Preparing for Elsa: Frustrated fisherfolk, hustling shoppers

Fisherfolk appeared to lead the way to early response to the threat of Tropical Storm Elsa while the familiar ritual of last-minute crowding of stores and petrol stations told the story of an island rushed into preparedness sooner than ever in a hurricane season.

At the Berinda Cox Fish Market in Oistins, fisherfolk were taking no chances with Tropical Storm Elsa, hauling in the last boat by 10 Thursday morning but they appeared angry that the toil of lifting boats to safety could not be eased by a better-equipped fishing complex.

When Barbados TODAY visited the market, boat owner Robert Green was the last to haul in his vessel.

Robert Greene

Green said: “We have to listen to the weather news before a lot of people. Mostly when the system comes from the south we…have a surge for some reason or another and most of the boats… get damage so from the time we hear any system coming from the south we normal haul up our boats forthwith.”

But the longtime fisherman said the process was not easy due to a lack of equipment. “Nothing in Oistins is easy; it’s slavery. We are trying to get a better slipway,” he said.

Green said fisherfolk have been trying to reach out to the Government but without success.

“We [were] trying to get hold of the government for years for that same process…and if we can get some kind of equipment that could hall up the boats, we would be happy,” he told Barbados TODAY.

His counterpart Charles was very irate about the situation,

“We got about 15-20 boats that we haul up this morning…We had to band together we got two break-down tractors at Fisheries [Department]. All this big money spending for this thing the next and the third,” he said.

The fisherman said he feels forgotten by the neglect, adding: “They forget about the fishermen. We ain’t catching much fish now so what you think happening now? We suffering…Not even the tractor, we got to break we backs now and go back to the old-time days with the skids.

“A skid is when you take a half of telephone pole and put at the front of the boat and all of the men come around to the back of it and push the boat and then take it back up again put it back up to the front, that is kind of draconian work. But that isn’t no easy job. We want a tractor just like anybody else.”

Further inland, the rush was on to supermarkets, gas stations and hardware stores.

At A1 Supermarkets at Six Roads,St Philip,  Managing Director Andrew Byone told Barbados TODAY: “People have responded well to the notices they have not taken any chances and they have prepared for any eventuality.”

Byone said that there was no panic buying, but a mixture of shoppers including those doing their regular shopping and others preparing for the storm.

Manager at Ace H&B Hardware’s Six Roads, Algernon Roach said: “We have people with the batteries and torch lights so they are getting ready just in case.”

He said that Barbadians tend to be last-minute shoppers, “We also have one or two calls about generators and as it gets closer obviously those are things that people may not buy at first but as things get closer then they decide to come on in,” he said.

Sherryann Burrows of Home Improvement Hardware said Thursday was a busy shopping day as people made their last-minute preparations.

“From June the 1st we started early, normally we put things that are related to a hurricane at the front of the store so that customers could have an idea of what they need to get, “ she said.

(kobiebroomes@barbadostoday.bb)