New fish landing facility ‘latest in fisheries overhaul’

The Mottley administration has made improvements to almost every fish market on the island in three years, declared Minister of Maritime Affairs and the Blue Economy Kirk Humphrey on Friday, promising to soon attend to the remaining fish landing sites yet to be upgraded.

He made the comments at the opening ceremony of the Pile Bay Fish Landing Facility which was refurbished by the neighbouring Bridgetown Port at a cost of $1.5 million.

Humphrey said the islandwide refurbishments were all part of Government’s plan to overhaul the fishing industry.

He told the gathering: “I felt there was a need given the focus of the Government on the Blue Economy for us to modernize the industry, the fishing industry specifically, but to do it in a way that was sustainable and lent itself for us being able to feed this generation, finance this generation, but also to do so in a way that would respect and protect the future generations.

“If you look at all of the markets starting at Tent Bay, we renovated Tent Bay, we came down into Oistins and renovated Oistins, we came to Bridgetown and renovated Bridgetown, here we are now at Pile Bay renovating Pile Bay.

“We’ve also done Speightstown, we’re about to do Weston, the Ministry will do Paynes Bay and Consett Bay and that will be all of the fisheries departments under the ministry in the period of three years.

“So I say that to say that we have made a commitment to transform the industry and we have put our money where our mouths are.”

He said other projects to be rolled out include the utilization of FADs (Fish Aggregating Devices) to allow fishers to know exactly where they needed to go to catch fish, as well as a project to facilitate tuna being loined in Barbados that would provide further business opportunities for fisherfolk.

The minister for the blue economy said the administration has already begun a lease-to-own programme for fishing boats.

He praised the new Tent Bay facility as a “total Blue economy package”, noting there was access for disabled persons, a green space, photovoltaic panels on the newly constructed building and directional lighting that would not draw nesting turtles into the road.

In her remarks, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the project would benefit the entire community of Pile Bay.

She gave an assurance that the roads in the nearby community would also be upgraded along with the resident’s homes with assistance from the Urban Development Commission.

Declaring a need for the fishing industry to be overhauled, Mottley said: “It is why almost every fish market has been attended to as a priority by this Government, it is why we had gone to Parliament late last year to get the money to do the FADs.

“This country has been unable to export fish to Europe because of a failure to have the appropriate standards in our fish markets and the legislative framework.

“We have been working assiduously to put those appropriate standards in place and we are also working assiduously to get the legislation in place so that our fisherman can sustainably and responsibly fish.”

Mottley also commended Humphrey for securing a grant of $9 million (US $4.5 million) to plan Barbados’ maritime special area for conservation. (randybennett@barbadostoday.bb)