I am not getting enough fish to supply my customers,” he said “Fish, on the whole, is scarce.”
Preville warned that traditional livelihoods could disappear without new entrants. The government can’t employ everyone, he said, warning that if people don’t learn these trades, they’ll collapse.
Sorry, dude but young people will not take up fishing as a career. Economically, it does not make sense. In some areas boating tourism is more rewarding. The cost fuel, equipment and other issues make fishing unattractive.
Overfishing has nothing to do with it. Global fish populations are down 90% in the last 20 years. Oceans are dying from overheating, acidification and deoxygenation. Primary cause is climate geoengineering (spraying us like cockroaches and saturating every cubic centimeter of the atmosphere with toxic aluminum nanoparticulates) which is collapsing our atmosphere and biosphere and leading us on the path to near-term extinction.