ECONOMY-ENVIRONMENT: Jamaican Conch Fisheries Reopen

By Zadie Neufville Reprint | | Print |

Zadie Neufville

KINGSTON, May 10 2001 (IPS) - Jamaican fishers have begun to apply for permits to harvest conch for the first time since the 20-million- dollar industry fell prey in 1999 to deadlock over environmental protection.

The government’s decision to lift its ban on conch has delighted thousands of fishermen across the country, said Harlan Honeygan, head of the All Island Fishermen’s Cooperative.

Fishing companies have laid off hundreds of workers since the government in 1999 suspended the harvesting of conchs, a family of giant mollusc that includes the Queen Conch, a species protected by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES).

The molluscs are considered a delicacy and generate 20 million dollars per year in export earnings. Some 40,000 workers rely on fisheries for their livelihood, according to Honeygan.

One of them is Sherlock, who said the industry’s closure cost him his business, forced him to lay off more than 100 employees, and nearly robbed him of his fleet of five boats in Whitehouse, a western coastal town solely dependent on fishing.

Sherlock blamed the suspension in part on larger fishing companies, which balked at government plans to impose quotas and prohibit conch collection for six months every year. The businesses challenged the government in court, prompting the government to simply shut down the industry pending a resolution.

The National Environment and Planning Agency said that, at least for this year, it would only prohibit conch fishing between July 1 and October 31. It had originally announced a closed season from June 30 through January 1. The Fisheries Division this week began accepting applications for the 2001 season.

The peace remains fragile, however, and fishers are reluctant to talk about the controversy, citing fear of reprisals by the larger companies. Sherlock withheld his last name.

The saga began in 1999, when the DYC Fishing company sought an extension to its 1998/99 quota and its partner, Sea Food and Ting, sued in court to continue fishing into the closed season. The government had denied them, prompting retaliation through the courts.

The appeals court ruled that Jamaican law did not require conch exporters to get permits in the first place since a draft bill on the allocation of quotas had not been enacted.

In turn, Environment Minister Easton Douglas cancelled the reopening of the season pending the enactment of the Inland, Marine Products and By-Products Act. This legislation included provisions for licensing and quotas.

Francis Cox, DYC’s chief executive, argued the government had no authority to restrict the reaping of conch and opened a new front in the battle: He insisted that DYC be given exclusive rights to process conch. He argued the company’s processing plant was the only one in the country that met standards imposed by the European Union when it agreed to import conch and shrimp from Jamaica.

Honeygan, at the fisherman’s cooperative, said there was no evidence to support Cox’s claim. But he acknowledged strong motivation to want to corner the processing market. Once the European trade commences, the export price of conch is expected to rise to between eight dollars and sixteen dollars per kilo, from just over four dollars per kilo.

Honeygan said he shared Cox’s distaste for government restrictions but that he firmly opposed DYC’s bid for a monopoly on processing. “This would be giving one man far too much power to set the prices, and decide who sells what in the industry,” he said.

Cox’s position has not sat well with the likes of Bunny Francis, the man many in the industry credit with starting conch fishing here after it was banned in the United States in 1985. Many have bristled at the “foreigner” for wanting to control the industry. Cox, who was born in Nigeria, was unavailable for comment.

Aaron Parke, the Ministry of Agriculture’s top civil servant, said the closed season was introduced to allow the conch population to recover from the ravages of fishing. “If Jamaica is to maintain a healthy conch population surveys must be done and reaping controlled,” Parke said.

Strict controls and monitoring are required under the CITES treaty, to which Jamaica is a signatory, he added.

Ironically, the industry shutdown also scuttled a government ‘abundance survey’ due last year. Park said a shortage of money meant that the government must piggyback on the fishing industry in order to conduct surveys of the conch population. The results are used to set quotas. The last survey was completed in 1997.

Meanwhile, with the industry formally shut down, poaching reportedly has increased.

“They are catching the conch and taking it to Dominica (the Dominican Republic) and selling it to boats at sea,” said one fisherman.